It was a beautiful day in the foothills on Sunday, and a group of us organized by the Mariposa Trails team set to work clearing this trail of various types of weeds and obstacles.
We first sent a chain saw crew down the canyon to clear any trees that were across the trail. Then Bill King got the rest of us started with hard hats and tools, and led us on a tour of the various plants we would need to remove. A hoe was best to chop some at ground level, a pick to dig up the rhizomes of others, and the dreaded extractigators to pull buckbrush from the ground, roots and all.
That's an extratigator below, with the orange handle, next to a hoe, a rake, my day-pack and a hard hat, and a beer bottle we dragged up that had been tossed along the way.
I worked on the extratigator team--doing some serious damage to the encroaching bushes down the trail. It was cool enough in the shade for us to don vests and hoodies, but in the sun we quickly worked up a sheen of sweat. This was the same trail where a young family died of dehydration last year, and we were mindful of the somber nature of that event.
At the end of the day the trail was clear through seven switchbacks down into the canyon...and we'll certainly come back to do more.
Kudos to Mariposa Trails, and the work they do to clear and maintain these trails.
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