Do a little or do a lot - help the trail crew in Sierra NF

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AlmostThere
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Do a little or do a lot - help the trail crew in Sierra NF

Post by AlmostThere »

Happy New Year!

This year, Wilderness Corps will be ramping up to tackle some large projects in the Sierra National Forest. And, we will be working to clear the Theodore Solomons Trail. (What is that? See https://www.facebook.com/groups/TSTHikers/)

What has that to do with you? How can you help? Here are some things you can do, from the easiest to the most involved:

1. Send us your trip reports from hikes on the Sierra National Forest, inside or outside designated wilderness. Take pictures and GPS coordinates of fallen trees, washouts, rockfalls, encroaching brush, indistinct or absent trail where there should be trail. Also send us road issues - fallen trees and such. We are also going to be clearing roads that access trailheads. (Yes, we know the road to Willow Meadow is bad... We need to know if it's suddenly impassible tho. :nod: )

2. Write to your congress critters requesting that National Forest Service be adequately funded. NFS is at an all time low for funding, and the consequences are just beginning to be obvious...

3. Volunteer for visitor services - answering phones, staffing the High Sierra Ranger Station on the other side of Kaiser Pass... we have sedentary volunteer opportunities in several locations. If you have not seen the view from the porch of the residence at the High Sierra Ranger Station, you can get a hint by walking over to the side of Kaiser Pass Road from the station and looking north -- gorgeous. Lucky volunteers can wake up every morning to it. Also it will in the future be helpful if we have people who can run errands, write grants, etc - we have grant writers who will become trail crew shortly and be very busy with saws and pruners.

4. Volunteer for trail crew - it isn't just for buff people, if it was I would be left out... A sharp crosscut saw sings through a tree and does all the cutting for you. We also need folks who can clear waterbars with a hoe, use loppers on brush, and scout trails. We have retired folk and weekend warriors, some come often, some only a few weekends a year. If we had more people we could have lots of people doing a little, and still get the job done.

On our radar for this year will be spearheading an effort to open the worst section of the Theodore Solomons trail, in an effort to draw hikers into relatively unexplored parts of the forest. We already have the JMT/PCT corridor, well traveled and usually the first trail cleared each year. Then we clear the Dinkey, the next most popular destination out there. Kaiser Wilderness Foundation handles the trails in the Kaiser. Ansel Adams Wilderness and John Muir Wilderness both contain segments of the TST, as well as other rarely-traveled but worthwhile trails, and there are thousands of trees down - time to get out and clear those pieces as well. A hardy crew of Conservation Corps ladies have finally maintained the Tehipite section to the top of the switchbacks -- I'll be going out for a week to scout the faded trail over Crown Pass to that point, marking the original trailbed with orange ribbon so successive trail crews will know where to work and hikers will have them to follow until the trail is re-established.

All our work is in partnership with the Sierra National Forest and all our crews work with FS radios, logging in and out each day with the Forest Service, as while volunteering we are employees, provided with tools and resources. We offer free certifications in first aid, sawyer classes so all know how to buck trees safely, and in addition we work the OSV (over snow vehicle) and OHV (off highway vehicle) trails in partnership with 4x4 clubs and other trail maintenance organizations.

You do not need certifications to go out with trail crew -- new volunteers work under supervision of certified sawyers and no certs are needed for tasks like brushing and clearing trail. As you work with certified crew you may wish to become certified, and eventually be a crew leader yourself. Or, you may only have a couple of weekends -- you are more than welcome to join us for a day to check out how it goes. We are a pretty laid back crew most of the time -- we may cut a dozen trees out of the trail in a day, or we may do two. The work takes as long as it must to be done safely. Some of our trips involve a base camp and day hikes, others are backpacking trips with tools.

For more information visit our website in progress at wildernesscorps.com, where you can sign up and indicate your level of interest in volunteering, donate to our nonprofit, or just read our blog and see what we're up to. We are also setting up trail conditions forums for the trails we maintain, and intend to have that forum available on Tapatalk. The more information we have on trail conditions the easier it is to prioritize and put resources into the field. Sign up for our Meetup group to join events on our calendar.

You can also PM me here if you have any questions. I may not be around much but I'm here.
Last edited by AlmostThere on Wed Apr 25, 2018 9:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
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balzaccom
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Re: Do a little or do a lot - help the trail crew in Sierra

Post by balzaccom »

Hi Daisy

I'm interested in the trailwork. Send me a note when you have dates for some of that. I have a tight schedule this summer, but maybe I can fit something in...
Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-R ... 0984884963
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AlmostThere
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Re: Do a little or do a lot - help the trail crew in Sierra

Post by AlmostThere »

... Daisy?

PM sent.
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balzaccom
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Re: Do a little or do a lot - help the trail crew in Sierra

Post by balzaccom »

Thanks AT>. PM received and answered.

I guess I had Daisy on my mind from her response about the ponds and lakes...
Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-R ... 0984884963
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AlmostThere
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Re: Do a little or do a lot - help the trail crew in Sierra

Post by AlmostThere »

Wilderness Corps will be adopting the Rancheria Falls and Indian Pools trails. The Indian Pools trail is a short, easy trail from the back parking lot at China Peak Ski Resort to some lovely pools in Big Creek. The Rancheria Falls is a short, easy trail to view the impressive Rancheria Falls, from the end of a short paved road to the trailhead near Huntington Lake. Both are local favorites and hiked by hundreds of visitors to the Huntington Lake campgrounds and cabins.

If you have any interest in helping with the maintenance of these trails on an ongoing basis, please go to the wildernesscorps.com website to sign up. We will be keeping the trail tread clear and free of trees, picking up trash, and any brushing or treadwork necessary to keep the trails passable and safe. Even if all you can do is monitor and report trail conditions as they develop this would be helpful, as crews will be going out all spring, summer and fall and easily stop in to address a fallen tree on the way to other assignments.

Our current planned dates for the crew to be on these trails are March 31 for Rancheria Falls and May 12 for Indian Pools, pending approval of our schedule by the FS.

Volunteers who are registered with Wilderness Corps will have free camping at the Kokanee Work Center for scheduled trail maintenance that does not include backpacking.
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Re: Do a little or do a lot - help the trail crew in Sierra

Post by zacjust32 »

Thanks for the reminder AT! I joined the meetup group and will be helping out this Saturday. Leaving from Fresno if anyone wants to join me.

Sent from my SM-T280 using Tapatalk
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Re: Do a little or do a lot - help the trail crew in Sierra

Post by AlmostThere »

Quick update. We will be scheduling weekend trips starting in spring after most of the snow is gone - a week long trip has been calendared for late June, into Big Maxson, Crown Pass, Crown Valley and down to the park boundary. Saws will sing, volunteers will have a good time, and trails will be cleared. This is a section of the Theodore Solomons Trail.

Thanks to zacjust32 for coming out to join us - hope to see you out in Dinkey, John Muir or Ansel Adams in summer, while we're clearing trails for hikers!

Currently volunteers are being utilized by the OSV (over snow vehicle) department, as paid staff have been laid off, and our Miracle March has given us some Nordic trails to groom.
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Re: Do a little or do a lot - help the trail crew in Sierra

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We have several trips on the schedule. This Saturday we will be out on the trail to Indian Pools, and having a BBQ at Kokanee Work Center for volunteers. In May we will be sending crews into Dinkey Wilderness to do all the trails accessing the lake basin. In June we will be in Crown and Rancheria. In Sept through whenever the snow falls, we will focus on the section of the Theodore Solomons between Kaiser Wilderness and Clover Meadow.

Some of our volunteers trained on snow machines to groom trails for skiers and snowmobilers in the Huntington Lake area. It's been a great Miracle March!
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Re: Do a little or do a lot - help the trail crew in Sierra

Post by balzaccom »

Thanks AT. I can't make this weekend for many reasons, but would love to get involved in May
Check our our website: http://www.backpackthesierra.com/
Or just read a good mystery novel set in the Sierra; https://www.amazon.com/Danger-Falling-R ... 0984884963
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Re: Do a little or do a lot - help the trail crew in Sierra

Post by rightstar76 »

It looks like http://www.theodoresolomonstrail.org/ is no longer working. Are there plans for a new site?
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