Sunday, April 10, 2011

Photos from the Cane Creek Canyon Preserve Trip

I'm sure a full trip report is in the works, but until then, here's a few photos that I made:

https://picasaweb.google.com/KE4ROP/CaneCreekCanyonPreserve#

Thanks to Dr. Jim Lacefield for hosting our group's April outing.

Saturday, February 5, 2011

February Trail Maintenance


Today Larry and I met Foster, Gary
and Bart for breakfast at Chef Troy’s, where we caught up on Foster’s rigorous chemo treatments and found that he is much improved and feeling good again. The rest of us went off to trail 210, our very own Mitchell Ridge and worked non stop til 1 pm.


The graupel fell all day but it was light and we were able to work through it although it was very cold. We raked all the leaves off the steps and then began to haul up and fit large stepping stones into the earth to refurbish the parts of the trail that had eroded away way with time and many footfalls.

Our tools of choice were carefully considered since there were only the four of us and we had to carry them along with our packs. The heavier stones were hoisted and pushed up to the trail from a small waterfall.
We utilized Bart’s flat head shovel with Gary’s strap wrapped around its head as a pulling tool which several of us could pull while Gary hoisted the stone from underneath. The Pulaski worked well as a hoe to loosen the dirt in the trail bed in order to fit the stones in place.

We still have work to do but this slope is not near as slippery as it was. Next month we’ll work toward our Desired Future Condition. HaHaHa.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

Day Hike in Sipsey Wilderness along Trails 202, 209, and 200.

The Sipsey Wilderness Hiking Club will be meeting for a day hike along trails 202, 209, and 200 in the Sipsey Wilderness on Saturday, January 15. Backpacking and overnight camping are also possible; contact the club.

Meet for the hike at the Randolph Trailhead at 8:00 AM. Arrangements have been made to have vehicles spotted at the ending point.

The hike begins by following trail 202 - Randolph all the way to where it meets the Sipsey. We cross the river and continue east on trail 209 - Sipsey River to its terminus at Borden Creek. We will not cross Borden however but rather hike up the West Borden Creek Trail (the western parallel of trail 200), finishing at the Borden Trailhead.

This is about an eight mile hike. Trail 202 starts wide and flat and ends with a somewhat steep downhill to the river. Once across, 209 is also more or less level but with a few small feeder streams (and their possibly muddy banks) to negotiate. The west side of 200 is similar but there may be more fallen trees to get around.

The only serious difficulty may be crossing the river. The depth will of course depend on the amount and timing of rainfall. So be prepared to take off your shoes and roll up your pants or whatever strategy you favor to ford streams that are too deep to just splash through.

Note that if conditions are such that it is simply too dangerous to cross the Sipsey, we will not attempt it. In such case, we have some other options besides just retracing our steps. So not to worry.

Bring your lunch, plenty of water, and maybe a small towel to dry your feet after crossing the river. A walking stick is generally helpful along these trails.