Description
Start Date-End Date: 10/14/2017-10/15/2017
Land Manager Office: USFS - Salida Ranger District
Land Manager Contact: Ben Lara
Funding Partner:
Programmatic Partner:
Summary: Camp near hot springs and ghost towns and gaze at majestic snow-capped peaks as you help repair a trail in beautiful Chaffee County.
Description: About the Stewardship Site:
This site is located at the base of Chalk Creek Canyon, which attracts visitors who enjoy nearby hot springs, hiking access to the Continental Divide National Scenic Trail, a well-developed system of off-highway vehicle trails and the infamous ghost town of St. Elmo. Chalk Creek, bordered by the 14,000-foot peaks Mount Antero and Mount Princeton, is named after the brilliant white kaolinite cliffs created from hot spring deposits. The area is home to mining sites, historic railroad grades and picturesque natural environments.
About the Volunteer Experience:
Volunteers will build roughly 1,200 feet of new trail and complete the construction of natural stone steps on another 1,300-foot section of trail. There may be a need for light restoration work on existing portions of the route. This project is perfect for new volunteers who want to get outdoors and learn the ropes, as well as for veteran volunteers who can appreciate the art of a well-built stone step and the satisfaction of completing a new trail. VOC will provide breakfast, lunch and dinner on Saturday, and breakfast and lunch on Sunday.
About the Overall Impact:
The improvements will allow for a more diverse user group to utilize this trail system, increasing visitor numbers and providing a boost to local tourism. The trail will provide a recreation opportunity in an iconic area of the San Isabel National Forest. This trail is designed to provide a quality experience for families, including picnic sites, interpretative panels, a waterfall viewing deck and rest benches. It is close to five U.S. Forest Service campgrounds and several dispersed camping areas.
NOTE: MINORS ON VOC PROJECTS
All youth under 18 must be accompanied by an adult 21 years or older on overnight projects.
Latitude/Longitude: 38.716117, -106.231098
Additional Information:
Camping Available: Yes
Physical Difficulty: Difficult
High Altitude Project: Yes
Desired Number of Volunteers: 50
Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 87
Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 4
Total Volunteer Days: 91
Total Unique Volunteers: 47
Total Volunteer Hours: 735
Staff Hours: 34
Stipend Hours: 0
Project Summary: The 2nd Annual mid-October VOC Halloween Bash was a complete success! With many costumed humans, halloween themed food, and typical Colorado fall weather, volunteers (and staff) wrapped up the overnight 2017 project season in style!
Heavy winds on Friday night and Saturday morning made registration and breakfast a bit of a challenge, and on more than one occasion the Crew Chef tent looked as if it was about to set sail for Salida! Luckily the tent held fast, and in true VOC volunteer fashion, everyone accepted the gusty wind as a sign of the season and diligently set about their tasks.
After a brief discussion on Saturday morning, Crews assembled and began the arduous trek across the street to the project site. After 10 minutes of strenuous hiking, volunteers finally arrived at the work site ready to roll.
The majority of the work involved restoring the existing trail that was blown out by a strong rain event that unleashed large rock flows in two different areas of the trail. In many places the old trail was non existent and had to be completely rebuilt. In other, less damaged areas, parts of the existing trail were salvaged and restored to new again. The work was very informative for volunteers as they were able to see first hand the massive power that rain can have on the Rocky Mountains.
Saturday night the festivities began! Roughly 20 people arrived for dinner in costume, Speed Racer, Dragons, angels & devils, Pagan Goats, Clowns, Harry Potter, Tigger....and many more, were all on site to enjoy frozen brain punch, green deviled eggs, candy corn, and a delicious soup that was perfect for the cooler weather. Once dinner and prizes were over many people headed downt to Mt. Princeton Hot Springs to enoy the discounted tickets that were offered to volunteers. What a day!
Frosty temperatures set in on Saturday night while everyon slept. Volunteers awoke to a high of 19 degrees and frosty windshields on their cars. No problem. Hot coffee and breakfast burritos made everyone feel warm and volunteers returned to the project site to wrap up the work.
Successes and Challenges: Successes: Returning to Cascade Creek for the second of two projects in 2017, being able to line out a reasonable amount of work even though the scope of work had completely changed due to the rock flow.
Challenges: Trying to accomplish work even thought many volunteers could see that the potential for another rock flow was very high. This would in turn wash away any hard work accomplished, very windy conditions on Saturday, and cold morning on Sunday,
Lessons Learned: Important to have ample hot water and hot beverages for people during these cold projects. Volunteers were veryhappy with the hot liquids provided.
Parkign the Tool Truck to block the wind was a great idea.
Special Notes: Great project, as always with Eric & Dane and the people down in Salida.
Stewardship Education: Rosemary Schiano was unable to address the volunteers with her famous bear talk, but the project itself, and being able to see the destruction first hand from the rock flow was very educational. Several of us were on the project in the spring so we were able to explain the volume at which the rock flow altered the area.
Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Concerns regarding the safety of trail users in the future since the area has seen its fair share of disasters, would it be a good idea to nto encourage visitors and try and keep them away from the area.
Description of Accidents/Incidents: One invidual smashed her finger on Saturday morning between two rocks. I walked her down and we applied ice to the finger. She returned to the project site after lunch and helped her group. At the end of the day her finger was a a bit swollen and purple, but she indicated that it felt OK.
By Sunday morning her finger had gotten worse and she decided to leave to go to the ER with a friend form UCCS.
At the time of this writing I had recieved infomation that she had indeed fractured her right pinky finger.
Description of Work Completed: 2200' of trail restoration work
500' of new trail construction
15 stone steps
4 stone cairns
2 stone mono walls - total 20'
Details
| 16 and older |
