2017-Mike O'Brien Memorial Project: Hermit Park Trail Construction & Family Camping

Start Date-End Date: 08/26/2017-08/27/2017 Land Manager Office: Larimer County Natural Resources Land Manager Contact: Joel Schwab Funding Partner: Mike O'Brien Memorial Trail Fund Programmatic Partner: Larimer County Natural Resources Summary: Bring the little ones for an outdoor adventure! Description: About the Stewardship Site: In Larimer County's Hermit Park Open Space (HPOS), Ponderosa pine forests and wetland meadows provide a beautiful, uncrowded setting forusers to recreate in the Estes Valley. The park offers access to adjacent Forest Service land, offering yet more recreational opportunities. About the Volunteer Experience: This large, family-friendly project will be the second VOC project at Hermit Park Open Space in consecutive years. During the day, adults and teenaged children will be working to complete a 1 mile section of the new trail, helping connect it to trailheads, campgrounds and existing trails. The trail will have a wide, natural surface that traverses mixedvconifer forests, aspen groves, rock outcroppings and open meadows. While their families are working, younger children will attend specially designed activities near the project site. At the end of the day, parents and children will reunite to share stories and make s'mores around the campfire. About the Overall Impact: Constructing this final segment of trail to complete the full 6.5 mile trail system within Hermit Park Open Space will create a vastly improved visitor experience. Campers will be able to access the full trail system from the campgrounds without walking along internal roads, and trail users that park at the two trailheads will be able to follow a circuit as opposed to just an out-and-back. These trails at Hermit Park Open Space will be some of the few trails in the Estes Valley that allow mountain bike access. NOTE: MINORS ON VOC PROJECTS All youth under 18 must be accompanied by an adult 21 years or older on overnight projects. Latitude/Longitude: 40.352496, -105.464244 Additional Information: Camping Available: Yes Physical Difficulty: Moderate High Altitude Project: Yes Desired Number of Volunteers: 100 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 169 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 54 Total Volunteer Days: 222 Total Unique Volunteers: 146 Total Volunteer Hours: 1895 Staff Hours: 81 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: Similar to 2016, we continued construction of a trail in Hermit Park (an extension of the Limber Pine Trail). Volunteers put in 2 days of work and enjoyed free camping and parking courtesy of Larimer County. REI was on site for the event offering free giveaways, raffle items, and plenty of games. Volunteer Clint Heiple spoke on behalf of the Mike O'Brien Memorial Foundation before Saturday's work began. Hermit Park ended up being a wonderful project site for it's amazing sunsets, large permanent structure, horseshoes/volleyball, propane fire pit, picnic tables, running potable water, ample parking, and close proximity to the campgrounds. Similar to last year, Saturday night festivities ended with a massive game of rock, paper, scissors for the prized camping chair giveaway. The weather was beautiful - plenty of sun, little wind, and wonderful sunsets. Successes and Challenges: Successes: Volunteers were fed well by our wonderful crew chef volunteers (including fruit crisps for dessert). REI brought many freebies including buffs, sunglasses, lip balm, sunscreen, and stickers. They also brought super fun games such as giant jenga and kubb. The hammocks they provided were a crucial tool in proper rest and relaxation from the day's work. Lots of trail was constructed. People were happy to win raffle items provided by REI and Larimer County. Taylor successfully ran the youth component of the trip. Pairing a VOC TA with one from the county worked very well to make sure standards of both agencies were being met (an improvement from last year). We acquired canned beer from Lagunitas and New Belgium (as no glass is allowed in the park). The county gave us an exception (and turned a blind eye) for us having over 3.2% alcohol. We had great support (staff-wise) from Larimer County. Having some trail crew members out there helped to move along the tougher rock sections. Challenges: No-shows from families affect overall attendance much faster than individual no-shows. (2 families not coming can easily add up to a full crew gone). Not many volunteered to do the tough rock work (which was quite a few crews). Checking in volunteers was hectic for a few reasons: The Boy Scout group of 30+ arrived late. Checking in those who didn't register was time consuming and difficult to track on a multi-page roster. Checking in people at the project also made it more difficult to know how many days that they were going to volunteer for. 2 volunteer vehicles were towed from the Ops Center Saturday night. We got them back free of charge and are putting items in place so it doesn't happen again. One group game on behalf of a Horse Association and the kept trying to get reroutes done on the spot for better horse accessibility (long rocky slopes). While this input was helpful, they wanted it done while they were constructing their section. It was pretty hot and sunny out, so we went through water pretty quickly on the trail. Myself and another volunteer shuttled more up in the middle of the day. Lessons Learned: Really push Larimer County and all groups to register individually beforehand. The group that came through Larimer County only stayed one day (which greatly affected food amounts). The timing for this project is difficult to plan for maximum attendance and participation. I heard that this one was too close to school in order for children (with sports even starting mid Aug). However, I believe we maxed-out the youth component capacity so the timing in my opinion was probably good. Weather was definitely an improvement from the October one the previous year. Be sure to remind the boy scouts and other young workers that water is for drinking and not for pouring over your head (when it has to be hiked up the trail). Radios worked very well on the trail and were crucial to fast communication as people were spread out on the trail. Some volunteers reported in the post project survey that having someone greet them Friday night to tell them about the camping options would be helpful (or at least pass out parking passes). I assumed Larimer county was going to help with that but they didn't really. Also, volunteers needed a little more direction on where to go project morning to check and get all the supplies. Special Notes: Hermit Park is a wonderful place that probably doesn't get the attention it should because of its close proximity to the popular Rocky Mountain National Park. Also, one volunteer's daughter used this experience for a school project. We recieved a heart-warming e-mail in the days following the event: "Thanks for The opportunity for my daughter and I to come and help out this weekend. We had a good time, and it was great to see something get accomplished. I'm happy to say, she got it. We were two or three minutes away from the parking lot and she simply said "you know dad, it feels good to get out and volunteer it was fun, thank you". And for that, I thank you, the VOC, and everybody else involved! -Matt Cox" Stewardship Education: Joel from Larimer County spoke of the significance of the area.Taylor incorporated stewardship education into the youth component. Alex, as usual, talked about the importance of volunteer work and the stewardship ethic that's instilled when someone commits time to enchance accessibility to our public lands. Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: N/A Description of Accidents/Incidents: N/A Description of Work Completed: Description of Work Accomplished: 1,965 ft=100% Completed tread 688 ft=75% completed tread 169=50% completed tread 6-Rock Walls Constructed = 269 ft. total. 3-Crush/Fill rock wall sections completed=124 ft total. 1-Horse Step/Ramp/rock box. 2-"S-Turns" 2-Switchbacks crushed/filled