Description
Start Date-End Date: 10/07/2017-10/08/2017
Land Manager Office: BLM - San Luis Valley
Land Manager Contact: Sean Noonan
Funding Partner: 12 Hours of Penitence Endurance Mountain Bike Race, Mike O'Brien Memorial Trail Fund
Programmatic Partner: Del Norte Trails Organization
Summary: Improve access to an area popular with mountain bikers and trail runners on this Grand Milestone project.
Description: About the Stewardship Site:
The area of Stone Quarry is named for the nearby quarry pits that produced much of the stone used more than a century ago to construct downtown buildings and homes in Del Norte and Monte Vista, and once served as prime hunting ground for Native Americans. The Stone Quarry Trail System is located just outside the town of Del Norte on the western edge of the San Luis Valley. Though development here is relatively new, this trail system has garnered much recent media attention and is quickly gaining regional and national notoriety among mountain bikers and trail runners.
About the Volunteer Experience:
Volunteers will assist with the construction of a new trail that will access new terrain in the Stone Quarry area and create new loop options for hikers, equestrians and mountain bikers. Though much of the trail construction on this project will be moderately difficult - including building rock structures - there will also be less labor intensive tasks for novice trail builders as young as 14. There will be up to 60 people on this project, so this is a great opportunity if you are interested in meeting new people from all over the state! Breakfast,lunchand dinner will be provided on Saturday and break and lunch on Sunday.
About the Overall Impact:
The trail built during this project will greatly expand recreation opportunities that are easily accessed by local communities, supporting the economic development of the San Luis Valley.
NOTE: MINORS ON VOC PROJECTS
All youth under 18 must be accompanied by an adult 21 years or older on overnight projects.
A Grand Milestone Signature Project
Latitude/Longitude: 37.646326, -106.296158
Additional Information:
Camping Available: Yes
Physical Difficulty: Easy, Moderate, Difficult
High Altitude Project: No
Desired Number of Volunteers: 50
Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 90
Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 2
Total Volunteer Days: 92
Total Unique Volunteers: 58
Total Volunteer Hours: 1018
Staff Hours: 32.5
Stipend Hours: 0
Project Summary: Volunteers worked on continuing constructing the new trail "Bull Sorcerer" on the San Luis Valley's BLM trail system at Stone Quarry. When fully completed the trail will be open to hikers, equestrians and especially mountain bikers. A total of 59 volunteers, two of them youth, contributed 1,018 volunteer hours to the project and over 2,000 feet of new trail were constructed. Volunteers enjoyee perfect fall weather with great views and good fall colors allaround. Local business Kristi Mountain Sports contributed by providing great gear for an evening raffle on Saturday evening and provided free bike rentals on Sunday. Clint Heiple fromt he Mike O'Brien Memorial Fund spoke on Saturday evening about Mike O'Brien and his legacy through VOC.
The Stone Quarry Trail System is located just outside the town of Del Norte Colorado on the western edge of the San Luis Valley. Though development here is relatively new the system has received recent attention from regional and national media outlets and is quickly gaining notoriety amongst Mountain Bikers and Trail Runners. Named for the nearby quarry pits that produced much of the stone used over a century ago to build down town buildings and homes in Del Norte and Monte Vista, and once served as prime hunting grounds for Native Americans the Stone Quarry Area is rich in history and very important part of the San Luis Valley story.
Successes and Challenges: Perfect weather. Good working conditions allowed for a lot of good, sustainable trail work to be completed.
Lessons Learned: One crew leader mentor and crew leader mentee were working together on a section together, but the section to which they were assigned had a mix of basic tread construction and one portion of complex rock work. The mentor ended up working on the raock work, with the mentee working on basic tread. This meant they were not able to work together very much. In the future we should make sure mentors and mentees are assigned to a more uniform and stragihtforward section of trail so that they are able to work in tandem.
Special Notes: None.
Stewardship Education: No formal education provided on this project.
Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Overall, people seemed to enjoy the project and had a good time. No major concerns were raised to the project manager.
Description of Accidents/Incidents: None.
Description of Work Completed: Over 2000 feet of new trail constructed
2 climbing turns built
5 rock walls built
One major rock drain over a wash was constructed
Details
| 14 and older |
