Description
Start Date-End Date: 07/20/2018-07/22/2018
Land Manager Office: USFS - Salida Ranger District
Land Manager Contact: Ben Lara
Funding Partner: USFS - Pike & San Isabel National Forests
Programmatic Partner:
Summary: Beat the heat on this high-altitude project as you reroute the iconic Continental Divide Trail.
Description: About the Stewardship Site:
The Continental Divide National Scenic Trail (CDNST) is intended by legislation to be a continuous single-track trail that is remote and scenic, extending 3,100 miles between Mexico and Canada. The Alpine Tunnel was the first tunnel constructed through the Continental Divide in Colorado, and the former town of Hancock was founded as a stop for the rail line. Volunteers will enjoy the scenic drive this project site, likely passing ghost towns and hot springs along the way.
About the Volunteer Experience:
On its 40th year anniversary, we are back to reroute the Continental Divide Trail from Alpine Tunnel to Hancock Lake for our 4th consecutive year! Volunteers 18+ will spend the weekend working at high-altitude to take the trail off the road and bring it onto a scenic, non-marshy, sustainable trail that preserves the rugged and intimate CDT experience. This project is perfect for volunteers looking for a physical challenge.
About the Overall Impact:
Once complete, volunteers will have rerouted 4.8 miles of the current Alpine Tunnel to Hancock Lake Trail away from the road, to a more scenic and remote route that will improve the user experience. Further, the reroute will ultimately protect vegetation and soil through proper trail location, design and construction; as well as prevent excessive erosion and sedimentation to the hydrological system above Chalk Creek.
Need-to-Know Details:
Cancellation:Our land manager partners rely on VOC volunteers to accomplish critical stewardship needs, and our projects often have wait lists. If you need to cancel, pleasecontact Jamie Burkeat 303-715-1010 ext. 116 as soon as possible so we can free your spot for another volunteer and have a full workforce.
Latitude/Longitude: 38.640621, -106.36977
Additional Information:
Camping Available: Yes
Physical Difficulty: Difficult
High Altitude Project: Yes
Desired Number of Volunteers: 30
Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 93
Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 0
Total Volunteer Days: 93
Total Unique Volunteers: 45
Total Volunteer Hours: 954
Staff Hours: 64.5
Stipend Hours: 0
Project Summary: 45 volunteers contributed 954 hours of service. They constructed 866 feet of new trail through tough terrain (very rocky and rooty). 50 feet of monowall was installed in areas where the critical edge was non existent. 6 armored drains were constructed to stand up to the heavy precipitation in the area. Our project contact, Eric Sumner, was very pleased with the progress that we made. We got through a tough section and the next crew up there should have it pretty easy and should have no issues getting to the goal Eric set at the beginning of the season.
Successes and Challenges: Successes - Happy land manager
Challenges - no tool manager
Lessons Learned: Always get a tool manager! For this specific site, maybe the tool truck doesn't need to be parked in the campsite. If we parked it out in the lot nearby, we may have been able to avoid the blown tire.
Special Notes: This was our 8th project on this trail since 2015. We had a lot of volunteers from the Salida area that are very excited about the new reroute.
Stewardship Education: Rosemary Schiano came out and talked to the group about her background and experience with wildlife. She went into detail about bears and mountain lions since that was most relevant to the area that we were in. She informed the volunteers how to be most bear aware, dos and don'ts, and what to do if you come across a bear or mountain lion. Very good talk, volunteers really enjoyed it!
Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: The hike to the work site is getting quite long. The time we are actually spending working on the trail seems kind of short. If we are to do this project again next year, we may want to reconsider our camp and what the volunteer numbers look like if it is more of a backcountry/backpacking model.
Description of Accidents/Incidents: Blew a tire on the last day.
Description of Work Completed:
Details
| 18 and older |
