Description
Start Date-End Date: 10/20/2018-10/20/2018
Land Manager Office: CPW - Castlewood Canyon State Park
Land Manager Contact: Joe Marquez
Funding Partner:
Programmatic Partner:
Summary: Restore a trail in this beautifully unique and hidden canyon near Castle Rock.
Description: About the Stewardship Site:
Hidden in the rolling prairie on Highway 83 near Franktown, Colorado, is Castlewood Canyon State Park. An easy drive from both Denver and Colorado Springs, this park offers unique geological formations, rich Colorado history, four different ecosystems and several hiking trails. The Creek Bottom Trail is a 2-mile route that follows Cherry Creek along the Canyon bottom, taking hikers along a shaded path and past a cascading waterfall.
About the Volunteer Experience:
This project is a continuation of maintenance begun by VOC volunteers in 2017 and will address priority maintenance issues. Much of the trail has been heavily eroded, resulting in braiding and deep ruts. Volunteer tasks will include maintaining and rebuilding drainage structures, and rebuilding and installing timber or rock erosion control structures such as steps. Worksites will be located up to a mile away from the trailhead, and the work itself is technically and physically moderate to difficult.
About the Overall Impact:
The maintenance and erosion repair that volunteers will provide is essential in ensuring the Creek Bottom Trail's longevity and usability. Castlewood Canyon State Park is enjoyed by many Front Range nature lovers and hikers, and volunteers' efforts to keep this trail in optimal condition will be visible and appreciated for years to come!
Need-to-Know Details:
Minors:All youth under 16mustbe accompanied by an adult 21 years or older on single-day projects.
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: 39.361863, -104.768511
Additional Information:
Camping Available: No
Physical Difficulty: Moderate, Difficult
High Altitude Project: No
Desired Number of Volunteers: 50
Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 47
Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 7
Total Volunteer Days: 54
Total Unique Volunteers: 54
Total Volunteer Hours: 561
Staff Hours: 21.5
Stipend Hours: 0
Project Summary: List of accomplishments are below. This was the goal for the day and what was originally planned. We did not deviate from the original scope of work. We had about 38 non leader volunteers. we were able to get all the work done and finish a little early.
2200' of existing trail restored
crititcal edge debermed
tread outslope regraded
backslope cut
corridor cleared
5 old and eroded timber steps removed from tread
14 previously removed timber steps (last year) carried up to trailhead
8 new rock check steps installed
2 existing rock steps repaired
28 new drainage dips and swales installed
4 existing drainage dips (installed last year) cleaned and enlarged
1 stream bed crossing rebuilt with armoring
1 monowall (~30') lowered and reset
6 social trails (~200') closed
Successes and Challenges: Successes-Wes was awesome and the reason the day went so smoothly. It was great to have Donna there as crew leader manager as well. We had 8 crew leaders for about 38 volunteers. I think the crew leaders appreciated the smaller crews. The after work day snacks went over well. People stuck around. I asked crew leaders to all make it back to the parking lot at the same time so we could do the raffle at the end of the day and that worked well. We had perfect weather! Fall is a great time to be working out at Castlewood Canyon.
Challenges-Joe is kind of hard to work with. he was happy with the work we got done but he critiques the work the volunteers are doing right in front of them in a non constructive way. I think it all was ok but i think we had a couple frustrated volunteers because of Joe.
Lessons Learned: Wes was a big part of why the project was so successful. he spent a lot of time this year and last year scouting out the trail and making great trail notes. I have also not had a crew leader manager in the past so it was nice to have one. the smaller crews seemed more manageable for crew leaders.
Special Notes: Merrell shoes showed up and gave the volunteers lemonade and socks! I guess they are a travelling group that goes to a new state every month and goes to a park every weekend and give out socks and lemonade to people hiking in the park. They got wind that we were there and moved to our trail to give our volunteers socks. The program is called Merrell Magic.
https://www.merrell.com/US/en/merrell-magic/
Stewardship Education:
Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Volunteers with comcast emails did not get the info emails for some reason. I never got bounce back notifications so i was only aware of the problem if people contacted me. I guess there was something in the email that comcast did not like but I am not sure what it was. I am not sure if we have had this problem in the past but it is something to look into.
Description of Accidents/Incidents: we had a bee sting but she was not allergic and was fine. we did not fill out an incident form.
Description of Work Completed:
Details
| 14 and older |
