Description
Start Date-End Date: 08/16/2019-08/18/2019
Land Manager Office: BLM - Gunnison Field Office
Land Manager Contact: Jim Lovelace
Funding Partner:
Programmatic Partner: Colorado Fourteeners Initiative
Summary: Restore a route to the summit on this three-day project.
Description: Where You'll Be:
Handies Peak is one of the most prominent "14ers" in Colorado's scenic San Juan Mountains, located between Silverton and Lake City. With access to the summit, the Grizzly Gulch Trail is a difficult yet rewarding hike that sees 5,000-7,000 visitors a year and passes through wildflowers, beautiful meadows, and an alpine basin along the way.
What You'll Do:
On this smaller project of about 30 VOC volunteers and others from the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative (CFI), you'll spend three days surrounded by stunning views as you construct timber check steps along three miles of the Grizzy Gulch Trail. These steps will be made with sustainably-harvested timber from beetle-killed native Blue and Englemann Spruce trees and installing them is always a fun, engaging, and extremely productive volunteer experience. Campsites are provided and our volunteer Crew Chefs will provide breakfast on Friday through lunch on Sunday.
Click here to learn more about the importance of trail maintenance.
Why It Matters:
Colorado's "14ers" pay a price for their popularity and steep grades and increased foot traffic have caused significant erosion on the Grizzly Gulch Trail. By installing check steps, you will help provide a safer route for hikers and restore the section to a more sustainable state. This will help preserve the natural environment as well as visitor access to Handies Peak; it is estimated that Colorado's 14ers provide $70.5 million to the state and your efforts will help sustain local economies in nearby gateway communities such as Lake City.
Need-to-Know Details:
Minors under 18 must be accompanied by an adult 21 years or older on overnight projects.
Volunteers are responsible for providing their own camping equipment.VOC will provide meals, tools, and work gloves.
Cancellation:Our partners rely on VOC volunteers to accomplish critical stewardship needs, and our projects often have wait lists. If you need to cancel, pleasecontact Emily Schaeferat 303-715-1010 ext. 116 as soon as possible so we can free your spot for another volunteer and have a full workforce.
About Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC)
Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado (VOC) is the state's oldest, largest, and leading outdoor stewardship nonprofit organization. Founded in 1984 to motivate and enable people to become active stewards of Colorado's natural resources, VOC has engaged nearly 120,000 people in more than 1,000 volunteer projects for a donated labor value of $24 million. Through award-winning youth and volunteer programs, leadership training, capacity-building programs, and collaborative efforts with nonprofits and land management agencies, VOC is an invaluable resource in Colorado, especially as our outdoor stewardship needs are approaching near-crisis levels. For more information, visit www.voc.org or call 303-715-1010.
Latitude/Longitude: 37.9131, -107.5045
Additional Information:
Camping Available: Yes
Physical Difficulty: Difficult
High Altitude Project: Yes
Desired Number of Volunteers: 25
Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 50
Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 0
Total Volunteer Days: 50
Total Unique Volunteers: 18
Total Volunteer Hours: 422
Staff Hours: 18
Stipend Hours: 0
Project Summary: The project, on the Grizzly Gulch trail to Handies Peak, was a success despite logistical challenges and a lower than expected turnout. An extensive discussion is warranted on the part of VOC and BLM counterparts to determine if future projects are recommended at this site.
Volunteers and the project team arrived to the staging site on the evening on August 15th. Staff from CFI were already on site and assisted in unloading the trucks and assembling the crew chef tent. The next morning 18 volunteers split up among the CFI crew leaders and embarked to 3 work sites. The largest group was at the lowest site installing timber check steps (and sometimes cutting and debarking logs for future steps); the next group worked on a timber mono-wall; the last worked in the alpine zone less than a mile from the summit of Handies Peak installing timber check steps.
Work continued at these same sites until Sunday morning, at which point the alpine section and mono-wall were both complete (complete in that all of the prepared logs were installed; there are still steps that will need to be installed in the future). All volunteers worked at the lowest section until noon on Sunday at which point the project ended. In total, more than 100 steps were installed across the 3 sites.
See successes and challenges section for extensive discussion.
Successes and Challenges: Successes
All scheduled work was completed despite a significantly lower than expected turnout. The work was exceedingly difficult and performed at high altitude, and in some cases it required an hour hike in with weighty tools. But the volunteers who registered for the project knew what they signed up for and were up to the task. They worked hard, long hours and the result was that they got as much work done as we expected twice as many to complete. And it was praised all around for being of the highest quality.
Excellent project team: Crew chef Susan Graham and tool manager Henry McLaughlin were exemplary project team members and the fact that the project didn't suffer from significant logistical hurdles is due in large part to these two volunteers. The food was always excellent and plentiful - Susan went as far as accommodating an unexpected number of vegans while keeping the carnivores satisfied as well. Henry proved to be the most helpful tool manager this project manager has ever worked with. He was up at 5 helping Susan in the Kitchen, after which he made a trip down a harrowing narrow road to refill water jugs and collect volunteers from a campground below the bad section. And after all of this he would join a crew on the mountain to help install steps.
Competent and friendly CFI leadership. CFI had 6 staff present for the duration of the weekend, in part because they expected so many more volunteers. After getting over their initial disappointment regarding turnout they proved extremely professional, safety oriented, and knowledgeable. The land manager, Jim Lovelace, was equally helpful and qualified. Volunteers stated repeatedly how impressed they were with all 3 organizations.
This project generated some of the strongest camaraderie I have yet seen. The combination of a small, intimate group with a remote (cell-service free) location and challenging work made fast friends of the 25 or so people present. The bon fire on Saturday night emanated laughter and good vibes late into the night in spite of the clear exhaustion of everyone present.
Lastly, the site itself is a wonder. It must be one of the most strikingly scenic places VOC has ever worked.
Challenges:
The number one challenge with this project - and the root of several derivative issues - is site access. Two weeks before project start there was a series of rock slides on the steep access road that threatened to make access impossible. This area is prone to avalanches and rock slides and any future project here must consider this risk. The county was able to clear the road one week from project day, on the last day it would have been acceptable to move forward; any later and a site visit would not have been feasible, nor would volunteers have held a long weekend open in their calendars any later. Even so, attrition was 50% and this is likely attributable to the late project confirmation and the repeated warnings on the difficulty of the road.
Which brings us to the road: CR 30, affectionately known as Shelf Road, is one of the narrower and more intimidating roads this project manager has ever driven. Although it is kept in relatively good condition by the county (due to the popularity of the trails and highly used off-roading routes to which it provides the only access) it has extremely steep drops. In several stretches the road is not more than 10 feet wide with a sheer 500-foot drop to the downhill side. There are sharp view-blocking turns through these sections so one occasionally encounters an oncoming vehicle here, necessitating a risky reverse through the aforementioned conditions. There were no incidents this weekend, nor are there many incidents here in general, but accidents here are a distinct risk. Volunteers were warned of the difficulty of this road and were given the opportunity to park their vehicles at the bottom of shelf road where they would be picked up in the morning by the VOC tool manager. Only one couple took us up on the offer.
In the lower sections of the Grizzly Gulch trail, the mosquitoes were zealous and nearly unbearable. At least one sensitive volunteer left with a few dozen painful welts. The alpine section was much more pleasant, although there we were confronted with exposure to the extreme high-altitude elements.
Which brings us to the weather. The window for a successful Handies Peak project is extremely short. Before August storms are likely to present themselves early every afternoon. There is some protection less than a quarter mile below the high work site, but storms manifest themselves rapidly and with minimal warning here. After mid-August, nighttime temperatures drop below freezing. During this project, there were two nights of bitter cold, and we would not have been surprised to see snow. Thus, there is a two-week weather window, leaving very little leeway for events that may delay or necessitate an earlier project initiation (such as mud slides or snow storms).
Lastly, this project is 6 hours from Denver without traffic. Meaning any VOC staff member who does a site visit and manages a project here will spend more than 24 hours on the road.
There are massive pros and cons to this project that will necessitate an in-depth discussion before any repeat projects.
Lessons Learned: At this altitude, small tools were very useful. Mini-picks and single jack hammers were by far the most popular due to their light weight.
It is recommended that VOC obtain log-carriers. They are much more effective than straps for moving heavy timber steps.
If events take place here in the future, the project should be confirmed at least 2 weeks before schedule start. If anything happens to jeopardize the project within this window it should be cancelled.
Special Notes:
Stewardship Education:
Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers:
Description of Accidents/Incidents:
Description of Work Completed:
Details
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