Description
Start Date-End Date: 10/23/2019-09/23/2019
Land Manager Office: City and County of Denver - Parks and Recreation
Land Manager Contact: Ryan Phillian
Funding Partner:
Programmatic Partner:
Summary: Help perform critical trail maintenance on the Geological Overlook Trail at Red Rocks Park on 10/23!
WHAT: Volunteer Project with Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado
WHEN: Wednesday, 10/23 from 1pm to 5pm
WHERE: Red Rocks Park and Amphitheater, Morrison
Description: About the Location:
Red Rocks Park, known for its remarkable landscape of red sandstone outcroppings, is a true Colorado landmark. It's a world-famous concert venue, and home to awe-inspiring hiking and biking trails perfect for exploring the geology, forests, wildflowers and wildlife, with views of Denver and beyond. The park's Geologic Overlook Trail, where this project takes place, is a 1.1-mile loop that offers scenic views and is good for all skill levels and primarily used for hiking, trail running, and nature trips.
About the Volunteer Work and Overall Experience:
Volunteers will perform much-needed maintenance and rehabilitation on the Geologic Overlook Trail. Work will include moving material onto the trail by buckets and wheelbarrows and then grading or crowning the trail, fixing erosion prone areas where water is not shedding off appropriately, and repairing water bars to help make the trail more sustainable. This is a great opportunity for those volunteers wanting to learn more about trail restoration in a beautiful setting.
About the Impact of the Work:
Due to the popularity of Red Rocks, user traffic is heavy throughout the year. This means damage to the park's trails can happen fast and become widespread. Volunteers will assist the park by bringing the Geologic Overlook Trail to safe, sustainable conditions so it can continue to be enjoyed for years to come.
Latitude/Longitude: 39.670243, -105.203890
Additional Information:
Camping Available: No
Physical Difficulty: Moderate
High Altitude Project: No
Desired Number of Volunteers: 30
Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 31
Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 0
Total Volunteer Days: 31
Total Unique Volunteers: 31
Total Volunteer Hours: 124
Staff Hours: 16
Stipend Hours: 0
Project Summary: About 25 volunteers from Fastly and S&P Global came out to Red Rocks Park on this late fall SWAT. The objective was to top-dress and recrown the heavily used Geologic Overlook Trail just off the Plains View Lot. Volunteers arrived between 12:30pm and 1:00pm, parked in the Lower North Lot, and walked about 250 yards up to the work site. Project orientation began at 1pm with an introduction by VOC project manager Alex Williams and park ranger Ryan Phillian of Denver Mountain Parks. The objectives were straight forward: haul 7 cubic yards of soil to the lowest 100 yd. section of the Geologic overlook trail; spread the soil over the trail to reform the crown and divert runoff from the tread; remove large cobbles from the soil mix and tamp the soil to fix material in place. Volunteers split into 3 crews: the first shoveled soil into buckets and wheelbarrows; the second transported the soil to the trail; and the third spread and shaped the new soil. After 5 minutes of spinning up, volunteers got into a rhythm and worked quickly. By 3 pm nearly all of the soil had been moved onto the trail and by 3:30pm it was shaped and tamped in situ. This was fortunate timing because a snowstorm began descending on Red Rocks around 3pm. Volunteers were originally scheduled to work until 5pm but due to the weather and the completion of the primary tasks, the day ended at 3:30pm.
Project partner Ryan Phillian seemed very pleased with the pace of the work and the quality of the finished project. The park superintendent stopped by briefly towards the end of the day and complimented the group on their work.
Successes and Challenges: The primary objective only took about 2.5 hours to complete; had the work not been so demanding, or had the weather not deteriorated about 2.5 hours into the work day, volunteers may have left feeling as though they didn't get as much out of the day as they hoped. As it were, the amount and difficulty of the work were perfect for a shortened afternoon project and everyone was ready to leave at 3:30pm when a snow storm rolled in. There was a backup project (formalizing a short social trail) but it would only have been appropriate for 10 or so volunteers.
VOC and Denver Mountain Parks debated whether or not to cancel the project up until 1pm the day before the project. At this time there was still a good chance of snow starting in the late afternoon. However it was decided that even 2.5 to 3 hours of work would be satisfactory for this group. Beginning around 2pm on the work day, there was precipitation visible in several locations near Red Rocks and only by luck did it not rain or snow until after 3pm. Had it begun earlier, the work would have had to end which would have been disappointing to volunteers and very costly to Denver Mountain Parks.
Lessons Learned: Although directions were provided to volunteers, several people still had trouble getting from the lower north lot to the work site. In the future, a satellite photo with the walking route marked is recommended.
Some of the volunteers were visiting Denver from San Francisco. One of these was having some breathing difficulty after walking up the hill from the lower north lot. The volunteer rested and acted as photographer for the day so it was not a serious problem. In the future, VOC should ask its corporate partners about this so that the PM can provide altitude related recommendations during the safety talk (and/or provide directions that don't require walking up a steep hill upon arrival).
Special Notes:
Stewardship Education: Park Ranger Ryan Phillian talked about the extensive range of properties managed by Denver Mountain Parks and discussed the science behind the work that volunteers would be doing.
Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers:
Description of Accidents/Incidents:
Description of Work Completed:
Details
| 14 and older |
