2022-Lake Agnes Trail Restoration @ State Forest State Park

Start Date-End Date: 08/20/2022-08/21/2022 Land Manager Office: CPW - State Forest State Park Land Manager Contact: Anthony Johnson Funding Partner: Programmatic Partner: Summary: Restore a trail in the moose-watching capital of Colorado. Description: Project photo by Sara Abdullah Where You'll Be: Located about two hours west of Fort Collins, State Forest State Park is Colorado's largest state park with 71,000 acres that stretch along the Medicine Bow Mountains and the Never Summer Range. The park is known as the moose-viewing capital of Colorado and offers visitors rugged peaks, alpine lakes, and miles of year-round trail use. Volunteers will work on the 2.3-mile Lake Agnes Trail, which leads hikers throughopen meadows filled with wildflowers and wildlife, into dense spruce forests, along rocky outcroppings, and eventually to the shore of Lake Agnes at the base of Nokhu Crags and Mt. Richtofen. Anyone that attends a VOC volunteer opportunity in August, September, and October will be entered in a drawing for the chance to win a $300 SCHEELS Gift Card. The more opportunities you attend, the more entries you will earn. Good luck! What You'll Do: Help care for your state parks on the125th anniversaryof Colorado Parks and Wildlife!Spend the weekend in Colorado's largest state park as we work to repair the increasingly popular Lake Agnes Trail. Volunteers ages 16+ will have the opportunity to work on a variety of tasks including closing unsanctioned "social trails", building rock walls and steps, installing signs, building and maintaining drainage structures, and general trail improvements. All volunteers will be treated to beautiful views, free campsites, and hot meals provided by our volunteer Crew Chefs. Why It Matters: The popularity of this trail and the steepness of some portions means the Lake Agnes Trail requires continuous maintenance to keep it safe and sustainable. During the busy summer and winter months, the parking lot is often overflowing with cars and people who utilize the trail for a range of outdoor adventures including hiking, snowshoeing, fishing, and more. Your efforts will help protect the Lake Agnes Trail against further damage from wear and tear. 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 128,000 people in more than 1,000 volunteer projects for a donated labor value of $26 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: 40.353351, -106.595239 Additional Information: To organize carpooling please visithttps://www.groupcarpool.com/t/tabdsh Please determine the following amongst yourselves: 1. Pick up location 2. When you leave 3. Vaccination status 4. Mask usage VOC suggests coordinating carpooling in the safest way possible and encouraging a mask friendly policy in your cars. If you have any issues finding a rider or a ride, please feel free to reach out to myself. Happy volunteering! Camping Available: Yes Physical Difficulty: Moderate, Difficult High Altitude Project: Yes Desired Number of Volunteers: 45 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 75 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 0 Total Volunteer Days: 75 Total Unique Volunteers: 39 Total Volunteer Hours: 678 Staff Hours: 44 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: The camping area was located in a open meadow at 7-utes. Volunteers were instructed to park in the the parking lot and set tents in the open meadow. The kitchen tent was located about 2-minute walk from the parking lot. The camping area was about ~5 miles from the trail head. On Friday afternoon, VOC staff met with State Forest State Park staff to fill out the water buffalo at their "shop". VOC borrowed a trailer from the park to leave the water buffalo at the campground and have the VOC truck available to drive to the trail. After assessing the road, we decided that it was not safe to drive the tool rental truck to the trail head since. We loaded most of the tools on the VOC truck and State Forest State Park truck and drove them to the trail head on Friday around 3-4PM. The rental truck remained parked at the campground and used to store food at night. The average temperature at night was 40 degrees. We had the propane fire pit available to volunteers until 9PM. Saturday morning, VOC staff lead the welcome talk and helped coordinating carpooling to the trail head. Technical Advisor (Terry G.) assigned sections to the crew leaders and helped describing to volunteers the work needed in each section. After all crews were assigned, volunteers carpooled to the trail head. It took about ~20 minutes to drive from the campground to the trail head. Volunteers were reminded to bring everything they needed for the day since we were not going back to the campground before the end of the work day. The trail was open to visitors during the weekend, lower sections (closer to the trail head) were recommended to talk to hikers and warn them about the tools and volunteers working on the trail. Each crew worked on their sections while the TA walked the trail to answer questions. VOC staff, tool manager and 1 State Forest State Park staff carried timbers to the higher crews using the pack frames. All timbers were pre drilled and cut. Park staff also brought a chainsaw in case timbers needed to be cut to a different length. Some sections focused on rock work while others on installing timber steps. We had light rain showers during the day but no lightning. Crews were advised to start wrapping up work around 3PM. Some crews went to the lake for lunch and others hiked there at the end of the work day. The VOC truck was the last vehicle leaving the trail head to guarantee that all volunteers had a ride back to the campground. In the evening we had the raffles before dinner. Board member, Amy Beatie, supported VOC staff donation speech. We used the propane fire pit again and most volunteers went to bed relatively early since the temperatures were pretty low. Sunday morning, volunteers set up the propane fire pit again while waiting for breakfast. We didn't have any new volunteers joining the project on Sunday so the Welcome talk was more like a check-in talk. Terry (TA) moved some crews to new sections to prioritize installing timber steps. Volunteers carpooled again to the trail head to continue working. VOC staff and tool manager stayed at the campground to help the crew chef and crew chef helper taking down the tent and packing everything in the rental truck. After leaving the campground, we parked the rental truck at the bottom of the road (before the bridge) and as soon as we got there we received a call on the radio that a volunteer needed to come down the trail. A volunteer had hurt their lower back and wanted to get back to the campground to drive their personal vehicle to urgent care in Fort Collins. Terry being an EMT checked on the volunteer and helped him get down to the trail head were VOC staff was waiting with the VOC truck to drive them back to the campground. VOC staff offered ice packs to the volunteer and drove them back to their personal vehicle. The volunteer was there with their partner. Tool manager and one Park Staff assisted in getting the volunteer in the car and drove a different truck to help them again getting into their personal vehicle. VOC staff filled out an incident report and volunteer signed before leaving to Urgent Care. VOC staff returned to the trail head when lightning started to appear. All crew leaders were instructed to get all the tools and bring them down to the trail head were 2 trucks (VOC and State Forest State Park) were waiting to transport tools to the bottom of the road where the rental truck was parked. All volunteers got out of the trail and assisted on transferring tools from the 2 trucks to the rental truck. Successes and Challenges: Successes: Carpooling worked great. We limited the number of cars driving and parking at the trail head while providing a ride to all volunteers. Terry G (TA) and State Forest State Park staff were incredibly engaged and helpful during the entire project VOC truck was available since the water buffalo reminded at the campground in a park trailer. The trail remained open during the weekend and we were able to advertise VOC to hikers We only had a minor incident Timber steps were pre-drilled and cut to size Park staff had a chainsaw available to them in case of need to cut timber steps to size Challenges: No cell-service coverage in the area No communication between campground and worksite via radio. Too far for VOC radios. Not enough general VOC cards to hand to hikers in the area Not cell-service to receive donations with the square Weather. We had rain and hail Lessons Learned: Bring more VOC promotional materials for hikers It worked great to leave the water buffalo at the campground in a trailer instead of the VOC truck We didn't use the generator at the trail head but it was good to have it available in case we needed to drill the timber steps Temperature drops significantly at this time of year. The propane fire pit was a huge success Special Notes: Stewardship Education: Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Description of Accidents/Incidents: One of the volunteers hurt their lower back: Volunteer was working with this crew on moving a big log. Volunteer missed an instruction and pulled the log by himself. He heard a "pop" and felt a sharp pain in his lower back. He laid down on the floor while the crew leader contacted the EMT in trail and VOC staff. EMT checked the volunteer and together they decided to hike the volunteer down to the trail head where VOC staff would be waiting to drive the volunteer back to their personal vehicle at the campground. The volunteer was with his partner who was able to drive him to urgent care in Fort Collins. VOC staff provided transportation to the campground and icepacks. Description of Work Completed: