Description
Start Date-End Date: 10/08/2022-10/08/2022
Land Manager Office: Town of Castle Rock Parks & Recreation Department
Land Manager Contact: Barbara Spagnuolo
Funding Partner: Town of Castle Rock Parks & Recreation Department
Programmatic Partner:
Summary: Celebrate National Trails Day by breaking ground on the final section of the Legacy Trail at Gateway Mesa Open Space.
Description: Project photo by Alexander Bliskovsky
Where You'll Be:
Nestled between the towns of Castle Rock and Franktown, the Gateway Mesa Open Space is an easily accessible gem on the Front Range offering scenic overlooks, stunning views of the Rocky Mountains, and 275 acres of diverse terrain ranging from open scrub brush to dense mixed pine and steep cliffs.
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:
Join VOC for our fourth year building the Legacy Trail and spend a fall Saturday among conifer forest, ferns, mosses, and interesting rock formations! On this project, you'll break ground on the remaining section of this new hiking trail, connecting VOC's previous work to the existing Chuck's Loop Trail on the eastern edge of the property. Work will be moderate to difficult in nature and likely include bench cuts, timber or stone steps, and several small crossings of narrow drainages.
Why It Matters:
The current loop system in Gateway Mesa Open Space is 1.6 miles and travels around the flat, exposed mesa through open grassland. The trail you help build will create a secondary, hikers-only loop extension that will provide access to a forested environment completely different from the rest of the park.
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: 39.388419, -104.801991
Additional Information: To organize carpooling please visithttps://www.groupcarpool.com/t/td5p9f
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: No
Physical Difficulty: Moderate, Difficult
High Altitude Project: No
Desired Number of Volunteers: 75
Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 51
Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 8
Total Volunteer Days: 59
Total Unique Volunteers: 59
Total Volunteer Hours: 550.5
Staff Hours: 25
Stipend Hours: 0
Project Summary: Volunteers were driven to the Gateway Mesa Open Space trailhead from Rock Ridge Elementary on the Town of Castle Rock Trolley, which only held about 10-15 seats per shuttle load, so it took while for all volunteers to arrive. While we waited for all the volunteers to arrive, everyone enjoyed donated Einstein's bagels, fruit, and coffee bought by the Town of Castle Rock. Crew Leaders and the Tool Manager worked together to unload tools at a tool cache closer to the trail, so that volunteers wouldn't have to walk carrying tools on steep slopes. Once everyone had arrived, Elise (VOC staff) completed the welcome talk and split everyone into crews. Cairn students were assigned to one crew together. Crew Leaders led their safety talks and started walking to their sections to begin work.
The Town of Castle Rock anticipated this project being the final volunteer workday on the trail, and volunteers completed the trail, which was opened to the public shortly thereafter that weekend. Spirits and motivation to finish the trail were high since many volunteers were repeat volunteers from other Gateway Mesa projects over the past few years.
Successes and Challenges: Successes:
1) All anticipated trail work was completed and the trail is now able to be opened.
2) No safety incidents occurred despite steep slopes, narrow sections, and lots of tool carrying.
3) Volunteers felt highly satisfied with their work knowing that the trail could now be opened after 4 years of trail work being completed to make this happen.
4) Both TAs, Wes and Donna, were present and very active in checking sections of trail to make sure they were completed satisfactorily. Wes and Donna were excellent about giving constructive feedback to Crew Leaders when sections needed more were or when there was a particularly tough area to complete.
Challenges:
1) The limited capacity of the town trolley meant that registration took longer than usual, causing our welcome talk to feel a bit rushed.
2) It was quite chilly in the morning (40 degrees or so), so volunteers were eager to get working/moving, but we had to wait for everyone to arrive.
Lessons Learned: Anticipate the trolley system to take about an hour to deliver everyone and let everyone know as they are arriving that it will take some time before the project work can begin.
Special Notes:
Stewardship Education:
Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers:
Description of Accidents/Incidents:
Description of Work Completed:
Details
| 14 and older |
