Trail Building at Colorado Bend State Park
posted March 23, 2010
Friday was a beautiful day! Three trail builders got there mid-afternoon and started working right away! One of them had built a stumpgrinder and was anxious to use it! The ‘assembly line’ worked like this: The first person took a rogue and worked the dirt away from the root; The second person had the stumpgrinder and made the root go away; The third person filled in the hole with dirt and sawdust. Below are the people with the rogue and stumpgrinder, operated by it’s maker.
Here are some before, during, and after pictures of the process.
Sometime into the wee hours of Saturday morning, the forecasted thunderstorm and norther hit. This was the first day of Spring! (Yeah! Right!) I guess it had to have its last laugh before giving us decent weather. Many of the trail builders heard the storm come in and felt the temperature change. A few slept through the whole thing! By the morning there were puddles all over the place.
This delayed the usual start time by about 1 1/2 hours, but by 9:30 everyone was on their way to the trail building area! They say that neither rain nor snow…. can stop the mail? That seems to go for trail building as well! Occasionally some wetness came out of the sky in the form of light rain, tiny bits of snow, and some sleet, but overall the wind was what was got our attention the most. Fortunately we were in the trees most of the time and didn’t get it full force! In the almost 3 years of building trail at CBSP, this was the first time there was significantly bad weather. We’re very thankful for that!
The photographer only got one set of Before, During, and After pictures this time.
As usual, there are plenty of pictures of trail being built and trail builders!
One of our trail builders found a very pretty green snake under a rock that was moved in the trail building process. She had to take it around and show it to everyone!
We had a first-timer with us this time and, of course, Gorman Falls has GOT to be seen by all first-timers! Due to the storm the night before, the falls were really flowing and very impressive.
Earth Day at Colorado Bend is coming up on April 24, 2010. This is a fundraiser for the park put on by the Friends of Colorado Bend State Park. The entrance fee is $3. Cave tours are for a donation of $15 or more per person and leave hourly starting at 9:00 am. Reservations for cave tours are suggested due to limited space. Kayaks can be rented for a donation. Mountain Bike tours of the trails will be offered for a donation. Riders of every level are welcome! (You must have your own helmet and helmets are required.) For contact information, go to
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/parkguide/rgn_hc_007.phtml
Thursday 5:30 Beginner Mountain Bike Ride Starting Mtn Bike Race Spring Series - Comfort 3/13-14/10