Trail Maintenance on TR#48

Saturday April 10th was to be a trail day consisting of making TR#48 rideable for the Whiskey Off Road that will be here on the 23rd and 24th.  This task would consist of a few hand picked volunteers to clean up the debris from fallen timber as well as trimming trees, shrubs and that pesky "Cat's Claw Vine" that will shred anything it can, including tires and flesh with ease.  Also on the list was to clear snow still left on the North faces of the trail.  While most had melted, there still are "considerable" amounts left over and this makes great  runoff in the streams and washes below.

"Glacier removal"

Brooke and I arrived a little late to this expedition, but there was plenty to do.  About 150 yards onto the trail we came upon Steve Lummer hacking his way through some snow and ice with a pitchfork and making fairly good progress, but he was alone and sweating pretty good.   The rest of the crew went to the top of TR#48 and were to work their way back down and meet in the middle.  We decided to help out Lummar with his task of clearing the frozen ice packs.  Tools at our disposal: a trenching spade shovel, 2 metal rakes and 2 pairs of clippers.

While Steve's pitchfork was impressive, it was no match for the spade slicing through the packs of snow.  We decided to simplify this task with an assembly line type of feel to it.  I would lead the trio of man power by slicing and dicing the chunks of ice and snow, Steve would then remove said chunks and Brooke would follow behind with the rake and groom the now freshly exposed trail and clip off any tree branches and cats claw hidden under the snow.  It was quite impressive and we were rolling along, taking these things down 1 by 1.  Until the "mother load" was discovered.  Trail #48 in a new section of trail made just in time for last years "Whiskey" to connect two sections of existing trail and eliminating the fire road traveled years prior.  About half way up there is a 90 degree turn with a rock bridge and opposing rock faces and a newly formed waterfall to intimidate the less traveled rider.  This is where we found "THE GLACIER"..............3-4 feet of snow and ice.

While in the midst of tackling this cluster of we had a couple of riders doing a pre rides. As they passed by, they thanked us for the hard work and for clearing and maintaining the trails' for everyone's enjoyment. With the "glacier" conquered, there were only a couple of small one's remained.  Those cleared with ease, the heavy lifting was done.  We were past the snow pack.  What lay ahead was trimming and pruning and grooming the trail as we made the turn to the South face.  A couple more bikers and runners came past and said thanks for a job well done.  A trim there, a snip here, it was now lunch time as stated by Brooke.  Just a few minutes later,  the others were coming back down the trail.  We made our way down the trail passing each section we had just cleared just moments earlier.  I didn't keep count, but there had to be about 15 of these frozen slabs of snow and ice.   With the Subie packed up and good bye said we headed into town for some grub.

We stopped by the Brown Bag Burger for some tasty burgers and fries, because thats what Brooke had specified dangit, and nothing else was to satisfy that type of hunger.   Another good day here in Prescott and a sense of accomplishment to boot.

Cheers....