Just like the monarch butterflies, or the humpback whales the Trail Conservation Crew takes part in a great migration. In the springtime when the weather is cool, the TCC focuses their efforts in the high desert of Eagle. As the temperatures in Eagle rise to levels that would make the devil himself uncomfortable, the crew migrates up-valley to seek refuge amongst the trees of the higher elevations. Once again in the fall the cycle reverses, and the crew makes the journey back down to Eagle. At this point in the season the crew is just about to their fall turning point, as they wrap up their final projects of the up-valley season. Here’s a little recap of what they’ve been up to through the middle part of our season.
We learned this year that the Buffehr Creek trail shares the same route as the old road to Piney River Ranch, and for that reason it struggles to shed water causing it to get pretty rutted or “cupped” in many sections of the trail. We got out there and installed some drainage features to help the trail stay just the way it is, and not erode any further.
Buck Creek was a similar story. We found out that there used to be a USFS guard station a little ways up the trail, which was also a road at the time. The upper portion of the trail was in really rough shape, so we got some drainage in there too.
Heavy drainage work on Buffehr.
Heavy drainage work on Buck Creek.
After wrapping up on Buck Creek, the crew packed their bags and headed off into the wilderness behind Beaver Creek to work on the Turquoise Lake trail. With a little help from our friendly USFS llamas, we packed enough gear and tools to spend 2 weeks in the shadow of Mt. Jackson working on the upper portion of the trail.
There were some pretty muddy sections of the trail, so we got to work building some turnpikes, and getting the trail out of the wetness. Speaking of wetness, it rained almost everyday we were out there, which we love but sure made it tough to keep dry socks.
Currently the crew is working on Bowman’s Shortcut. It’s a pretty special trail in the valley, and it comes with a pretty epic view. We certainly don’t want to change anything about the rooty and rough nature of the trail, so we’re doing some subtle work to make sure that it stays the way it is and doesn’t turn into an erosive mess in the future.
As the signs of fall start to creep in one by one, we’ll be headed back out west where the days remain warm and long to complete some large trail projects we’ve been working on down there. We look forward to giving you some updates about that work in the near future. Until then, happy trails Eagle County.
