Build a NEW trail for National Trails Day

Volunteers for Outdoor California is partnering with the City of Oakland to install a network of trails in King Estates Open Space on National Trails Day weekend, June 7-8. This beautiful natural grassland park with terrific views is a gem in the middle of Oakland but has no trails.

Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park

Volunteers renovated the hiking and equestrian River Trail along the San Lorenzo river. We built sturdy steps and elevated several sections of trail on turnpikes to help keep the trail firm and dry all year round. We also conducted habitat restoration work along the river banks.

Date: August 11-12, 2007

Size of Project: 250 volunteers

Level of Difficulty: Easy to Difficult

Agency Partner: California State Parks

Joaquin Miller Park - City of Oakland

• The weekend of Oct. 4-6 was a significant community effort and volunteer trail stewardship weekend in Joaquin Miller Park, a favorite East Bay park. We focused on creating safer trail connections and removing invasive plants. As always, we had great fun and tasty food. Read more.
  
  
• More than 180 volunteers stretched before heading out to the trails. Volunteers were assigned to teams of 6 to 10 people and given a safety lesson on using the sharp hand tools. We moved 250 lb. boulders into an armored drainage crossing at the intersection of Fern Ravine Trail and Sequoia Bayview Trail. A big group from Students from Service for Peace worked on removing French broom from the Sunset trail--and ran into a hornets nest!

  Teams built a rock causeway by hand at Sequoia Bayview Trail and Chaparral Trail. Fitting in the boulders and rock by hand was like a 3-dimensional jigsaw puzzle.

  Carving out a new trail on at the beginning of Sequoia Bayview reroute at Chapparal intersectio. The work on the Sequoia Bayview reroute will enhance visibility and reduce soil erosion.

  Date: October 6 & 7, 2007

  Size of Project: 200 volunteers

  Level of Difficulty: Easy to Moderate

  Agency Partner: City of Oakland
  

Mt. Tam State Park - Marin

• The trail care project weekend Nov. 16-18 at Mt. Tamalpais State Park in Marin was our last 2007 project. The fog filled weekend was fantastic. Volunteers restored numerous trail sections, restored drainages and cleared vegetation over the length of the Heather Cutoff Trail. Volunteers also replaced a critical retaining wall.Take a look at some of the photos.

• More about the Mt. Tam project.
  
  Date: November 16, 17 & 18, 2007

  Size of Project: 85 volunteers

  Level of Difficulty: Easy to Moderate

  Agency Partner: California State Parks
  

2007 ~ A Year in Review

We started off with 1.5 miles of new trail on Cinco de Mayo for Santa Clara County in a brand new County Park. Camped out by Coyote Lake, we had a great time and enlisted many new volunteers. Despite the wild pigs raiding our kitchen during the night, a good time was had by all.

On National Trails Day weekend June 2-3, two hundred volunteers created Muir Heritage Land Trust's first-ever trail near Martinez, carving the 2-mile Tina Batt Trail on Sky Ranch - a spur off the Bay Area Ridge Trail. Hiking out on the grass and hiking back on the newly constructed trail was a big hit for all those happy volunteers.

We did some amazing work in state parks this year, starting out on Angel Island in late July where we repaired and restored over 1.5 miles of trail - installing 10 steps, two short reroutes, and a new beach entrance for the trail from the beach landing to the kayak trail, a trail that was very steep and dangerous to use. We also fully restored the walking surface of a mile of a heavily used trail that had gotten so overgrown that it had narrowed to just 4-6 inches wide in long stretches.

We followed that success with a huge restoration of the River Trail in Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park in August, raising the tread of the trail approximately a foot along most of its length, clearing out long-collected debris, and installing a number of steps. Our 100 volunteers moved over 70 tons of rocks and dirt by hand that weekend! What a sense of accomplishment! We heard from the rangers that trail users were making a point of coming into the ranger station to express their gratitude for the trail improvements.

In early October we rerouted two dangerous trail intersections, building approximately half a mile of new trail, closed the two decommissioned sections, constructed a rock causeway and repaired another half mile of badly worn existing trail in Oakland's Joaquin Miller Park (JMP). Another 200 volunteers left JMP with a new understanding of our program and a genuine sense of accomplishment.

Our last project of the year was at Mt Tamalpais State Park, November 17-18. We took on the Heather Cut Trail, restoring drainage on 17 switchbacks, cutting back brush to open up the corridor, armoring wet crossings and replacing a retaining wall that has slid down the hill.

Along the way, we have engaged over 1,000 volunteers, trained 75 crew leaders, and built the basis for a skilled volunteer workforce to help perform critical maintenance in our parks. We have accomplished all this with a two-person staff and a lot of great volunteers.

Thanks for all your support.