Pacifica Trail Work

Sarah Spelt of Pacific Coast Trail Runs posted a message on Facebook asking if anyone needing to meet a trail work requirement for a 100-mile run wanted to help trim back trail for the Pacifica Trail Runs on Saturday July 3rd.  The requirement for Angeles Crest specifies the work must be for an ultra distance race, and like almost all the PCTR runs Pacifica has a 50k distance.  (I did work for the race last year, but the race was cancelled.  We didn't have to pay the entry fee again, but did have to do the trail work.)  I had a hole in my schedule the Tuesday before, so eagerly signed up.

After dropping off my kids off at camp and preschool (our younger one is too young for the day camp), I drove out across the San Mateo bridge and over the ridge to San Pedro Valley County Park in Pacifica.  I was sleepy from working late the night before, but the day was beautiful and it was good to be off work and outside.

Armed with my clippers, back pack with snacks, 2 bottles, iPod, the course map, and my pocket camera, my plan was to cover all the single track on the course and trim away.

I saw two animals early on.  1: Snake, sunbathing.  It freaked out when I tried to step over it.

2: Rabbit.  Unlike the snake, it didn't freak out.  I thought as part of my duties, I should move it off the trail.  It would really suck to accidentally land on it and have bunny-guts splatter all over your legs.  Had I shovel, I would've given it a proper burial.

I usually don't see ripe blackberries until August, but I guess the plants on the hills had plenty of sunlight, so I got to enjoy several.

As it turned out, it was the rapidly growing blackberry branches that really needed to be cut back.  Some at mid shin level

and some farther up.  I would have felt guilty, but those thorns hurt, and I realized that you can never pick the berries farther back because of the thorns, so I wasn't really lowering the number of available berries.  Several of the switchbacks on Hazelnut Trail were so overgrown not just blackberry shoots, but also pointy dagger weeds, hidden poison oak and numerous other plants, that in retrospect I could have spent the whole day trimming just this trail.

After cresting the summit of Hazelnut, I started descending.  I noticed the trail was much wider and looked not just trimmed but majorly cut back.  As it turned out, several young people working with the Student Conservation Assocation were clearing away large piles of branches that had been felled by a large hacking machine earlier in the week.  We thanked each other for being out there.  I confirmed that they were NOT going to be working on the section of trail I had just toiled so hard to trim back, as that would've made all that effort redundant.  I thought that maybe I should have asked if the piles of branches were going to be cleared by Saturday, but then realized even it they weren't, what did it matter?-- it's not like the race would need to be cancelled, and would just make the course a little more technical.

The SCA workers were going from top to bottom, so after I passed them, I had to climb over these large piles or branches and plants completely obstructing the trail.  I noticed poison oak in some of the piles, and knew that I would be itching later.  But all for a good cause!

My Nano died so I went to my car to get my other one and refill my bottles.  Then I headed up Brooks Creek and Montara Mountain Trails until I hit the North Peak fire road.  There was less to trim, so I ended up jogging a fair portion of this section.  I would have liked to run up to the summit, but I had to make a school board meeting at 7, and figured there would be traffic.

Apparently Caitlin Smith rocked the course, winning overall with 4:27:41, BEATING the men's course record by 2 minutes!  Whoa!  I'd like to think that my hacking gave her at least a few seconds of buffer.

post-race with frequent volunteer and Pacifica resident Stan Jensen of run100s.com

photo by Rick Gaston

Aside from a couple of other 100 milers to finish first, I'm all set for Angeles Crest!  Thanks, Sarah!

picasa photo album (32 photos, mostly scenic shots)

Trail Maintenance on Diablo's Oyster Point Trail

I had volunteered a couple times with the Trail Dogs group in the past, but this was the first year I was signed up for a race (in fact, 2 this year) which required trail maintenance work.  Angeles Crest 100 Mile further requires that the maintenance be on a trail that is part of an ultra race.

Last Tuesday (March 10th) I had the day off after coming off a series of overnight shifts. Although I was anxious to get a long run in, I noticed on the Trail Dogs website the project for that day was the Oyster Point Trail in Mount Diablo State Park. I knew this trail was part of the Diablo Trails 50k course I am running this Sunday the 22nd, as well as once again part of Pacific Coast Trail Run's Diablo 50 Mile in April. So I figured I should take advantage of the opportunity to fulfill some of my "part of an ultra" AC 100 volunteer requirement without, for instance, having to drive up past Auburn on one of my few free weekends. (With two small kids, this isn't going to happen any time soon.)

It was hard to wake up since I was so sleep deprived from my tough overnight shifts between which I mismanaged my sleep. I had told the coordinator John I would arrive a little late so I could drop my kids off at their respective day care and preschool.

Parking was not allowed at the trail head off Finley Road, so I had to park 3/4 a mile back where I saw the cars of other volunteers. Good thing I run...

the trailhead


Past a small barn...

About 1.5 miles from the trailhead, I caught up with the group, who had already started on the main goal, cutting and removing a large tree that had been blocking the true trail for months or years.

The real trail which was completely blocked an hour earlier is at left, with the alternate up to the right. When muddy, the alternate route was reportedly very treacherous to navigate.

John dispatched me and the other volunteering ultrarunner, veteran (Kap'n) Kirk Boisseree almost another 3 miles to the end of Oyster Point Trail, where it ends in a 5-way intersection, the official Diablo Trail continuing onto Black Hawk Ridge Road. To prune.

Our fast hike out was beautiful, and notably hillier than I'd expected. We swapped war stories (obviously he has more, having been ultrarunning longer than I).  I really enjoyed getting to chat with him since we run at a different pace so wouldn't ever during a race.  I also picked his brain about survival strategies during races that take longer than 30 or 40 hours.

 On our way back, we hacked branches, cleared brush and pruned bushes along the trail, applying the "3 year rule"-- assume no one's going to do this again for three years, so hack more than you think you need to hack.  I also have this ongoing personal vendetta against Toxicodendron diversilobum, a.k.a poison oak, so my clippers kept snapping.

Rock formations on Knobcone Point.

Kirk approaching the downed tree site.

The trail was originally less obvious eastbound, so we asked the rest of the group to make it really clear where to go:

Kirk in the cleared trail.

Forgot to take a group photo.  I also should've taken more photos off the Diablo Trail to the east, but had to get out to clean up the kitchen and pick up my boys.

My long overdue first real race of the season is in a few days.  I guess it's reassuring to know I'm very familiar with maybe a ninth of it.