Lost Sierra Trail Daze – National Trails Day - June 5, 2010 Upper Mills Peak Trail

Project Leaders: Henry O’Donnell and Ron Heard. 11 SBTS volunteers were joined by 18 members of Crew 1, a fire fighting team on the Plumas National Forest based in Beckwourth to help build over a thousand feet of trail. A few days before, Brett and Ron drove the trail tractor almost a mile through the snow to get to the work site, which was mostly free of snow thanks to the sunny location. Henry led the Crew 1 saw team up ahead on the trail to get them started clearing hazard trees, and fallen trees from the trail corridor. He then returned to the trail tractor to rough cut trail all day. I started the rest of Crew 1 clearing timber and brush from a wide trail corridor, while the SBTS volunteers did extensive finish work on trail that had been cut by the tractor over the previous 2 days. This crew did a great job, helped by SBTS Crew members Matt and Cody, as well as Melinda. At 2:30 I suggested we start packing up and heading out for cold beer. The SBTS volunteers refused to leave until they finished a big switchback which loomed just ahead. Henry arrived just in time with the tractor to do some heavy work, while other volunteers dug like crazy to finish the switchback. We didn’t leave until well after 3:00. Crew 1 stayed until about 4:00. Melinda and I joined John and Nica the next day to ride the trail from the bike shop to the tractor. We missed first tracks on the new section, as Dustin Cardoza and his friend Chris Barbara from Reno got there ahead of us. They rode up, grabbed tools out of the stash, and proceeded to put the finishing touches on the switchback they had worked on the day before. Dedication!!!