Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship

Ben Lomond Trail - report provided by SBTS crew leader, Henry O'Donnell

5-24-10 The SBTS started the week with an eight man crew consisting of Coz, Max, Maggie, Eric Stringer, Jim, Chuck, Mark and Henry. Chuck and Eric went up the trail and continued logging out the trail until they reached the snow line, cutting out 16 more trees and covering approximately 500 feet of trail. The majority of the crew worked on a 64 foot long and two foot tall rock wall in an extremely wet section of trail. Most of the wall was completed, but some work was left for the next day. Coz and Max built a 14 foot long wall that is four feet tall, then did touch up rock work, chiseling and braking rock until they caught up with the rest of the crew.

5-25-10 Will came down making us a nine man crew and we all continued doing rock work. The 64 foot rock wall form the day before was completed, and two more were started, but not finished before we were rained out. The crew spread out and worked on a nasty root section, a 34 foot by 4 foot wall and a 24 foot by 2 foot rock wall. All the work was in the same wet section of trail covering an additional 128 feet of trail.

Report provided by Crew Supervisor Henry O'Donnell.

On Tuesday, May 18th Coz and I went back down to Belden, But this time we had a crew of nine people counting ourselves, and we set out to work on the Ben Lomond trail. This trail starts off cut into solid rock, and parallels Chips creek, the first half mile is very similar to the Second divide trail, but then it shoots straight up the hill with many switchbacks just like the Halls Ranch trail. We had two people go ahead and log out the trail while the rest of the crew stayed behind to widen the trail. We spent the entire week covering a 550 yard section of trail, primarily doing rock work.

Pacific Crest Trail - Belden to Lassen Forest Boundary

Mount Hough Ranger District, Plumas National Forest

4/30/10 - 5/14/10

Funded through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act

The Sierra Buttes Trail Stewardship covered a five mile section of the PCT. The hitch started in Belden, CA, in the Plumas National Forest, and ended at the Lassen National Forest boundary line. The SBTS spent a total of 262 man hours over the course of two weeks covering the entire five mile section. Forty-one trees were cut out covering the five miles. There was approximately .59 miles of trail reconstruction, which included re-benching, widening, out-sloping, erosion control, thorough brushing, root wad removal and rock removal; approximately 1.56 miles of trail was brushed with a weed-eater and cleared of slash along with the equestrian trail head parking area. The only work remaining to be done is approximately 144ft of trail widening, which is directly above the highway where a safety net may be required to catch falling rocks, and 729 ft of brushing primarily in tall grass. The work completed is not one continuous section of trail, it is broken up into smaller sections spread out across the five miles. The work was preformed where determined needed by SBTS crew leaders.

Thanks to all those to came out to make our Spring epic such a success! It was great to see so many new faces. Special shout out to Zachi, Chris, Jeff, Brad, and the rest of the Forest City Alliance Crew who generously led the Friday ride through some precarious situations. Beware of ride leaders with a firecrackers and a good sense of humor is all I have to say...

The Saturday ride was a success with folks splitting up into as many as 5 groups to create their own hand crafted Epic routs. I think 5 brave souls finished the full monty, which was up North Yuba, up First, up Second, down Third, down First, and back down the whole North Yuba back to Indian Valley.  Read More »

On‐Mountain Prep with the Pros

Hot news! – Student signups are open now for the SBTS Prep with the Pros day at the Downieville Classic. On Thursday, July 8th (9am) and Friday, July 9th (9am) pro riders will team up with students on the trails of the race course. This is a fabulous opportunity for young riders to learn about mountain biking skills, the racing scene, and stewardship of the trails we all love to ride. Professional riders are taking a break in their valuable race preparations to “give back” to the community, sharing good times and great ideas with area youth.  Read More »