Our first day involved "brushing" the 3 mile north fork of the trail. The long growing season allows cactus to encroach upon the trail, so lopping the palo verde, prickly pear, ocotillo, grasses, etc. is important to allow hikers and horses to travel unimpeded. BLM trail boss, Tom (left) watches as Don and Doug work with loppers.
Some sections of the trail traverse long stretches where the established trail is obscure or indistinct. To aid in keeping travelers on the trail, rock cairns are placed within line-of-sight of one another to serve as directional markers for hikers. Three or more rocks are unlikely to accidentally wind up on top of one another, so cairns are generally three or more rocks tall. Tom and Bob (photo above) and I spent days 2, 3, and 4 constructing 35 large rock cairns on both the north and south forks of the trail. We scoured the land near the cairn site and carried or rolled large rocks to the designated location and painstakingly built large thigh-high cairns as seen above. The BLM rangers had scouted the trail in advance, determined what repairs were to be done, and marked each work site with a stake indicating the improvement needed. (Of the 20 trail projects I've worked on, this was the most organized a host agency has been.)
Chris and Jim work on a drainage dip and run-off channel to divert rainfall off the trail to prevent erosion. Though this desert climate only receives 7 inches of rainfall annually, cloudbursts can cause severe damage where trails are susceptible to erosion, so water control features such as water bars, runoff channels, and drainage dips are vital to preserving the trail tread.
Steep terrain is common in these mountain foothills, and man-made steps, though not considered a "natural" trail element, can make a trail far safer for hikers and can also help prevent the trail from becoming a river during downpours. In the photo above, the lower step has been installed and another heavy stone is being wrestled into place above it. Four steps were eventually set into place here.
The intrepid crew:
Bob, Chris, Jim, Chuck, Lloyd, Don, Doug, and Tom
