National Trails Day

The first Saturday in June, people all over the country celebrate National Trails Day, the largest celebration of trails on any single day in the U.S.  The American Hiking Society conceived the idea of one day to celebrate the importance of trails and the important role they play in uniting friends, families and communities.  They first sanctioned National Trails Day was celebrated in 1993, and has been growing in participation ever since.  Over 150,000 people participate in over 2000 events to celebrate National Trails Day.  The events range from guided activities to trail building projects and everything in between, and organizations range from local city parks to federal agencies such as the National Park Service and U.S.  Forest Service.

Today, I had the chance to participate in a trail-building project as part of National Trails Day for Boulder County Parks and Open Space.  I’ve always loved being out on the trails, as hiking and backpacking are two of my favorite summertime activites, and connecting nature is such a big part of my lifestyle here in Nederland.  But I never thought too much about what it takes to actually build a trail.  I found out today, that it takes a lot of heavy tools, intense labor and a dedicated group of hard-working people.

We were working on restoring a 2-mile trail that had been devastated by the floods of September, 2013.  And when I say devastated, I mean it’s hard to tell there was ever a trail there.  Flood waters eroded the trail, deposited rock, trees and other debris hither and yon.  We were the first trail crew to begin reconstructing the trail.  Turns out that building a trail is a lot, lot harder than walking on it.

Trail work includes tools like a pick maddock (think wooden handled axe-type tool with pick on one side and blade on the other), McLeod (rake-type tool with a flat blade on reverse side0, shovels, and assorted buckets.  It also involved a lot of sweat equity.  We spent a good part of the morning moving one very large rock, about 3 feet by 1 foot, about 10 feet onto a section of trail to serve as a “water bar” which diverts water away from the trail.  It took four of us to move said rock using a sling-type structure of chains and ropes.  Once we had it place in a hole we had dug out, we spent a lot more time, slinging sledge hammers, crushing rocks, and filling in on both sides of the great big rock to make it stable.

After four hours of incredibly exhausting work with 15 people, we had a sum total of .2 miles that we had actually worked on.  However, I had a huge sense of accomplishment over what we as a group had achieved.  I was so proud of our water bar rock, I had someone take a picture of me standing on it.  This experience helps me understand how trail crews feel when they build an entirely new trail, and the sense of ownership and accomplishment they feel.

Many years ago, I was hiking in North Cascades National Park in Washington in the fall.  The trail had very few people on it, as it was a week day in late October, and a few inches of fresh snow had fallen the day  before.  As I was nearing the top of the pass, a guy caught up to me.  We talked about the beauty of the trail, and he told me the trail actually made a loop and suggested I walk with him, confessing to me that he had helped build the trail many years ago when he was part of a youth trail crew project.  I remember the pride I could hear in his voice, describing the crew he had worked with.

Today, I could relate to that pride.  Though, I know it will take many more days of back-breaking work by a collective group of people, I know I was part of that effort.  I hope I will get many chances to walk the trail when it is finished, and I know each time I walk over that “Water Bar” rock, I will remember this first Saturday in June and what we did to give a trail back to the community.