Sue Sullivan and the new Trails Committee have dived right into the massive task of creating or rerouting about 10 miles of new trails. Some of these are also snowshoe trails, which Bob Timmer plans to tackle closer to the fall. This year’s trail work season kickoff was the Forest Service’s Allingham training session, held over the first weekend in June. For CONC, nine people were certified on crosscut saws, which requires a two day commitment to learning about the hazards involved with removing logs from trails followed by the hands on experience of clearing trail under the watchful eye of experienced sawyers. Bob and Sue also taught classes on trail maintenance and trail clearing, which included field work in the Three Creeks area.
Sue set aside Wednesdays and some Saturdays for CONC Trail Work. Her first objective was to reroute the Light Bulb and AC trails in Edison SnoPark. Two and a half days were required to cut and mark each section. Warren Preston counted 65 logs cut just on the 0.35 mile reroute of the AC trail. Sue estimated about 7 people per event volunteered 6-8 hours for a total of about 250 man hours invested in this one SnoPark! She is very pleased with the turnout of CONC volunteers.
And she has already pushed into the next “low elevation” SnoPark; Swampy. Where Edison reroutes were requested by the Forest Service to avoid sensitive wildlife areas, Swampy required new trails to relieve congestion and to provide a true beginner’s ski experience. Cutting logs and brushing the beginner’s trail has already been accomplished. Three sawyers and seven “swampers” responded to the Saturday call for work!
