The roving crew lived up to its name this past week. We journeyed to Mt. Missouri for a quick hitting Monday-Tuesday and then on to Lincoln, Democrat, Bross Wednesday through Friday. Not bad hitting several fourteeners in one week.
The Roving Crew works on a section of trail
Missouri provided beautiful views, weather and eventually a beautiful section of trail. The roving crew and the Adopt-a-Peak crew teamed up for an all-star cast and punched out a deluge of check steps, plant plugs for restoration, and braid closure.
A trail braid before CFI restoration
After a quick two days, we moved onto Lincoln, Democrat, Bross. This was an interesting place as it is a combination of public and private lands with many unused mine shafts and history. We completed a good bit of work here as well. Again closure of trail braids, check steps to control erosion, and restoration. We also fixed a trail blowout on a stream crossing and created several rubble or junk walls to control side hill erosion.
Trail braid after CFI restoration
Several of the steps we put in on the trail up to Democrat were quite massive. In fact, we try to use massive rocks exclusively for our structures. The size of the rock used is directly related to its staying power on the mountainside. A bigger rock means it stays longer. It gets pushed around less by the freeze and thaw cycles of the alpine environment as well as withstands the many hikers that will step heartily upon it. The next time you step on a big old rock step, I hope you step most heartily on it.
