Come out on September 7, 14 or 19 and help us remove hazards from Barr Trail before the Pikes Peak Ascent and Marathon! Click the volunteer button to sign up!
Barr trail trip-n-slip days
What to expect on a Friends of the Peak work day
The first step is registration.
Pick a date and a project that interests you. Then register for that day on our website, www.friendsofthepeak.org/volunteer . Registration is required for all our workdays. It gives us a way to keep in contact with you. It also gives the project leader an of idea how much we might accomplish on the work day, and how many tools to bring to the trail head. A few days before the workday we will send you the details of the meeting place and information about what to bring to the workday.
Age Requirements
We love workers of all ages however our children 14 and 15 need to be accompanied by a responsible adult a signed parental waiver, children 16-18 can work with a signed parental waiver.
Meeting details, logistics, and practical stuff:
Most of our workdays are on the Seven Bridges Trail (7BT), Saint Mary’s Falls Trail (SMF), and Barr Trail. On 7BT and SMF days we meet at the paved parking lot at the top of Cheyenne Mountain Boulevard where it intersects Gold Camp Road. We unlock the gate and drive through to the trail heads, saving us a 1.25 mile hike to the SMF trailhead or a 0.75 mile hike to the 7BT trailhead. When we work on Barr Trail, the city of Manitou Springs allows us to park for free while we are working. We will provide you with a dated parking pass that you will need to display on your dashboard. Sometimes parking will be in one of the parking lots downtown, and you can take the free shuttle bus to the cog railroad stop, or we might arrange a carpool. Other times we may be able to park right at the trailhead. When we work at other locations there will be different procedures.
Before we start work: introductions, instructions and a safety briefing.
Once everyone has arrived, the project leader will describe the scope of the work and the goals for the day. There will be a safety briefing that includes general outdoor safety, any specific hazards known to exist, and instructions about safe usage, carrying and storing of the tools. Then you’ll hear about what to do if there is an accident, first aid, and evacuation procedures.Then it’s time to grab the tools and hike to the worksite.
What is the work like?
Sometimes it’s strenuous (digging with a pick mattock or steel rock bar, carrying rocks that require multiple people to lift, carrying lumber.) Other tasks are easier (replacing fence posts and rails, cutting back encroaching vegetation, building small rock walls, raking, shoveling, and tamping.) No volunteer is ever expected to do any task that they think will injure them. We take frequent water and rest breaks, and a lunch break.
Finishing up:
We stop work, do a tool inventory, and hike back to the trailhead. We will have cold soft drinks, light snacks, and watermelon. (Watermelon is a tradition!)
Now for some pictures. 1., some of the tools; 2., instructions and safety briefing; 3., some of the places we work. 7BT, SMF, Barr.
Crowe Gulch Mystery
FOTP trail crew volunteers, were last seen entering Bigfoot territory on the Crowe Gulch trail on the morning of August 26, 2023. The mission: clear corridor on this trail and the Mt. Esther trail in preparation for the Bigfoot Benefit hike last fall … as Denise, Carol, and Doug entered the mist they encountered bigfoot … they haven’t been seen since, or have they?
August 2023 News Letter – Fenceline Repairs
Well, that tumbling boulder sure gave us a lot of things to fix on Barr trail. Here are some pictures of what we were doing on our first four days of fence repair, May 20 and 25, and June 8 and 11.
May 20: Our first job was to make a good path around the boulder. Here’s me sawing through the mangled trunk of the tree that finally stopped the boulder.
We’ve talked about “the boulder” that tumbled down the hillside and crashed through the fence in multiple places. But there was more than one boulder tumbling down the hill, although we don’t really know how many. It’s clear this smaller (about 4’x2’x3’) boulder (to the left of the trail in the next picture) was a new arrival. We’re glad it stopped where it did. And we decided to leave it right where it is, and build the new fence around it.
On May 25 we were back on Barr trail, doing routine (not boulder damage) post and rail work Here’s Mike installing a new fence rail in a scenic location.
Then we needed to do some quick repairs on the tread on the trail segment above the boulder. Here Susan argues with Brian while I take pictures and Courteney does all the work
On June 8 we were back to repairing fence damaged by the boulder above SB9. Here’s Shanda getting ready to drill the holes in the post so she can attach the rails.
Finally, on June 11 we built a drain structure on the trail before we replaced the segment of fence that now goes over it. Since the big boulder followed the existing drainage channel, we decided it would be a good place to enhance and armor the drain. The drawing on the picture explains what we want it to do. And so far, it’s doing its job very well.
So that’s what we got done by June 11. But wait, there’s more!
We’ve done much more than this. Stay tuned, I’ll get another newsletter out as soon as I can. Better yet, there are still a few more workdays on the schedule this season. Join us and see for yourself!
Sign up at https://friendsofthepeak.org/sign-up/
– Steve Driska
