[at-l] Trail Stuff (sorry..no political content. :-D)

[pmags at yahoo.com (Paul Magnanti)]

Instead or persuing some poltical websites this
weekend did some trail restoration. Odd, but true. Did
something outdoor related! ;-)

Buffalo Mountain is just outside of Silverthrone, a
popular CDT re-supply town.  The "trail" system on
this mountain was, up until this year, a series of use
trail going steeply up the mountain. Erosion was
terrible, the "trail" was steep and dangerous. Our
mission was to give Ma Naure a leg-up on restoring the
eroded part of the mountain. Closed down the old
trail, made some check dams and laid down debris to
help re-veg the old trail area. Did some tundra
transplanting. Hopefully the mountain will heal. The
new trail looks better and this popular mountain
should not have quite the erosion problem in 3-5 yrs
if all goes well. 

Had to hike up two miles (and 2000 feet) with the
equipment. Somehow I wound up carrying two rock bars
(20 lbs each). :O  Good Magnanti "pack mule" genes.
;-)
There was a touch of autumn in the morning air and
some of the north facing slopes of nearby mountains
already have some of the aspen starting to change to a
golden hue. Nice views of the Divide, could see Grays
and Torries (two 14ers, Grays is on one of the CDT
routes) and Copper Mountain. A ski area that is
popular for both CDTers and Colorado Trail hikers for
re-supply. Will be there soon! The worksite for
Saturday was roughly 12000 feet. Nothing like moving
rocks and swinging picks at this elevation! :D  Sunday
worked a little lower in the woods doing similar work.

As always, hard but rewarding work. Good to give back.


Pics of the trail work at:
http://gallery.backcountry.net/tw?&page=2

Monday night did a night hike in the nearby Boulder
foothils. Just myself and a friend recently returned
from a solo bike tour of India. Six months away! She
let on she is afraid of the dark..which is a rather
funny fear to have when night hiking. ;-)
Long story short, did about an 8 mile loop or so with
~3000 feet elevation gain. Not bad for an after work
stroll. ;-) The highlight of the night was seeing
these green eyes coming down the trail towards us.
Mandy's night phobia kicked in to say the least. It
ended up being a fox! Very cool as it passed only
about 7-8 feet from us. Mandy did not think it was
quite as cool...
Did a good chunk of the backside of the Mountain Park
system, hardly saw anyone. All in all, good way to
spend the evening.


Only 1.5 weeks until the Colorado Trail. Woo hoo!




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The true harvest of my life is intangible.... a little stardust caught, a portion of the rainbow I have clutched
--Thoreau
http://www.magnanti.com