Trail Work in the Big Bend

They don’t just spontaneously sprout from the ground, cut and groomed, ready to ride.  Often times they begin as game or live-stock trails; some times they are ancient paths used for generations to cross the land; quite often, they follow the natural lay of the land while including all sorts of technical features.  In all cases, it takes the love, sweat and devotion of many people to scout, build and maintain the trails we all enjoy, where-ever those trails may be.

Down here in Terlingua, the trails are maintained through the efforts of many committed volunteers organized by the Big Bend Trails Alliance and the Big Bend Ranch State Park.  While all of us who ride here will stop and fix a section when we come across it, sometimes it takes an organized effort to get some serious work done.  Last Saturday was just such an occasion.

Twelve hearty souls met at the East Contrabondo Trail-head for a day of hard work under the 90degree heat.  Cutting back hugely overgrown grasses and nipping encroaching cacti branches; erecting cairns and redefining trails; shoring-up bench-cuts and mitigating erosion caused by the summer rains are all just part of the course when working on trails here in the desert.

Myself, Reilly and Zac were charged with a very special task; installing large stones on a steep yet very loose climb out of an arroyo on the Dog Cholla Trail.  Startiung just above where the water flows, would dig a narrow trench where we installed huge rock slabs like graveyard head-stones.  Between those, we would lay flat about three or four other huge great stones to create a sort of pathway.

Regrettably, the closest stones we could use were about a 1/4 mile away.  About every 45mins and with big sighs, we would go hunting for stones weighing 40-75lbs.  It was the hardest part of the whole operation.  Carrying those stones, pushing the dilapidated, heavily-laden wheel-barrow up hills as the sun beat down upon us.  It was tough, tiring work, but well worth it.  By the end of the day, the trail was finally ridable!

With the work completed, we all enjoyed a hearty meal provided by the BBTA at Desert Sports as we splashed about in a raft filled with cold water.  On Sunday, we returned to the State Park for the weekly Sunday mountain-bike ride and to enjoy the fruits of our labour.

 

DamnWheelBarrow
Frakes hauling rock. Notice how the bent stays have caused the wheel to sag, resting on the wheel!
1stTombstone
Digging the trench for the first head-stone
ZachDougReilly
Zach Doug and Reilly on the Dog Cholla Trail

Progress2
Swing that pick, son!

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Progress1
Reilly and Zach doing strong work to make the trail rideable

 

ReillyDeathStar
Frakes clear-cutting the jungle
MikeLong
Mike
MexicanLazyBoy
Zach shows us all how it’s done
FrakesJeff
Reilly and Jeff take advantage of the truck’s shade
Billy
Billy
Amber
State Park trail guru, Amber, giving directions
Ahhhh
Ahhhhh, cold feet after a hot day