Hitch Number One

27 February - 6 March 2011
Anza Borrego Desert State Park

Scissors Crossing near Julian CA
Tule Springs & Coyote Canyon near Anza CA

The snowy southern California weather urged the crew further south than originally intended for this first hitch shared with our sister PCT crew. The winter storms had already delayed the hitch by two days, and as all the snow melted, the unimproved roads proved too saturated for the caravan to safely drive over. Functioning as a large crew of 12, the SCA crews were also joined by two stellar PCTA volunteers, Levi and Roger.

The crews set up camp at Scissors Crossing for the first couple of days, just east of the town of Julian, CA. Yes, that town’s world famous pie was tested. Jacintha Roemer, an Eastern Medicine Masters student, visited from San Diego and shared her knowledge of nutrition and bodywork with the crews.

PCTA section chief George Boone, steadfast PCTA volunteer Pete Fish, and PCTA regional representative Sam Commarto joined the crews on Monday and trained them in brush saw use and maintenance. Through years of development, PCTA staff and volunteers have taken beefed up weedwhacker bodies and attached a circular saw blade at the headstock for ultimate corridor brushing purposes.

After a day and a half of brush work at Scissors Crossing, the road near Anza had dried out enough to allow the crews to head back to their originally intended project location of Tule Springs. At Tule Springs the crews brushed trail corridor, restored tread, and reworked drainages. One crew spent a day back at the workskills training site of Coyote Canyon to put the finishing touches on a trail realignment and install a rock drainage structure.

until next time,
Heidi

In Total:
3 miles trail brushed
8982 feet trail restored (debermed, derocked, rebenched)
19 drain dips installed
2 rock waterbars installed
2 drainages reconstructed
120 feet of tread realigned
Appx. 39 miles per person walked