Mt. of the Holy Cross Trip Report 07/05/2016

Peak(s):	Mt. of the Holy Cross - 14,007 feet
Date Posted:	07/05/2016
Date Climbed:	07/01/2016
Author:	jsdratm

CFI Project on Holy Cross
This year I signed up for my first trail work project with the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, which is working to make our 14er trails sustainable around the state. After filling out an online application, I was notified via email that I was selected to participate on the Mount of the Holy Cross project from July 1-4. On July 1st, I left Boulder early and made my way out to Minturn, then headed up Tigiwon Road. It was pretty rainy and the road was muddy, but I made it up to the trailhead and waited until noon for fellow volunteers and staff to arrive. As it stood, we had 10 volunteers show up and two staff members (Rob and Abby) from CFI to lead us. Who were these volunteers? Some of us were from Colorado, but we also had a couple from Florida, a person from Arizona, and people from other places like Pennsylvania. Some of us had done trail work before, others hadn't. After an orientation, we were given free personal food (granola bars, oatmeal, bagels, nuts, peanut butter, fruit, Clif Bars) to cover our breakfast and lunch over the next four days. We were also given portions of the group dinner and cooking equipment to put in our bags for the pack in. Finally, we received our hard hats, gloves, and selected from a variety of tools to carry in for the project. After that, we started out on the hike in to our campsite, climbing slowly up to Half Moon Pass and down to the creek crossing. We set up camp next to the USFS staff and then prepared dinner and filtered water before going to bed. It rained quite a bit that evening and night. On July 2nd, we had our breakfast and headed up to the work site at 12,000 feet. The trail here was mostly dirt and quite eroded, exposing the soil and roots of the surrounding tundra. Rob started out by showing us a staircase that CFI had built in a previous season as an example of how to construct a solid and sustainable staircase. Rob then split us up into teams to tackle separate areas. My team's goal was to start a staircase up the eroded section, beginning with a very large foundation sleeper rock step. With it raining off and on, Rob helped us find a massive flat rock up the hill from the trail. We excavated it with our pick axes and found that it was quite deep and oddly shaped on the bottom. This made it very heavy and difficult to move, but we were able to do so using rock bars to lift the rock, then propping it up with rocks until it was rotated enough that we could flip it over. Eventually we got it over the hill and rolled it down to the trail, where fellow teammates had dug a large hole in the trail to accommodate it. Unfortunately, it took us quite a bit of time and effort to get it in the correct orientation due to the unusual shape of the bottom of the rock. Finally, the day ended and we hiked back down to cook dinner and go to bed. On July 3rd, we hiked back up to the work site and finished correcting the orientation of our first step, then proceeded to find a second step. Rob helped us find a nice flat and evenly shaped rock that would serve as our next step and we rolled it up and over the hill to the trail. We removed enough soil above our foundation step to fit our new step in and put it in place. On the sides of our two steps, we put in crib rocks to brace the steps in place and discourage hikers from going off trail. A surprise came when Jerry Mack, controller from the CFI office, showed up to hang out with us and check out our work, having hiked in for the day. Finally, with the day drawing to a close, we put the excavated dirt into the gaps between the steps and cribs to stabilize everything. At the end, we were able to jump up and down on the steps without them moving. A number of hikers passing up the trail tested out our new steps and commented positively, thanking us for our work. The other teams also did a great job of installing steps, bringing the total number of new rock steps to 6. After admiring our work, we packed up the tools and headed back down to the campsite to cook dinner and go to bed. On July 4th, we packed up our campsite and headed back over Half Moon Pass to the trailhead. Rob gave us evaluation forms to fill out and some swag after we gave back the CFI equipment. After a farewell speech, everyone talked for a while before hitting the road to go home. In summary, I just wanted to write this up to give everyone an account of what it is like to go on a CFI trail work project. I had never installed rock steps before and it gave me a great appreciation for all the hard work that has gone into our trails here in Colorado. I am also very happy to see the CFI operations first hand and how efficient they are with our donations. The staff members I worked with were very professional, motivated, and experienced. If you are interested in helping out with the CFI, you can donate your money and/or time. If you want to work on a trail project, all you need is some motivation and physical conditioning. Yes, it is physically challenging, but it gives you a chance to leave a positive impact on our mountains that will last for hundreds of years. Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

CFI Project on Holy Cross

This year I signed up for my first trail work project with the Colorado Fourteeners Initiative, which is working to make our 14er trails sustainable around the state. After filling out an online application, I was notified via email that I was selected to participate on the Mount of the Holy Cross project from July 1-4.

On July 1st, I left Boulder early and made my way out to Minturn, then headed up Tigiwon Road. It was pretty rainy and the road was muddy, but I made it up to the trailhead and waited until noon for fellow volunteers and staff to arrive. As it stood, we had 10 volunteers show up and two staff members (Rob and Abby) from CFI to lead us. Who were these volunteers? Some of us were from Colorado, but we also had a couple from Florida, a person from Arizona, and people from other places like Pennsylvania. Some of us had done trail work before, others hadn't.

After an orientation, we were given free personal food (granola bars, oatmeal, bagels, nuts, peanut butter, fruit, Clif Bars) to cover our breakfast and lunch over the next four days. We were also given portions of the group dinner and cooking equipment to put in our bags for the pack in. Finally, we received our hard hats, gloves, and selected from a variety of tools to carry in for the project.

After that, we started out on the hike in to our campsite, climbing slowly up to Half Moon Pass and down to the creek crossing. We set up camp next to the USFS staff and then prepared dinner and filtered water before going to bed. It rained quite a bit that evening and night.

On July 2nd, we had our breakfast and headed up to the work site at 12,000 feet. The trail here was mostly dirt and quite eroded, exposing the soil and roots of the surrounding tundra. Rob started out by showing us a staircase that CFI had built in a previous season as an example of how to construct a solid and sustainable staircase. Rob then split us up into teams to tackle separate areas. My team's goal was to start a staircase up the eroded section, beginning with a very large foundation sleeper rock step.

With it raining off and on, Rob helped us find a massive flat rock up the hill from the trail. We excavated it with our pick axes and found that it was quite deep and oddly shaped on the bottom. This made it very heavy and difficult to move, but we were able to do so using rock bars to lift the rock, then propping it up with rocks until it was rotated enough that we could flip it over. Eventually we got it over the hill and rolled it down to the trail, where fellow teammates had dug a large hole in the trail to accommodate it. Unfortunately, it took us quite a bit of time and effort to get it in the correct orientation due to the unusual shape of the bottom of the rock. Finally, the day ended and we hiked back down to cook dinner and go to bed.

On July 3rd, we hiked back up to the work site and finished correcting the orientation of our first step, then proceeded to find a second step. Rob helped us find a nice flat and evenly shaped rock that would serve as our next step and we rolled it up and over the hill to the trail. We removed enough soil above our foundation step to fit our new step in and put it in place. On the sides of our two steps, we put in crib rocks to brace the steps in place and discourage hikers from going off trail. A surprise came when Jerry Mack, controller from the CFI office, showed up to hang out with us and check out our work, having hiked in for the day. Finally, with the day drawing to a close, we put the excavated dirt into the gaps between the steps and cribs to stabilize everything. At the end, we were able to jump up and down on the steps without them moving. A number of hikers passing up the trail tested out our new steps and commented positively, thanking us for our work.

The other teams also did a great job of installing steps, bringing the total number of new rock steps to 6. After admiring our work, we packed up the tools and headed back down to the campsite to cook dinner and go to bed.

On July 4th, we packed up our campsite and headed back over Half Moon Pass to the trailhead. Rob gave us evaluation forms to fill out and some swag after we gave back the CFI equipment. After a farewell speech, everyone talked for a while before hitting the road to go home.

In summary, I just wanted to write this up to give everyone an account of what it is like to go on a CFI trail work project. I had never installed rock steps before and it gave me a great appreciation for all the hard work that has gone into our trails here in Colorado. I am also very happy to see the CFI operations first hand and how efficient they are with our donations. The staff members I worked with were very professional, motivated, and experienced.

If you are interested in helping out with the CFI, you can donate your money and/or time. If you want to work on a trail project, all you need is some motivation and physical conditioning. Yes, it is physically challenging, but it gives you a chance to leave a positive impact on our mountains that will last for hundreds of years.

Thumbnails for uploaded photos (click to open slideshow):

Comments or Questions

Krullin_14ers	Great write up... 7/5/2016 11:13pm I enjoyed reading about the operations aspect of a CFI trip. Sounds like a lot of work. Thanks for volunteering your time.
Jay521	Thank you... 7/6/2016 7:29am ... for your hard work!
boudreaux	Loving'em Back!! 7/6/2016 9:24am Nice Report on how it's done! I tried to hook up with the crew on Bierstadt 10 days ago, but missed their meeting at the upper parking at Guanella. We hiked up the mountain and never saw anyone til we came down and there they were working the trail just several hundred yards from the TH. For my part, I did work on the trail for more than an hour diverting water running down the trail into the trenches that were built last year. Picked up some trash at the summit as well. I mostly got cold indifferent stares, but I felt good that I somehow contributed even though I missed the real work going on way below. I would have enjoyed getting some professional instruction and guidance from the crew, but oh well, I had fun anyway. We talked to the trail leader and he was very apologetic, professional and kind, so there will be a next time in the future! Hopefully, we see more of these kinds of TR's!! Thank you jsdratm!
ckester1717	Cross Couloir 7/6/2016 2:01pm Did you by chance see or take pictures of the cross couloir? I am curious about a ski descent.

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