7/24: Rollins by Pick & Shovel

Time for a change in  focus. No trees to harvest or planks to lug, just a few rocks to move. Thursday 7/24 was over 90 in the valleys, but much cooler at 2600' in the shade of spruce trees. By 1000, two of us, Chuck and TM Craig, hiked 0.2 miles up Rollins
Trail to add a side ditch by the trail in a 4' deep gully that never had one before.

Both uphill and downhill from this gully , the trail has waterbars and ditches. They work fairly well to keep the mineral soil there well enough drained that it stays trodden hard and stable. This was the only remaining bit that lacked these features.

Just above the next waterbar downhill (we rebuilt 4 years ago) we added a 1.5'x3' paver. We deepened the existing flowage
(to left if facing uphill) and added 8 rocks beside the ditch to hold soil on the treadway, which is where we added gravel from the ditch. Beyond there, the grade eases and the trail widens, enough so the ditch no further needs those rocks revetting soil.

Where hikers must cross the ditch to the existing trail, we planted a largish stone slab as a paver. To help water decide to stay in the ditch, we added a small 3-rock waterbar angled at 45 degrees to the flowing water, the rocks 2/3 buried in tamped soil.
Now backed by several more rocks we had not yet used, we figured this job is done for now. 20' ditch, 2 pavers, 3-rock waterbar. 2 crew, total 8 hours. This work is as much art as it is science, so practice cannot make perfect. But it does make better, and irregular materials require we keep minds open to unexpected uses for them.

Craig Sanborn,  CHVTC
Trailmaster