CAMBA Call for volunteers - for leaf blowing
We are approaching the end of the riding season, or maybe depending on your riding style, about to enter another riding season with fat biking. Many riders consider Fall to be one of the best times to ride with good temps and no bugs. Then there are the leaves. CAMBA has found many eager volunteers wanting to get out to clear trails to extend the riding season and as you know CAMBA loves volunteers but we want to make sure the trails are properly cleared to allow for water drainage. Here are a couple of things to consider:
1. With a large trail network and varied forest, leaves are dropping at varying rates. Many of the trails are now ready to be cleared.
2. “Think like water”, was that Bruce Lee that said that? When clearing trails the most important piece is clearing the drainages. If not cleared properly, the Fall debris will block water drainage and lead to rapid trail degradation
3. When blowing leaves off the trail, expect to travel slower than 1 mile of trail per hour. If you are moving quicker than that, there's a good chance there isn't enough time spent clearing drainages or blowing the leaves far enough off the trail. You really want to blast them off as best you can and not cause piles at the edges of the trail. On bench cut trails make sure you are blowing them away on the downslope.
4. This is a huge undertaking and we want to be organized in how we accomplish this. Please only reply to ryaspo@gmail.com (avoid reply all so there isn't a huge email chain) and I will keep a report. If you are a trail steward, attempt to clear some of your section or report updated conditions. Some stewards have larger sections of trail and aren't expected to blow the entire section.
5. If you need equipment, reach out to rbergin@cambatrails.org to arrange for leaf blower pickup. If you would like reimbursement for fuel shoot me an email, copy of receipt and I will work with Bert on reimbursement.
6. There will be an instructional video resource on the CAMBA website.