Last Friday (4/1/2011) I hiked part of the Maroon Bells Trail and was impressed by the improvements made by the GVM Trails Committee. Here’s a photo of my nephew’s foot next to one of the newly painted orange trail markers. Thanks, Trails Committee!

6/28/2010 Email from Odell: “Last week after working on the Maroon Bells/Crellin Canyon intersection we decided to establish a regular schedule for working on GVM trails.

Beginning this week we will work on a trail every Thursday afternoon beginning at 3:00 … We will also begin marking trails [where needed] using orange paint. I have the paint and throw away brushes. The old blue plastic ribbon fades into invisibility, rots, falls on the ground, and probably leaves plastic in the ground for 10,000 years. Paint lasts longer on the trees and rocks, is a lot more visible, and when it washes away is less damaging. Last week I got orange paint on my good hiking boots so wear cheap boots!

This Thursday we will continue with work on the Maroon Bells trails. This will require chain saws, loppers, and other cutting grasses and limbs tools. I don’t think we’ll need weed eaters. I’ll bring my chain saw, Kevlar safety chaps [I highly recommend ALWAYS wearing chaps when using a chain saw–I didn’t ONE time only and yes cut my leg], and loppers. We’ll meet at the Crellin Canyon Trail head on Green Mountain. Let me know if you can come.

Below is my guessed at schedule. If you know of things that need doing we’ll do them even if we need to change the schedule. The Porter Trail has effectively disappeared! The trail head signs are there but no evidence of a trail so that will mean a lot of work! I’m going to work on that on my own time as well.

July 1 — Maroon Bells
July 8 — Sloan
July 15 — Asbury
July 22 — Mt. Moriah & Batterson Loop
July 29 — Porter

Also, if you know of someone who should be on my mailing list let me know.

6/29/2010 Email response from Linda B: “This is a great start Odell! I tried to clean up the grasses along the trail on the Sloan and Mt. Moriah trails the other day with my grass whip, and that was hopeless. Also, I kept hitting rock — which dulls the scythe and might create sparks. So loppers are a better choice, but back-breaking. I’ll try to help on the trails here — whenever I am able.

How are you going to mark the trails where there are no trees and just low-laying rocks? Maybe a few orange painted wood markers, similar to the ones painted blue up the Mt. Moriah trail, would be helpful. T-posts are too obtrusive but there are long stretches where paint just won’t work.”

7/27/09 Today at 5:00pm, weather permitting, several members of the Ecology Committee will meet at Linda B‘s house to clear trails using hand and power weed whackers. Linda explained the situation: “mostly…. the trails on the north side of Crellin are overgrown and harder to find. The main problem is “cheat grass” — lots of it, all gone to viable seed but easy to slash away from the sides of the trails!”