I known it's been awhile and I've already been to 2 other places since Sedona, but I'll do my best filling in the details! I was only there 4 days so it shouldn't be too bad of a review.
Because Sedona is so close to Flagstaff, when we left on Tuesday we arrived in Sedona with enough time to get some work done. We set up our camp which was located at the trail head of where we were working. It was not actually a camping spot, but we were obviously given permission to be camping there. We were also near a wash, which is kind of like a creek. As it turns out some local wildlife enjoy washes so we had to be extra careful about leaving things with a scent in our tents or around camps. One of the biggest animal concerns were javelinas, which look like pigs. They're a lot like raccoons and have become like scavengers, and would love to rip through tents if they smelled something. We saw one while on the trail, but thankfully didn't have any problems in camp!.
I was working with a small crew this week of 6 people. There was Jenny, Neil, Lionel, the crew leader Ally, and another crew leader type supervisor named Mark. Jenny is from Florida and actually just finished an internship as a marine mammal trainer. Neil is from a suburb of Chicago as well, so we are both enjoying our time in Arizona! Lionel is Loren's brother, from my last project. It was pretty funny to be on a crew with both of them and hear them make fun of each other. Ally is from New England and has been with ACE for about a year. Mark is the head trail guy in ACE and also knows a lot about rock work, which is why he was with us. He stayed for a few days and then another guy named Adam came in to help us finish the rest of the work.
The purpose of this hitch was to armor the trail with rocks. This protects the trail from the constant use of bikes, hikers, and water that can wear down the tread of the trail. We were also on an S curve type section, so there were two parts that were banked with large, flat rocks. This was for the enjoyment of the mountain bikers who can coast along the banks without slowing down.
In order to armor the trail we needed A LOT of rocks. This meant that most of the first day we were there was gathering rocks of all sizes. This was actually difficult because this project had already been started by a volunteer group the week before. It was also something I helped out with on one of my off days the week before. We basically got all the best rocks already, so when I went back there with a crew we were forced to extend our search a little bit further to find some good rocks.
Once we got the rocks we started to put them in the trail. They didn't need to go that deeply into the trail, and we also needed to make sure there was good texture and the rocks weren't perfectly even, like a patio. The texture and unevenness of the rocks prevents slipping because of the fine, loose dirt and water. We still needed to make sure the rocks were getting good contact with the other rocks around it, and also staying in line with the larger anchor rocks. It was a lot like putting together a puzzle with lots of different shapes and sizes. You would place a rock and make sure it was solid- that meant that there wasn't a wobble. If there was a wobble then you could chisel the rock and/or try and shape the hole to fit the rock better. Once that rock was placed you'd get another rock that had nice contact and try and fit it with the rock you just placed. Good rock contact basically means that you have relatively matched sides, as opposed to a pointy rock and a flat sided rock. When one section was finished we would then take a bunch of smaller rocks and fill the holes and cracks with crush, which is just the crushed rock. This helps to further stabilize and support the rocks in the trail.
One of the tasks we had during our 4 days was breaking up a huge boulder to get more rocks to use since we needed so many. This consisted of using a double jack, which is like a sledgehammer, and another tool that looks like a sledgehammer with a bit of a wedge. You place the wedge on the rock where you want a crack to form, and you hit the wedge with the double jack. Slowly but surely a crack forms, and eventually large pieces of rock break off! There is definitely something satisfying about hitting the crap out of a huge boulder for a few hours and getting it to break exactly the way you want!
So in order to get to the spot on the trail we were working on, we ended up taking a bit of a short cut on the trail. The regular trail we first took was about a mile long I believe. I'm unsure how much shorter the short cut was, but it only took us about a half hour or so to hike to the work site. It was also A TON more fun! We hiked up through a wash and there were a few spots with large rocks that we had to climb up a bit. There was also was section where we had to hike up a steep part of slick rock to get to the trail. It was definitely a great start to each day! We took a different short cut after work as well that was pretty steep. This was another fun trail though because it gave us some great views through the cliffs as we were walking!
On Friday, the last day of our hitch, we found out that one of us was needed to help out in Kofa, which is in southern Arizona. We were told that we would be contacted if we were going to be switching projects. As it turns out, Saturday night I was told that I would be heading to a different crew, but in Tonto National Forest instead of Kofa. I left for this project on Sunday morning, which was the beginning of my next interesting adventure!
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