March 13, 2014 by New Mexico Rails-to-Trails Association

FEBRUARY 2014 WORKDAY SUCCESS

We had yet another very successful workday this month! We had a great turnout with 21 volunteers to include two out of state visitors — Roger and Holly Rosin — from Minnesota. They were corralled in to our workday by Rails-to-Trails member John Reimer.

Thirteen volunteers gathered at the parking area at the top of the Bridal Veil Falls trail and walked the 1/2 mile down-trail to the worksite where 2 Forest Service representatives, Dario Samora and Heather Burman (along with other volunteer trail workers) met everyone after using a private back road to deliver an excavator and hand tools needed for the job.

Dario, under the guidance of Heather, dug almost 450 feet of drainage ditch with the excavator. The huge amount of resulting dirt and rocks had to be moved and relocated by hand and wheelbarrow to fill in eroding sections of the trail and to smooth the trail tread.

The new ditch, and another 600 feet or so of existing ditch, had to be cleared of debris, rocks, shrubs, and some of the original rail road ties. Of course, all the railroad memorabilia was carefully repositioned along the trail out of the path of potential water damage.

One particularly large rock in the path of the excavator had to be broken with chisel and sledge into several manageable pieces for moving — it was a really back-breaking and bone jarring ordeal!

All this “chain-gang” type rock and dirt work, and a warm day, proved to be very exhausting, even to the five Holloman volunteers whom we relied on for their strong backs while those who were a little older and smart enough not to get caught up in the heavy rock stuff and pushing wheelbarrows, cleared culverts in the area and “beautified” the trail by smoothing the dirt and lining the trail with rocks.

Next month, we plan to begin restoring a 100+ year old erosion control structure and continue trail repair, all in this same area.

Just a few of our volunteers for the day

Rails-to-Trails crew heading up the trail

Some volunteers hauling some of the seemingly endless dirt and rocks

Regulars Glen Fess and Doug Holcolmb along with another dedicated volunteer hauling more dirt!

Making big rocks into small rocks!

As always, we’ve got many more photos! Check them out on our official Flickr page!

February 13, 2014 by New Mexico Rails-to-Trails Association

Workday – February 15th!

What we’ll be doing: We will be working on the upper part of the Bridal Veil Falls (BVF) Trail repairing erosion damage and improving erosion control on the railroad bed. We may have some heavy equipment available to help ditch cleanout and dirt moving. Also, if approval is obtained in time, we will start a major repair/rebuild effort of a large erosion control structure that has significant damage — its been in place over 100 years. Be sure to bring your own drinking water, sun protection, work gloves and sturdy boots. All tools will be provided. We plan to work until noon.

When/Where: Saturday, February 15th, 2014. Meet at 9am at the Harris Hollow gate area (directions below). We’ll walk downhill from there to the Falls and work areas. We have special permission from the private land owner to use this shortcut. We plan to work until noon.

Directions to the Bridal Veil Falls Upper Trail head from Hwy 82 in High Rolls (click this link for a Google map): The Harris Hollow gate is north of High Rolls. From Hwy 82 in High Rolls, turn north at the High Rolls General store onto Cherry Blossom Lane for .3 miles, the west (left) at the stop sign onto Cottage Row. Drive .45 miles and turn north (right) onto Fresnal Canyon Road and travel .9 miles to the upper trailhead on the left. This is also the location of the lower trail head of the Grand View Trail.

If you’ve never been to Bridal Veil Falls, this is a great opportunity!

Thanks!

If you need any additional information, please call 575-434-1949 (ask for Grady) or e-mail nmrailtrails@gmail.com

October 15, 2013 by New Mexico Rails-to-Trails Association

SEPTEMBER 2013 WORKDAY SUCCESS

We had another good turn out on our monthly volunteer work day! Again, we had 18 volunteers helping make the Bridal Veil Falls trail a nicer place to visit! We met up at the Harris Hollow gate and hiked in using a little shortcut that has been made available to Rails-to-Trails members only on volunteer work days. Heather Burman, the Forest Service representative, met us with all the tools and drove down and parked near the bottom of the access road. Heather took two volunteers and met up with Debi Maucione at the Switchback trail area to clear some fallen trees while the main crew work around the Bridal Veil Falls area.

A bunch of brush was cleared from beneath the falls area and several water bars were placed across the ramp leading up to the shelter area. The steps leading up to the shelter were cleared of mud and debris.

A couple of water bars were built across the trail uphill from the falls and a major water damage repair was done on the bypass immediately up trail from the Pinto site.

Water bar crew!

Surprisingly, most of the trails in the area were in pretty good shape considering the recent excessive amount of rain! Thanks again to all our volunteers and we’ll see you next month!