VWA Black Cone Trail Project:
Project Progress Reports
Feb 2004
May 2003 Trailwork Trip Report
On May 7 through 11, 2003, four members of the volunteer VWA Trail Crew hiked in to Stawberry Camp from Marble Peak and set up base camp for 3 solid days of trailwork (not counting the days we hiked in and out) on the Black Cone Trail. The professional Forest Service trail crew - the Sierra Trail Shots - were due to arrive at Black Cone Camp along with their mule train of gear and supplies on May 8, and we needed to make sure that everything was in order for their arrival as well as plenty of trail corridor brushed and ready for them to work the tread. The money to pay this crew as well as their pack support was raised in advance by the VWA membership with the help of a generous 2-for-1 matching grant.
Much to our delight we found that Mark Maslow and his national Sierra Club crew had done an excellent job of opening up the Black Cone Trail for packstock from Strawberry up to Black Cone Camp the week before. The VWA crew spent some time making sure that Black Cone Camp and its access trail were clear, then started brushing northward from the camp along the Black Cone Trail.
A highlight of the trip was looking out across the headwater tributary of the north fork Big Sur river early Thursday afternoon and seeing the pack train on their way in to Black Cone Camp - 5 laden mules, 2 saddle horses and 2 riders. It's likely that trail hasn't seen a string of mules like that in 25 years or more. The VWA crew assisted Mark Conway the packer and Monterey District Wilderness Manager Pat Bailey in unloading the mules at Black Cone Camp, then they turned right around and made the long 12 mile ride back out to Arroyo Seco the same day they came in. An hour later the 5-person trail crew showed up, set up camp, and settled in.
After a nice night at Strawberry base camp the VWA Crew once again climbed up the BCT to start the day's work and were amazed and delighted at how much treadwork the Trail Shots had accomplished in just a couple of hours that first morning. Dave, Jen, Corey, Josh and Dan are hard-working trail professionals who know how to get good work done. It was more than obvious that we had found the right folks for the job.
By the end of their 6-day hitch on the BCT, the Trail Shots had reworked the badly sloping and deteriorated tread from the top of the dozer cut above Strawberry all the way up to a point well north of Turnaround Ridge - some of the worst tread on the entire trail. All reports from the field indicate that it is now a pleasure to hike.
At present the VWA is pursuing additional grant money (and we will of course gratefully accept donations to the cause) in order to bring back the Sierra Trail Shots to work the balance of the BCT tread as necessary. Ongoing volunteer efforts on the BCT can be followed by way of the VWA Trail Crew pages.
Fall 2002
Black Cone Trail Challenge Grant Success
We are happy to announce that the BCT Challenge Grant was an overwhelming success! Having been presented with the opportunity to receive a $5,000 2-for-1 matching grant if we could raise $2,500 from within our organization, the VWA membership stepped up to the challenge by exceeding the needed amount and contributing a grand total of $3,096. With the $5,000 grant thus secured, our own contributions, and the previously received $3,000 grant from Power Bar, we now have $11,000 to use toward re-grading the tread on the Black Cone Trail.
The re-grading portion of the Black Cone Trail project received a temporary setback earlier this year when we were informed by the Forest Service that the rare plant survey conducted by Forest Service personnel in 2001 was inadequate for the required approval process. To satisfy the new Forest Service requirement, a new rare plant survey was conducted by a team of volunteer botanists, including BLM botanists Julie Anne and Bruce Delgado and VWA members Nikki Nedeff and Dave Nelson. The southern half of the trail was surveyed in April 2002 and the northern half surveyed in May 2002. The survey is now complete and has been approved by the Forest Service Botanist. No listed species were found that would be impacted by our proposal to re-grade the tread of the Black Cone Trail.
Archeologist Gary Breschini has completed the archeological survey of the trail corridor and has given the project an all-clear, having determined that no historic or archeological sites will be affected by re-grading the trail.
With the rare plant and archeological surveys now complete and approved by the Forest Service and with our funding in place, we will now work with the Forest Service to schedule a Forest Service enterprise trail crew to re-grade the most difficult portions of the Black Cone Trail tread in the spring of 2003. The VWA Trail Crew will clear dead falls from the Marble Peak Trail in advance of the Forest Service Crew to insure that their pack stock has access to Strawberry Valley. The VWA crew will also work with the Forest Service crew by clearing brush ahead of their re-grading work. We will also encourage our project partners including the Sierra Club, Stevenson School and the Ventana Mounted Assistance Group to join in this last push to re-establish the historic Black Cone Trail. The schedule for these 2003 work trips will distributed on the VWA server list.
December 26, 2001
Black Cone Trail Challenge Grant Awarded
BACKGROUND
Many of you are familiar with the incredibly scenic Black Cone Trail deep in the heart of the Ventana Wilderness, and likely also with the combined endeavors of the VWA Trail Crew, the Sierra Club, the Stevenson School, the Ventana Mounted Assistance Group and the US Forest Service to reclaim this key route for the Ventana trail system following the Kirk Fire of 1999. The fire did a lot of the work for us by effectively brushing out the entire length of the trail, but the fact that the trail hadn't been used for 20 years has left the tread a little rough and in need of a fair amount of work. Volunteers can take on some of this, but to get it done in a timely fashion will require a paid crew of professionals, which of course costs money. We figure that to do it right is going to cost about $10,000 to $12,000.
THE CHALLENGE
So far the Ventana Wilderness Alliance has raised $3,000 in grant money from the Powerbar Corporation specifically for the Black Cone Trail project, which is a big step in the right direction. And very recently an anonymous benefactor has come forward and pledged a generous $5,000 toward the project in the form of a 2-for-1 matching grant. So what we need now are donations toward this matching grant from our members and the public at large, each dollar of which will be matched by two dollars from the BCT Match Grant. In other words, every dollar donated to the project puts $3.00 into the Black Cone Trail coffer - $25 gets us $75, $50 gets us $150, $100 gets us $300, and on up to a total of $2,500 getting us $7,500 when all is said and done. Any donations made toward the matching grant as well as the grant itself will be specifically earmarked for the Black Cone Trail project, and can only be used toward the re-establishment of the Black Cone Trail.
So for those of you who have hiked the Black Cone Trail, plan to hike the Black Cone Trail, or just like the idea of backcountry trails in useable condition, this is an excellent opportunity to make your fully tax-deductible contribution to the effort go three times as far! So please, take a moment to pry open those checkbooks and write up a little "note of support" to the Black Cone Trail, and to Wilderness Walking in general.
HOW TO CONTRIBUTE
To contribute, simply make checks in any amount payable to "Ventana Wilderness Alliance" with a notation on the check of "Black Cone Trail." The matching grant has a time limitation of March 15, so please make your contribution to this important project before that date in order to have your dollars tripled. Mail checks to:
Ventana Wilderness Alliance
PO Box 506
Santa Cruz, CA 95061
Attn: Black Cone Trail
And remember, the VWA is an IRS code 501(c)3 tax-exempt corporation, so any donations you make are fully tax deductible. What a deal! And please feel free to forward this message to anyone that you think might be inclined to support the the efforts of the VWA on this project.
MORE INFORMATION AND INSPIRATION
Need more encouragement? Check out these links for some inspiration:
Black Cone Trail Project Description
Black Cone Trail Photo Gallery
Rob Yang's Black Cone Trail Trip, w/ Excellent Photographs
Various Black Cone Trail Trip Descriptions
If you have any questions or concerns feel free to contact us via email at bct@ventanawild.org.
Happy Trails!
October 1, 2001
The Ventana Chapter of the Sierra Club has provided a $2,000 grant to the VWA to fund an archeological survey of the Black Cone Trail. The survey is a Forest Service requirement and must be completed prior to any major tread work. Gary S. Breschini, PhD, has been retained to do the survey. Gary is a leading archeologist in the Central Coast region and has written several books about local Native Americans based on his field work. The survey will be conducted this Autumn.
We are also developing a plan to re-grade the trail tread using a Forest Service enterprise team, based in the Sierras. The bulk of the tread grading work would be done by a Forest Service teamster, with a mule and trail plow. Work not suitable for the trail plow would be done manually by volunteers. The VWA has received a $3,000 grant from Power Bar for this portion of the project. The tread work is scheduled for Spring 2002.
May 14, 2001
Over the past three months, the BCT corridor has been cleared of most of the remaining burnt chaparral and much of the post fire growth. The trail is now passable by backpacker and equestrian.
A Sierra Club national service group of 14 people cleared the southern third of the trail during a one week work project in mid-April. The Ventana Mounted Assistance Group packed in supplies and Forest Service tools to support this effort. VWA work parties had previously cleared sections of the Marble Peak trail in early April to facilitate VMAG pack train access to the south end of the BCT at Strawberry Valley.
Several members of the faculty and student body of RLS worked on the northern third of the trail in late April. This section of the trail had been previously maintained by RLS before the fire and was therefore in better condition than the balance of the trail. The RLS team also cleared many deadfalls on the Pine Ridge trail between Church Creek Divide and Pine Ridge, allowing easier access into the north end of the BCT from China Camp.
In early May, eleven VWA members spent a long weekend clearing the vegetation from the middle third of the BCT trail corridor and improving Venturi Camp.
A VWA member has also mapped the BCT using the TOPO! software. The map shows the trail, suitable camp sites and available water sources. The BCT map (in the TOPO! .tpo format: you will need TOPO! to view the map) is available upon request to blackcone@ventanawild.org.
FUTURE TASKS
While the Black Cone Trail is now clear enough to allow backpackers and equestrians to travel its length without fighting brush the entire way, the tread is still very rough along most of the trail. Decades of little use and no maintenance have resulted in the tread filling in with detritus from upslope erosion. This has resulted in a side sloping tread with lots of loose rocks. These conditions are difficult at best and usually result in sore feet, blisters, and aching leg joints.
To get this trail in good condition, even by Ventana standards, the tread needs to be re-graded. Initially, it was thought that a hired trail crew was the best way to get this done. However, now that the trail has been improved considerably and a few dozen hikers have traveled some or all of its length, it appears a combination of techniques may work best. Many stretches of the trail are through loose decomposed granite or other erosive material that could be easily graded with a trail plow and pack animal. Other sections are rocky or have more severe side slope where handwork will be required. The VWA will continue to seek out prospective contractors to consider for this work and pursue the necessary funding. We will also work with the Forest Service to obtain qualified botanical and archeological surveys that are prerequisites to re-grading the trail tread.
VWA members have also relocated the Mosquito Springs and Black Cone camps that were abandoned by the Forest Service when the BCT was officially removed from the trail system. The VWA will pursue restoration of these two camps in partnership with the Forest Service.
The common response among those who have traveled the BCT since the Kirk Fire is that the BCT is nothing less than stunning. With the chaparral burned away, the northern 7+ miles afford continuous sweeping views of the Big Sur River watershed with the Coast Ridge and Pacific Ocean beyond. At several locations where the trail follows ridge top saddles, views down Tassajara Creek to the Arroyo Seco watershed with Pinyon and Junipero Serra Peaks beyond, are equally spectacular. Bird and reptile life are surprisingly abundant as are the many diverse stands of wildflowers. The Black Cone Trail is surely an asset to the Ventana Wilderness and well worth this cooperative effort.
