VWA Willow Creek Restoration Project
Project Update
October 6, 2004

On Saturday, October 6, 2004, six VWA volunteers hiked into the McGranahan Cabin Site to do some final clean up of the site and to build burn piles with the milled lumber from the suspension bridge and lapidary shop. The first step was to gather up quantities of loose concrete and masonry rubble that was scattered around the site from the demolition of the McGranahan Cabin when it was burned by the Forest Service years ago. Gloved hands and sturdy rakes made fairly quick work of this chore. The next step was to move the rubble the 50 yards or so to the cabin's original dumpsite which, after our earlier trash clean up, was now a depression. To do this we used our trash hauling backpacks outfitted with five gallon plastic paint buckets which turned the packs, and a willing packer, into a human dump truck. We soon learned it was easiest for a packer to squat with an empty bucket pack strapped on, while other volunteers loaded the bucket. The packer then walked to the fill site, squatted down and removed and dumped the pack. The rubble was then spread out level and covered with natural duff and other forest debris until it was hidden from view.

Next, we began assembling the milled lumber from the lapidary shop and suspension bridge into several piles in the center of the old cabin site. We quickly realized that there was too much lumber to build a manageable burn pile. So we built two small burn piles and stockpiled the remaining lumber so that it could be added to the burn piles after they had burned down. These piles will be burned by the Forest Service fire crew from the Pacific Valley Station after the onset of the rainy season.

Kate and Julie Anne packing rock
	Bucket pack up close
Jon and Adrian tidy up