Sandy Basin Project
Posted by Ryan Spates in S&S Trails Blog on Aug. 31, 2009 - 2:42 pm
August 24-25 we worked on the Sandy Basin project near Mt. Hood, Oregon as subcontractors for IMBA. Earlier in the month we had ridden the Umpqua River Trail with our friends Jill and Chris (formerly of the IMBA Trail Care Crew) so they knew we were in town and available to work. Jason Wells of IMBA Trail Solutions is the on-site project manager and asked if we could help out by doing some hand tool construction and supervising a small crew of BLM staff in charge of bench-cutting while he ran the mini-excavator on a road-to-trail conversion. We helped Jason design the trail around the road he was working on, trying to get rid of a straight fall line shot. We were happy to oblige, and enjoyed working with everyone on the project. The land is beautiful, forested with stands of enormous pine trees and almost no underbrush. The soil was great to work in too, though after cutting bench by hand on 50% sideslopes, we were reminded of why we like mechanized construction to knock out the bulk of the work before finishing up the trail with hand tools. We also helped construct a 12 foot long, 3 foot high retaining wall to cover a VERY large rock that was unearthed in the main line of the trail. We also used a come-a-long to winch out a large tree stump that was in the way. Ahh, levereage!
We always enjoy partnering with IMBA on projects, and it’s a nice way to include some work in our summer vacations so we can write off some travel expenses. Hopefully we will get to do the same next year, as the BLM project manager has plans for a 15-mile trail expansion on the site. Many thanks go to IMBA for keeping us employed and having fun in the process.
