A crew of 13, including two Forest Service fire crewmembers, spent most of a week (June 22 – 29) doing trail work between West Low Gap and a point almost 13 Bigfoot Trail miles to the south not far from The Knob in the Yolla Bolly Mountains. Much of the time was spent clearing downed trees, doing tread improvement, and cutting back encroaching brush. While there is still much to be done to brush out the trail the remaining miles to the Ides Cove terminus, this section of the BFT is much improved. We were also encouraged that the work done in 2018 has held up reasonably well.
With the support of Kenny Graves of the Shasta-Trinity National Forest and volunteer Backcountry Horsemen, tools, gear, and supplies were transported to the North Yolla Bolly Station Spring where base camp was established. Although we had a couple of warm afternoons, the weather was unseasonably cool. Yet the sun prevailed throughout the week. Significant snow patches persisted at the higher elevations on north faces and water was much more abundant than the prior year.
Some in our party managed a side trip up to the abandoned Black Rock Mountain Lookout and several others climbed North Yolla Bolly. There was ‘botanizing’, birding, and big talk around the campfire in addition to our days of work. We’re already planning for next year.
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