One year later

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Drew

It’s amazing that it has just been over one year since the Santa Cruz City Council approved the Emma McCrary Trail (then the East Multi-Use Trail). I am just blown away by the community support for this project and all the love and care and sweat that have gone into making this beautiful, fun, and sustainable trail. We have had over 3,000 volunteer hours and $30,000 donated towards this project and are getting close to completion.

On Thursday, the beams for the two 35′ bridges were delivered. Big thanks to Tom Wilson and his crew at Geo H. Wilson Mechanical Contracting for assisting us with the unloading and transport of the beams into the park. The beams would not fit under the railroad trestle on Big Creek’s truck. Using a crane, flatbed, and backhoe they were able to get the beams delivered as close as possible to the trail, ready for the next step in the process. Next Saturday, April 6th, we will be moving and placing the beams on the abutments. This work will take care, teamwork, and communication to get the job done safely, as well as a whole bunch of volunteers.

If you would like to assist in one of the last steps in completing this trail, please sign up at www.trailworkers.com. We will meet at 9 am at the Pogonip Ranger Station. Coffee from Verve Coffee Roasters and Muffins from Rebecca’s at the Tannery. We are looking for a lunch sponsor.

Email trails@mbosc.org for more info.

Thanks!

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Next Emma McCrary Trail Workday Saturday, March 16th.

Posted on March 11, 2013 by Drew

We had a great workday on Saturday with 27 volunteers. We poured the abutment for the Redwood Creek Bridge and built a smaller bridge over a small ditch on the approach. Our next workday (March 16th) we will be building two more small bridges and a working on a few other tasks to get the trail ready to open. The South Bay Mountain Biking Meetup Group will be sponsoring lunch on the 16th. Please sign up at www.trailworkers.com.

We will be meeting at the Pogonip Ranger Station at 9am and working until 1pm. The ranger station is a few hundred feet past the old clubhouse and it takes about 10 minutes to walk to from the gate at the end of Golf Club Drive. Parking has been real tight on workdays at Golf Club Drive and there have been some complaints from neighbors. It would be great if people could park at the City corporation yard lot or along Golf Club Drive before the train trestle. We will have Rebecca’s Mighty Muffins donated by Rebecca’s at the Tannery. Please bring sturdy shoes, long pants, gloves, and water. Tools and instruction will be provided. Questions? email trails@mbosc.org

abutments puncheon

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New Member wins!

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Michele Lamelin

FoxForkAd_MBoSCHomePage

Congratulations to Doris Chin for winning the Fox Fork! Her new membership qualified her for the drawing and helped boost our efforts to raise funds for trailbuilding efforts. Thanks to all our new and returning members and to those who purchased additional tickets in the last few months, you are directly responsible for building the mountain biking community of all our dreams!

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The home stretch – Emma McCrary Trail Update. Next workday Sunday February 24th.

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Drew

Lots of good news here. Thanks to all of our great volunteers we have been making lots of progress on the Emma McCrary Trail and I hope that we will be opening before the end of March, weather permitting.

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Building rock wall near north end of trail

Our last workday began with tasty coffee from Verve Coffee Roasters and Rebecca’s Mighty Muffins from Rebecca’s at the Tannery (they have beer too for post ride recovery). The 25 volunteers split up into two teams and hand built the several hundred feet across the meadows that connect Golf Club Drive to the portion of the trail we built earlier in the year. After a hard day’s work we enjoyed pizza and beverages courtesy of Eric Decker. Special thanks to Pierre Tardiff who climbed two large beautiful oaks near the southern bridge site and removed a huge amount of ivy from the trees. They look great now!

Continue reading →

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Building a Wall on The Emma McCrary Trail

Posted on February 7, 2013 by MrToad

Next workday on the Emma McCrary Trail in Pogonip will be Saturday, February 9th at 9 am.

This trail will connect U-Con to Golf Club Drive and is designed to be a sustainable, beginner friendly, and fun way to get from downtown Santa Cruz to Henry Cowell, the upper UCSC Campus, and Wilder Ranch State Park.

We will be meeting at the Pogonip Ranger Station at 9am and working until 1pm. Park your car or bike at the gate at the end of Golf Club Drive and walk up the paved road for about 10 minutes. The ranger station is a few hundred feet past the old clubhouse.

Looks like the weather will be nice again this weekend. A big thank you to Eric Decker for sponsoring Woodstock Pizza this trail day. We will have very tasty coffee to get us started donated by Verve Coffee Roasters as well as Rebecca’s Mighty Muffins donated by Rebecca’s at the Tannery.

Please bring sturdy shoes, long pants, gloves, and water. We will be working on building the southern end of the trail connecting to Golf Club Drive and much of the work will be out of the trees so bring sunscreen, hat and sunglasses as well. I can also promise poison oak free work opportunities at this workday. Tools and instruction will be provided.

This time lapse shows the progress we made building a rock wall at the southern end during the last session over the course of a couple hours.

Please sign up at trailworkers.com

We are starting to get close to finishing the trail and I am hoping that it will open by the end of March, weather permitting. We have been making progress on the bridges and should start construction soon. I will send out more info soon if you would like to help. The last three weeks we have partnered with the Earth Stewards Project at the Natural History Museum to bring local high school kids out to help with construction of the trail. We have had great groups from Natural Bridges and Ponderosa High Schools and I want to thank them for their hard work.

The next scheduled workday after this weekend is February 24th, and we are also meeting regularly at 8:45 AM on Thursdays at the Ranger Station to do trailwork as well. Hope to see some of you out there.

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