Trip Report

A chance meeting on the Ridgeline trail between Janet Jacobsen and Deverton Cochrane with the City of Eugene was the reason for this trail maintenance work party. Deverton and his crew were out assessing the trails on Wednesday, December 5th, after a snowstorm and he remarked to Janet that it would be nice to have volunteers clear the trails of fallen tree debris. Janet said she'd get the Obsidians involved and contacted me to ask if I would lead the hike on Friday, December 7th, which I agreed to do. Wednesday afternoon the trip was posted on the website and emails were sent to some Obsidians who regularly work on trail maintenance. Amazingly, we had eleven sign up by Thursday and we all met on Friday at Spencer Butte trailhead armed with garden rakes and good spirits on a cold and wet morning. We divided into two groups and began raking the debris, leapfrogging as we caught up to the person in front. Clara Emlen remained at the parking lot and swept the steps. We regrouped at the meadow/tie trail area and agreed to continue to the summit where Janet gave us her delicious treats and group photos were taken; soon we were heading back down. Janet and Ane McKee split from the group at the meadow/tie trail as Janet's car was at the 52nd trailhead; they did not encounter too much debris and arrived there at noon. The remainder of our group was back to the main parking lot at 11:30 where we unexpectedly found Deverton who was pleased to learn of our successful trip. Thanks to everyone for stepping up at such short notice and making the trip such a success. Update. Janet sent the group photo to Deverton Cochrane and Marlon Troubnikoff and this was the response. "Thank you all! Your efforts were the talk of the trail. Deverton and I kept hearing from hikers how great the trail looks. Marlon"