Trip Report

We left Eugene under beautiful blue skies Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m. and arrived at the trailhead at 10:00. With three veteran trail workers and two enthusiastic new members on the trail crew we began tread work on a new trail being constructed to connect the old Rebel Creek Trail to the Rebel Rock Trail.

If you haven't participated in one of the many maintenance trips on the Obsidian schedule before, you're really missing a terrific experience. We learn how to put little rocks back in the holes where we just worked 20 minutes to get the extra large rock out. This makes it possible to have enough dirt left over to fill in and level the trail off. If you like to carry rocks around, this leader is becoming an expert!! You carry them from as far away as you can find them; if they're too close, it's too easy. Once you have the rocks, you build rock walls with them (no engineering degree required!). The rock walls help contain the creek so it won't wash the newly constructed trail away. If you think this all sound like hard work, you're right - if you don't think it sounds like fun, you're wrong. Although, at the end of the day we had to admit we were tired, we all wore big smiles of accomplishment. And after a little face washing and water fighting in Rebel Creek, and a stop for coffee and pie at Vi's, we felt revitalized, or at least enough so to make it home to a hot soak in the tub or shower.

I've been hiking with the Obsidians for many years and I'm very proud to now be able to put a little back into the trails for all the enjoyment they have afforded me in the past. This leader highly recommends getting involved.

Thanks to my excellent crew for doing just that! The five completing several hundred feet of tread work were Mary Bridgeman, Pete Cecil, Pat Henderson, Vi Johnson, and leader Mike Wright.