Matthew Travels

This was a very enjoyable and educational hitch. It was not quite backcountry, but we were camped mostly out of view of any inhabitations and only heard or saw people on a few occasions. It helped that the trail was not connected to any other trail or road during the time we were working on it.

On this, our third hitch, our task was to create a new mountain bike trail (an extension of an existing one) in the Salida Mountain Trails network. We followed a route that had been flagged out by our Program Coordinator, Todd Loubsky, who had followed a rough route approved by BLM. We were given authority to make any minor adjustments to the route if need be.

Weather was mostly very pleasant during our time working on this project. Cloud cover at night kept trapped in warmth through the night. One morning we woke up at hiked up out of the valley to see the clouds breaking up to reveal beautiful, pristine, snow capped mountains.

Highlights of this trip would be nearly stepping a baby rattlesnake, moving some seriously massive rocks (including one that must have been at least 1' x 4' x 6'), seeing Sarah eat a squirming lizards tail, and seeing 900 ft of trail (with 200 ft of rock wall) come together out of nothing.

Baby rattlesnake pointed out to me after presumably walking right over it. No developed rattles present.

Sarah Coleman's lunch

We started hitch at Great Sand Dunes NP, working with Park Ranger Bill Stalker. We spent time cleaning the Nature Trail that leads to Mosca Pass Trail. That day we witnessed a dust storm, high winds, and spectacular dune hills spitting sand, swirling up above the ridges and disappearing into the air.

The following day Cory and went with Geologist Andrew Valdez to install hydrological telemetry equipment in the mountains. Before leaving he explained the parks air quality testing equipment, then collected the air filters to be sent off to UCLA for analysis. The equipment reads water flow in a creek, then sends the information at precisely the right time using GPS. Thus it eliminates the need for people like Andrew to drive deep into the mountains over several hours and risk getting stuck in sand or with a flat tire on rugged terrain.

Our last day at Sand Dunes, we worked through several hours of rain. It continued to rain, and by morning the Dunes had received more than 1/8 of their annual rain fall. We were offered shelter in the GSD Resource Management building and were grateful for the warmth and a kitchen and bathroom.

The following morning broke clear with sun and clouds climbing up into the high peaks from the low valleys and plains. We cleared fence posts from a historic settlement out near Crestone. By afternoon, we were leaving for Salida for further instructions. We were sent out behind Salida Mountain to maintain and renovate an "expert" level bike trail.

While moving a rockfor the construction of a rock wall to create a banked curve around a drop-off, I crushed the tip of my pointer finger. I was in the hospital with a doctor within 45 minutes.