We've not been keeping up on the blog lately, but there's been quite a bit of activity since the
Mesa Trail project in May. Here's a quick update on some recent volunteer projects with
NMVFO:
- A small team of volunteers cleared Deadhorse Trail 12 between Mesa Trail 13 and South Canyon Trail 14 in June. It's much easier to follow now and makes for a good loop hike: up Mesa, down Deadhorse, and then back on South Canyon to the road.
- Another small team of volunteers cleared the Socorro Valley Bosque Trail corridor last weekend.
As part of a
Trails+ grant from the Outdoor Recreation Division, we're working with the USFS and City of Socorro on some significant improvements in the Magdalena Mountains:
- We contracted out archaeological surveys for 70 miles of existing and proposed trails in the Magdalena range. The contractor has finished their field work and is finalizing their reports. These missing surveys had been the main impediment to doing treadwork in the Maggies, and that's now a sorted issue.
- We have a crew with the Rocky Mountain Youth Corps working on Mesa Trail this week for six days. They started on Wednesday. They'll be doing tread work starting from the top near the overlook and working their way down.
- We'll have a number of improvements at the Mesa Trailhead: new road and trail signs, picnic tables, gravel parking lot and boulder barriers. The project should wrap up by this fall.
Thank you to everyone who's been pitching in on projects! These projects only happen because people keep volunteering their time and energy, and I can't thank you enough. We'll have another project in about a month focused on maintaining the rodeo grounds trails since we have the youth mountain bike race taking place there at the end of October (24th-25th).
