trailway to heaven
There's good news for the accident-prone at Philmont -- the Greenwood Canyon Trail is now open. Work started on the trail in 2003. Although it is not completely finished, it is open and ready to go. It leads hikers from Copper Park Camp to Greenwood Canyon in the Valle Vidal.
The trail replaces what was essentially a path straight down the ridge that had become the scene of many injuries over the past few years. "The Greenwood Canyon Trail was one that had a priority because the previous trial [sic] was simply a flag line down the mountain. The safety issue was there," said Director of Program Mark Anderson.
About 500 participants have worked on the trail from 2003 until now, and a little finishing work will be done next summer. This year, approximately 120 participants worked on the trail through the OATC program.
Three Conservation Work Crews, totaling 17 members, spent eight days cutting the last 3500 feet of trail -- an average of over 25 feet of trail cut by each person each day! The trail was opened immediately, and finishing work was completed over the next few weeks by Conservation and Ranger Work Crews.
Sound familiar, Venturers of Crew 699? I believe this is the trail we stumbled up in a cold rainstorm between Baldy and the Valle Vidal in 2000, which we referred to as Pain in the Ass Ridge.
Upon finally reaching the top, cold and exhausted, I found all the other crew members huddled in sleeping bags and making coffee. It was upon this occasion that we discovered the joys (and magical healing properties) of double-strength hot Gatorade.
Ah, memories.
x-posted from
_philmont_