Misty Wet CATS - May 12 - City of Loveland Natural Area

What was thought to be another weather bust ended up a great success! Saturday’s weather was bleak and cold.  We woke up to misty rain and 49°F morning and it did not look great for a CATS Saturday. So I sent out a holding email to wait till high noon and see if the weather breaks. Around 845 – I got a call from Scott who was over on site at Boise and wondering if we were coming out. Yikes – he missed the morning email blast. I felt bad and sent him home at least until noon. Well as it worked out, we all did some chores first, suited up, grabbed Whit again (grandson to neighbor next door), rounded up the CATS van again and headed over to the Boise worksite. Scott was there and the four of us went to work right away with the wheel barrow brigade. We started at the other end of the trail this time and loaded in the crusher fines. It was misty and cool – but we were stripping off layers of clothing within minutes.
As we toiled on, others started arriving – Leigh, Monica, Andy, Cat and Nick. We had enough for that famous two team element (just talked about in last post). We put Andy, Cat, Monica, and Nick on to building another two compartmented causeway and new trail as the others were determined to get that trail crushed. Nice job on the causeways – they look very nice well-constructed. Six hours flew by and we accomplished a lot and the weather held…no rain, some misting, but delightful in some respects – perfect. Muddy shoes et al some of us went back to McGraff’s and had some really hot meals and good cheer!

Members: Bob, Connie, Scott, Leigh, Whit, Monica, Cat, Nick, Andy
Hours:   6

RESULTS:   81’ new trail including the causeways, 21’ new double causeway, 340’ of crusher fines delivered and crowned

ROSES:
·       Survived the weather and worked through it
·       Perfect conditions in some respects – cool enough and not too hot or humid
·       We got another special visit from the boss and husband
·       Used Scott’s nice truck again to haul crush
·       Great wheel barrow effort until the run out became too much to haul – bring in the truck
·       Attacked trail with crush from opposite end this time – brilliant!
·       Whit came out again – without complaint and worked as hard as Thursday
·       No injuries
·       Out just in time for rain to start up
·       Two teams and two projects worked up 
·       Great causeways built again!
·       For a Saturday – the amount of energy expelled was incredible
·       Pushing on a Saturday – good thing – cause we got some members that cannot make the Thursday gig
·       Brandon – came out and even helped with tool cleaning and securing the van – mostly appreciated by all
·       Congrats to firefighter Brandon – he just finished his class and passed
·       Almost finished the crusher fines – only 80’ left
THORNS:
·       Lifting and shoveling wore some members out
·       Ospreys seemed to be attacking the Herons at their nest sites
·       Members left – don’t forget to help scrap tools and put in van
·       First aid kit needs to be mounted in van and visible
·       Need more wire brushes and whisk brooms
BUDS:
Recruiting. We are all recruiters for CATS and sometimes just asking a friend or neighbor to come out is helpful. In my case, I saw Whit doing yard work for his grandparents for over a month and it dawned on me to ask him to come out and whack trail. I did a little selling on it, but he decided to give it a try and we were grateful he came out – twice in three days’ time. I think he is sore today along with the other regulars. I know Connie and I are sore.
Sometimes you really have to watch the weather and not let it govern you too much. I was thinking this was another bust for us but it turned out to be a great event and new faces appeared and we got quite a bit of work done. These special work crew(s) took the edge off our work next week. We should be able to work up that culvert and tie in the trail and finish the remaining 80’ of crusher fines delivery. That said, we will be pushed back to the Y yoke of the trail system and whack that in one more event out there. We are letting the COL do the 6 foot wide entrance trail from the trailhead as it is so flat and hard – a Bobcat can just scrap it and have it done in minutes. I am excited as this project is almost finished and we have another trail system that is about the same at Rossum to do next. Rain – what rain?  Mud – yes, but not too bad and soaked boots, well they dry out like the land out here. Hat – what hat?

On the trail,
Bob Johnson

Go here to sign up for events: http://trailcats.org/volunteer
E-mail:  info@trailcats.org    bob@trailcats.org
Location: Loveland, CO, USA

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