Kit Carson-Challenger Ridge Trail Project

Project Accomplishments Report-USFS

December 15, 2015

         

       

815 South 25th Street, Suite 101 Colorado Springs, CO 80904

   

Dedicated to the conservation and stewardship of public lands in Southern Colorado                

Photo courtesy of Justin Peterson

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 Background The Rocky Mountain Field Institute completed year 2 of the 3-year Kit Carson-Challenger Ridge Trail Project in the summer months of 2015. The project is designed to manage the high-use impacts of Willow Lake Basin in the Sangre de Cristo Mountain Range in Southern Colorado. The fourth highest mountain in the Sangres, Kit Carson Peak (elevation 14,165’) towers over 6,000 feet above the San Luis Valley floor. Kit Carson generally refers to the three main summits that make up the massif: Kit Carson Peak, Challenger Point, and Columbia Point (informally known as Kat Carson). These peaks and Willow Lake Basin situated below the glacial-formed cirque are a popular recreation spot for hikers, climbers, anglers, and other backcountry enthusiasts. The Basin is particularly popular with residents of the town of Crestone and nearby Baca Grande subdivision, both of which sit at the foot of the mountain. The trail project is designed to reduce visitor impacts to the area and enhance the quality of the climbing and hiking recreational experience. Upon completion of the three-phase project, a sustainable trail will provide access from the Willow Creek Trailhead to the ridge of Challenger Point, approximately 7.25 miles in total. From that point, the existing summit trail to Kit Carson generally follows natural contours or crosses talus fields, causing little damage to the sensitive alpine environment. The current user-created social trail is in very poor condition from the east side of Willow Lake to the talus field below the notch of the ridge. The trail is gullied, unsafe, and unpleasant for hikers. The current trail also crosses environmentally fragile areas including populations of sensitive alpine plants and an alpine wetland east of Willow Lake. The focus of Phase 1 of the project is to re-route the current social trail to a more durable and sustainable location, and to reconstruct and stabilize usable sections of the existing alignment with proper structures including rock steps and retaining walls, thus protecting the surrounding environment by defining a single trail corridor. All phases of the project also include substantial social trail closure and restoration including erosion control and revegetation work. In Phase 1 of the project (spanning the 2014-16 field seasons), RMFI will construct approximately 2,795 feet of new trail and improve approximately 2,760 feet of existing trail. Beginning in 2017, RMFI will build off the success of Phase 1 of the project and continue to improve the summit trail in Phase 2. This report details the accomplishments of the project during the 2015 field season. Summary of Work—2015 Field Season Utilizing financial support from various funders, the Rocky Mountain Field Institute (RMFI) leveraged the use of a paid youth corps crew and a volunteer collegiate class to make significant progress on Phase 1-Year 2 of the Kit Carson Peak-­‐Challenger Ridge Trail Project. RMFI utilized a new partnership with the Southwest Conservation Corps (SCC) as well as the efforts of 10 college students who participated in the 13th edition of the RMFI Earth Corps field studies program to accomplish 2015 project objectives. Phase 1-Year 2 project accomplishments can be broken down into three primary tasks: trail reconstruction, new trail construction, and trail maintenance. A late spring snowmelt at the project site as well as unanticipated challenges with project logistics and implementation resulted in original project accomplishments not being fully met. However, the amount of work contributed toward overall project goals was not affected and the project is still on track to accomplish Phase 1 in the initial timeline. The following is a breakdown of project objectives.

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1. Trail Reconstruction: 1,874 linear feet • Construct rock steps, rock risers, drainage structures, cairns, and rock retaining walls; clear

loose rock; rearrange rock to create tread in talus field Trail reconstruction goals were met during Phase 1-Year 2. Approximately 1,844 linear feet of existing social trail was improved to meet U.S. Forest Service standards for backcountry hiking trails (Photo #1). Starting at an elevation of approximately 11,500 feet, work crews brushed willow and Krummholtz from the trail corridor (12+82 to 24+90), cleared boulders that were causing trail braiding, reinforced the water crossing with installation of stepping stones (24+90), and improved the existing trail through the talus by adding an aggregate layer of rock that provided a more stable and accommodating tread surface (12+56 to 16+17, Photo #1). This work was started in the talus to the north of Willow Lake at 12+56 (where the 2014 work left off) and ended at the start of the new trail alignment at 31+30. Over the past two field seasons, the summit trail has been re-constructed from 0+00 to 31+30. This section is now complete, aside from some willow brushing that may need to occur on a seasonal basis. This section was of particular concern because it contains habitat of the Smith’s draba (Draba smithii), a species of concern as identified by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. 2. New Trail Construction: 1,050 linear feet • Cut 24” full bench tread into hillslope, clear branches and logs from trail corridor. • Construct rock steps, drainage structures, cairns, and rock retaining walls. Approximately 1,050 linear feet of new trail was constructed during Phase 1-Year 2 of the project (Photos #2, 4-6). New trail construction at an elevation of approximately 12,000 feet is extremely taxing and equally rewarding. Work crews cut a 24” bench into the alpine tundra and rearranged rocks from talus fields in order to establish a sustainable trail tread. For areas where the trail crossed talus, rubble retaining walls were constructed on both the inslope and outslope in order to prevent additional rock from sliding into the trail. In places where the trail gained elevation through a steep gradient, rock steps and risers were built to provide stabilization (Photo #2). 3. Trail Maintenance: 15,800 linear feet of trail maintenance As is the norm for large-scale trail projects, unplanned trail maintenance projects arose at the onset of the field season. Tree snags were cleared, logs were cut from the trail corridor, overgrown vegetation was brushed back, and rockslides were removed from the Willow Lake Trail. Crews maintained more than 3 miles (15,800 linear feet) of the Willow Lake Trail below Willow Lake. While not originally included in the proposal for Phase 1 of the project, this work was necessary for the mule string to pack in project supplies. The work was also very important for the overall sustainability of the access trail to Willow Lake. Other Work The 2015 spring season saw record rain and snowfall in many areas of Colorado, which affected snowpack, stream crossings, and the ability to use mule pack strings to establish a basecamp in the Willow Lake Basin. Therefore, in order to be in compliance with organizational safety policies and procedures and to allow for early season access into the Basin, the two 9-day hitches with SCC were delayed from an original start date of June 8th to June 22nd. In place of restoring campsites around Willow Lake, work crews improved a hazardous stream crossing with the construction of a log bridge. This accomplishment was a very high priority as it ensured safe

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access to the project site by the mule string and work crews (Photo #3). Campsite restoration will occur during the 2016 field season. Work Statistics

• 1,874 linear feet of trail improved • 1,050 linear feet of trail constructed • 15,800 linear feet of trail maintained • 2,200 linear feet of rubble wall 1 • 185 linear feet of retaining wall • 83 rock steps • 12 cairns • 1, 2-log bridge crossing

Labor Statistics • 36 workdays • 2,730 volunteer hours • $62,981.10 volunteer value • 1,090 paid crew hours • 1,201 RMFI staff hours

Contact Information Joe Lavorini RMFI Program Director joe@rmfi.org (719) 471-­‐7736 ext. 3#

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Map of Willow Lake Basin and project objectives.

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Photo Documentation

Photo  #1:  Tread  through  talus  at  44+04.   Photo  #2:  Rock  staircase  at  46+05.  

Photo  #3:  New  bridge  at  major  crossing  of  Willow  Creek,  below  headwall.  

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Photo #4 (above): Before and after rock steps at 43+49 to 43+80.

Photo #5 (below): Before and after of trail corridor clearing through Krummholz at 35+65.

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Photo #6 (above): Before and after of rock staircase at 34+41.

Photo #7 (below): 2015 SCC crew (left) & 2015 Earth Corps crew (right).