I spent the weekend doing trail work for a VO-Cal project at the Lynch Canyon Open Space in Fairfield. I’ve done several VO-Cal projects in the past, though it’s been about four years since the last one. I headed out on Saturday morning as the sun was rising and arrived at a beautiful green meadow. Luckily, I got there early enough to set my tent up before making my lunch and heading out to do trail work.
As always, the volunteers were fantastic people, everyone is big into hiking, and happy to give back and help improve the trails. This was the earliest they had ever done a project, and was two weeks later than the original date because of one of the many storms that hit the Bay Area this winter. As a result, it was a much smaller crew than they normally have, but because of the rain, the trail was much easier to work with as the ground was much softer than usual. We had a 2 1/2 mile hike up to the start of the trail we were working on, then another 3/4 of a mile walk with our McLeod’s and Pulaski‘s to the first section of the trail that my group was assigned to. Except for our team leader, I was the youngest member of our trail crew by at least a decade. You wouldn’t know it by the amazing amount of work we were able to get done. The weather was perfect for trail work sunny but cool, and the views were fantastic – we could clearly see Mount Diablo, Mount Tam, Mount Saint Helena, and even the snow on the Sierras!
I found out a couple of my work mates had hiked various sections of the Camino, and were headed out there to volunteer at one of the places that pilgrims can stay for two weeks. Definitely got me inspired to look into it! After a busy day on the trail, we hiked back down to camp, where I was very grateful my tent was already set up. I grabbed my book and relaxed in the sunshine in my camp chair for a little while, listening to one of the kitchen volunteers playing his guitar. Later, I enjoyed a delicious dinner with everyone, and afterwords was awarded my official VO-Cal hat and first Pulaski pin to indicate that I had completed five VO-Cal projects. I was so excited to finally get that pin that I have been coveting for years.
I headed to bed amidst a chorus of frogs in the nearby stream. They were so loud I could barely hear the traffic on Highway 80 which was very close by. We had been warned that the weather did get chilly at night, so I layered up and had a couple of blankets in my sleeping bag, which kept me warm for most of the night. I woke up in the morning to see a layer of frost on my tent!
We headed out to the trail again, this time getting a ride in the Solano Land Trust manager’s ATV for the last mile of the hike, that was a ton of fun! We had an even smaller crew today, but everyone was determined to get as much of the trail done as possible, and I think we did an incredible job. I again was the youngest member of my trail crew, in fact, two of them had just retired the week before! The cows nearby looked on with interest as we worked carving out a new trail through the grass.
We wrapped things up at 1:30 and hiked back down to camp, some of the crew stayed to clean tools and finish packing up the truck, while I went into my car to drive home, feeling that wonderful tiredness that comes from a job well done. The shower I took once I got home was heavenly, and mom already had dinner prepared. What an awesome weekend.