Kudos to all who participated this last Saturday doing trail maintenance at Wilder Ranch State Park! This work was a concerted effort between Team Wrong Way (TWW), Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz (MBOSC), and park staff, represented by Ranger Al Blum. The project was scheduled in order to participate in the "California Trail Days" that occurred state-wide that weekend. Two other trail and naturalist groups were at the park that day, too, including the CA Conservation Corps. To top things off, Wilder was also celebrating "Earth Day" with lots a neat craft projects and stuff for adults and kids alike! Our trail project was a perfect compliment to the buzz of activity that day! We had a HUGE turnout of volunteers - 17 by my count. Here's who helped out: Wes Geoff Jodi Chuck Mark 'n' Eve Alex Tom Doug Charles Liz Paul Scott John Pete Joel Jeff Chuck and Alex, MBOSC do-gooders and trail maintenance gods, report that ours was the largest group of cyclists they had ever seen assembled for a volunteer trail work effort! They should know: both Chuck and Alex have been involved in trail maintenance there for 10 years! And, as we found out that day, ALL of the trail maintenance at Wilder is performed by volunteers. We ended up breaking into 3 groups, and were ferried in the back of a couple of 4x4 trucks to the top of Zane Gray Cut-off. We worked our way down Zane Gray to Dairy Trail, repairing potholes and improving trail drainage by re-engineering or building water bars (more like troughs) in new locations as we went. The groups would work a section at a time, leap-frogging by other groups as each section was completed. Dawn (aka "Sore Bootay" on the Moab trip) showed up on her bike later in the workday to try out and critique our handiwork. We got the two thumbs up! I imagine we worked a mile or so of trail in this fashion over the course of 4 hours. As we hiked back towards the awaiting limo, er, truck, it was quite evident that this trail alone needed so much more work. We just had to pass it by as our time was up. Some of the crew took the ride back to the parking lot, while the rest of us walked. Several of us capped the day with a brisk 1.5 hour ride followed by burritos at the ever-wonderful local taqueria on Mission Street. Thanks again to all who participated. The park has expressed their sincerest gratitude for your efforts. Our karma is smokin' by now, folks! Scott To all of my hard working friends, I want to again personally thank all of those from TEAM WRONGWAY & MBOSC who came out to help us maintain the trails in Wilder last Saturday. As you can see, it is a never ending process. Each time we go out we improve things just a little bit, but the cumulative effect is very noticable. More importantly, the good will that we have developed over the years by volunteering a few hours per month is immeasurable. We have developed incredibly strong relationships with the other trail users (especially the horsemen) and the State Park officials, all the way from the local rangers up into the upper levels in Sacramento. We have earned their respect and their support. So, your hard work (and I do mean hard..) can and does pay big dividends. Both the trail improvements and relationship building is an incredibly slow process, but once in place, both last many years and only get better over time. Once again, many thanks to all. Spread the word. We need more friends like you and look forward to many more fun times. Best wishes & happy trails... Chuck Wisse MBOSC Trail Work Coordinator