Our first volunteer day for the summer 2020 season was a success! Big thanks to Dave and Vang from the Forest Service for leading the day and teaching us what it takes to maintain some of the most popular trails in the Wasatch.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions, we were only allowed to take 5 volunteers on our first trail date so we apologize for those who signed up and weren’t able to attend, but we look forward to seeing you on the next volunteer day where we can hopefully bring on a few more of you! We were able to social distance while also wearing masks when in close proximity to others, and if we can keep that up, we should be able to bring up to 10 volunteers on the next two trail dates.
Dave and Vang lead us 2.5 miles up Butler Fork towards Dog Lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon where much of the trail was overgrown with soft greenery. Using clippers and saws we trimmed back the vegetation on either side of the trail as well as closed off social paths that were leading hikers off the main trail. The Rangers were helpful in educating us about their role in the Wasatch and repeated oft that they can’t do their work without help from volunteers like those from Save Our Canyons. Many of the hikers we encountered on the path were very grateful and pleased with the condition of the portion of trail we had been working on, which was satisfying to know that our work was well worth it.
All in all, it was a fantastic start to our summer of volunteering and we look forward to bringing more of our members out for our last two dates on August 22nd in Little Cottonwood and September 12th in Millcreek.
Thanks to Jenn Mijer, Lowell Smoger, Kyle Willians, Dean Mellot and Thomas Campbell for joining us at Bulter Fork and their hard work and dedication to saving our canyons!
