This past week the SCARPA North America office joined Eldorado Canyon State Park staff to help with trail work and maintenance. Unlike other public recreating locations in the front range, Eldo does not receive revenue from Boulder Sales Tax and therefore has a much smaller budget for trail maintenance. Mike McHugh organizes volunteers that are often individuals, companies like ours and school groups to keep the area accessible and safe. Over the course of the week we separated our office into small groups of five or six people per day, donned our masks and hiked into the canyon to spend our time cleaning debris, building steps and retaining walls all while learning about park maintenance best practices. Our days were spent working on the approach trail to the Peanuts Walls where several side trails had begun to emerge and erosion was becoming an issue.

Mike has been working in Eldorado Canyon State Park for 13 years and has been climbing in the area for nearly 40. As a newcomer to Eldo I relished the opportunity to learn about some of his favorite climbs, advise on how to climb well in the area and of course best local ethics. We spoke in depth about ways that patrons to the area can help out in their own. In 2019 Mike logged roughly 3500 hours doing trail work with both staff and volunteers though in 2020, with social distance regulations and group sizes limited, he has only been able to log about a tenth of that. It is increasingly important for individuals to take part in keeping these trails clean and safe. Going forward Mike hopes to encourage patrons of the area to help out with trail maintenance to ease the workload on staff and volunteers. He hopes to create signage and videos on how people can help out simply and safely while visiting the area.

Here are some practices that climbers and hikers alike can do to help:

- Brushing dirt and debris off of steps. This makes the path easier to see and safer to walk on without loose dirt, pine needles and sticks.

- Sticking to the one distinct path. Trail branches and detours cause premature erosion and can kill vegetation that keeps the scree in place. When this erosion happens, it makes the path dangerous and difficult to travel. If you see a side trail emerging, put a log or a couple rocks across the intersection. This helps keep people to the correct trail.

- Maintaining cairns. The word “cairn” comes from Gaelic origin for “heap of stones” these are those distinct rock stacks along trails to help identify a trail or turn. Sometimes capped with a white stone for better visibility in low light, these can be maintained easily by adding a couple rocks to the stack when they fall over from weather and other factors. However, be cautious when building new cairns as this can deter hikers from the correct path if built in a wrong location.

- As always, follow the seven leave no trace principals: plan ahead and prepare, travel and camp on durable surfaces, dispose of waste properly, leave what you find, minimize campfire impacts, respect wildlife and be considerate of others. My motto has always been “Take only pictures and leave only footprints.”

If you are interested in volunteering some of your time to help out Colorado Park and Wildlife staff, follow this link for a schedule of opportunities near you!