Limestone Canyon Scouting 2024

NMVFO and the Albuquerque Wildlife Federation have their annual joint restoration project at Limestone Canyon south of the VLA in the San Mateo Mountains, in about a week, so I went to scout the area. FR 476 is rugged enough to recommend a high-clearance vehicle. Approaching the canyon, signs of a mild recent ponderosa wildfire is visible. I think this is from the Fisher Fire, because I do not remember these scorch marks from last year.

The campsite looked mostly unharmed.

I went upstream in the Limestone drainage to check out structures, one-rock dams for the most part, that we worked on last year. I did not notice recent signs of water flow, or damp sand. I did not see signs of flooding in the past year, but I am just a newbie at restoration and do not see all the clues that our AWF brethren notice.

Then I went up the narrower Fisher Canyon drainage to check out rock structures, including a Zuni bowl we helped build last year. (The bowl shape is hard to make out in photos, but is clear in-person.)

Looking forward to a fine project.

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Cecilia Trail 2024

Fifteen NMVFO volunteers returned for the second project of the year on Cecilia Trail, in the San Pedro Parks Wilderness, to finish clearing downed trees from the route. Several cairns were also constructed, where the tread typically fades through meadows.

We camped at Resumidero Camping Area, a huge open meadow where large local family groups often camp out for several weeks during the summer.

We divided up into three teams, with two 2-person crosscut saws and one 1-person crosscut rigged for 2-person mode, assisted by KatanaBoys and smaller folding saws.

We had a few new volunteers, and a couple of young adults, and it was a pleasure to introduce them to the crosscut.

Six Mile Trail 2024

Volunteers from NMVFO and Socorro Trails gathered for a weekend project to open up the Six Mile Trail / Ryan Hill Trail loop, which used to be popular for mountain bikers, and was even published in a guide, but is now thoroughly overgrown. Optional camping started Friday evening at Water Canyon Group Campsite, with its impressive laminated curved beams.

Saturday we carpooled up FR 235/ Water Canyon Rd to the trailhead at Six Mile Trail. A huge crane had slid off an icy road a few months ago, just a hundred yards up from the trailhead, so several of us walked up to take a look. It is hard to judge size from the picture, and I could not convince C. to climb down to be in the photo for scale, but the wreck is pretty huge.

We divided into 3 4-person teams, with one group doing sawing while the others lopped. Wild raspberries were in season.

At the trail junction we diverted to Ryan Hill Trail, with some lopping, and hiked out to cars we had left, to shuttle us back to camp.

The next day 8 volunteers returned to Ryan Hill Trailhead, and lopped for a half-day, not reaching the intersection with Six Mile, but doing a thorough job of beating back the oak and mountain mahogany.

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