In 2018, trail crews completed two projects at the South Boulder Creek Trail (James Peak Wilderness, East Portal-Moffat Tunnel Trailhead):
On July 21st, with a group of 9 IPWA volunteers and 3 Wilderness Society employees, the crew:
Cleaned and widened half a dozen water bar ditches
Set several new water bar rocks
Mitigated a very wet section of the trail by digging new drainage and adding screen
Built a 3 foot berm of rock and dirt at the lower junction of the winter (ski) trail, which will keep hikers off this social path and allow it to revegetate
On August 18th, a crew of 4 IPWA volunteers met up in the rain and completed the following:
Cleaned/cleared four rock water bar ditches
Built a four rock water bar to help redirect water from a seep on a wet section of trail about 100 yards above (up-trail) from the Forest Lakes trail junction
Screed the trail around the rock water bar to help focus hiker traffic and improve water flow from the seep
Inspected illegal campsites below the Forest Lakes trail junction
We had a small crew on this trip, and it rained for a portion of the day. On a wet section of the South Boulder Creek Trail about 100 yards above the Forest Lakes trail junction, we started to clean a ditch to help divert water from a seep off of the tread way. However, considering the slope of the trail above the ditch and the amount of snowmelt runoff which flows down it in the spring and early summer, we decided to reinforce the ditch with a rock water bar. This bar was constructed per the following specs:
Set at an optimal 45 degree angle to the trail
Build with moderate-sized rocks, the largest being about 350 pounds
All rocks were set flat, level, and nearly flush with the tread way so as not to impede hiker and livestock travel
The ditch facing sides of the rocks were shingled to promote the flow of water
The water bar rocks were anchored against each other
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