We need your help on Thur June 6 and Fri June 7, from 8:45am until 3pm. The task is the repair of a foot bridge located on the lower Gill Trail. This bridge is a short distance from the parking lot. It spans Wigwam Creek and is commonly used by anglers to access the South Platte River in lower Cheesman Canyon. The bridge is in very sad shape and badly needs repair. CCTU is providing the funding for this project and is also looking for 9 or 10 strong bodies to help the US Forest Service in this task. A light breakfast and a lunch will be provided for volunteers. Please help us maintain the tradition of Cutthroat Chapter being a steward of the Gill Trail!
We will meet at the Cheesman Canyon Fishing Access Parking lot on Colo 126. This lot used to access lower Cheesman Canyon via the Gill Trail, located approx four miles west of Deckers.. Alternatively you can join a carpool out of Sedalia by meeting at the parking lot by the west railroad tracks in Sedalia. Meet at 7 AM to carpool. If you are interested in carpooling please contact Jim Rasmussen at jiber2@msn.com
Thursday will be disassembly of the planking and rails, while Friday will be the replacement of those items with solid new lumber. The underlying structure is sound and will be reused. We would love to have crew members that can work both days, but if you can only work one day we can still use you. The lumber and hardware for this task has been donated by our Cutthroat Chapter. The US Forest Service will lead our work crew. Wear appropriate long sleeved shirts, long pants, boots, work gloves and protective eyewear. Be prepared with sun screen, rain gear, warm clothing, and bug spray. Please bring along appropriate woodworking tools, similar to what you might use if you were building a wooden deck. Power tools like drills with deck screw bits, crowbars, sawzalls, skill saws, circular saws, etc., could come in handy. Battery powered tools are ideal and the US Forest Service is planning on having a gasoline powered generator on site to operate a limited number of corded power tools. Wheel barrows, loppers, flat and spade shovels might be helpful as well. No deck building experience is required, but if you have that experience it will probably come in handy. The lower Gill Trail will be closed the whole week of June 3-7 for maintenance, including this bridge rebuilding project. If we are fortunate to have more folks than immediately needed, those folks may be put to work on related trail maintenance tasks nearby.
Please RSVP to George Franklin no later than Thursday May 30 at georgefr@aol.com or at 303-902-9827. In your RSVP please indicate which day or days you can work. The RSVP will allow us to plan accurately for food. If you sign up please be responsible and show up. No shows will severely jeopardize this small crew.