Open Space Update 8/27/2020

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The week’s news from Tom Hoby, our JeffCo Open Space Director:

All Team Meeting – Tuesday, September 1, 2020 4PM to 5PM

This will be a different kind of meeting – one with no set agenda – an open forum that will be most beneficial with your participation. It will be another opportunity for me to hear what’s on your mind, how you are doing, what needs you have and your suggestions. We’re going to, actually Karey is going to, do her best to make it easy for you to participate whether you are tech savvy or not. There will be options for you to call-in and video-in via WebEx. We will also have all conference rooms available for people to join in without having to deal with technology (limited space available to provide proper social distancing). You will also be able [to] email, text, chat (WebEx) or carrier pigeon or cup n’ string (ok, the last two are lies) your thoughts, concerns and suggestions. More details coming on Monday. We will start with a few clarifications and perspectives about pace, workload, adaptability and our recently adopted Conservation Greenprint and then move to your questions, comments and suggestions.  By now, you should have received an invitation to our All Team meeting scheduled for Tuesday, September 1st from 4pm to 5pm. Please take a minute to write down your questions, concerns and suggestions and feel free to send them to Karey prior to the meeting.

Volunteers Support the Apex Park Management Change 

As we move closer to the September 10th date, a group of volunteers have been preforming pop-up events to educate and inform visitors on the upcoming change.  They are also collecting data on the following: interactions, assessment of visitor knowledge of changes and which tools are most useful when communicating with visitors.  A special thank you to everyone who has helped support this initiative.

Visitor Surveys 

Visitor Surveys were conducted from July 22nd to August 12th at Mount Galbraith and Van Bibber Parks where JCOS requested feedback on access issues at Mount Galbraith and the potential of a trail connection at Van Bibber between Indiana Street and [the] Fairmount Trail.  The summary response report for each survey is available at:

Mount Galbraith Visitor Survey Summary Response Report (also available on our website at Mount Galbraith Park)

Van Bibber Visitor Survey Summary Response Report (also available on our website at Van Bibber Park)

In addition to receiving feedback on access and trails, respondents also provided insightful comments on facilities, regulations and enforcement and general experiences about the parks. Much of this information was provided in the open-ended response questions that are available for review in the following documents.  Please consider taking some time to look over this feedback.

Mount Galbraith Survey123 Full Results

Van Bibber Survey123 Full Results

Clear Creek Canyon Park: Gateway Segment

As you know, there’s lots of great work happening in Clear Creek Canyon!  Check out Anne Friant’s latest update video to see the progress Buildings and Historic Sites has made on the Tunnel 1 restroom, the new bridge during the day and the custom-made high line the contractor created to ferry equipment and materials across the creek to repair the wooden flume. https://youtu.be/lLtucYCQSjw

South Valley Park: South Trailhead

We are on the final stretch of construction with Road & Bridge working to prep the area around the restroom and kiosk for concrete flat work.  The trail will be closed to the north, at the intersection of Coyote Song and Prairie Falcon, during the final weeks of construction when concrete and asphalt pavement will be installed.  We plan to open the trailhead the week of September 21st to accommodate revegetation efforts and striping.

 

Virtual Learning for Spanish Speakers

As the Ranger Team adapts to virtual education programs, the Communications Team is taking the extra step to have the videos translated into Spanish.  Utilizing a County contract with A&A Languages, the ESI: EcoSystem Investigation videos, designed to replace the cancelled fourth grade field trips, will now reach an even larger group of future land stewards. In fact, JCOS is partnering with the Colorado Alliance for Environmental Education, E-movement, and Thorne Nature Experience, to share this curriculum in classrooms throughout Colorado to increase environmental literacy and build a stewardship ethic within today’s youth.

TOP TEN Ways to Become a Trail Hazard  

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Here’s a list of ideas on how you can make yourself a real pain in the @$& when visiting our Jeffco Open Space Parks.

1. Drive as far from home as you can to hike in a Jefferson County Open Space Park. The oil companies will welcome your gas money.

2. When you reach your destination at a Jeffco Open Space park, if the parking lot is full, park on any road shoulder, even outside the park, and preferably over the white line or less than 18 inches from main roadway. Your parking fine will help alleviate the County’s financial stress. 

3. Hike when the park is most crowded – between 8:00 AM and 6:00 PM. That way you can expose COVID-19 to (and be exposed by) the most people.

4. Don’t bother to wear a mask. When you wear a mask people won’t be able to see your smile or catch your bugs. Besides, if everyone else is wearing a mask you can’t catch anything, so you’re good to go. 

5. It’s OK to walk off trail. The parks don’t have enough trails. More informal social trails can accommodate more hikers and give maintenance crews something to do restoring damaged vegetation. The rattlesnakes are waiting for you. 

6. Hike in big groups. The bears will appreciate having options. 

7. Ignore the 6-foot social distance guideline. All those open areas will just be filled in by somebody else, putting you in an even more dangerous situation. That’s what you want, right? 

8. Go as fast as possible. The object of being outside on the trail is to pass as many people as possible, given your superior speed capabilities. But wait — this minimizes interaction times, so maybe it’s not such a good idea? 

9. Leave your dog poop bag next to the trail. The poop fairy will pick it up.

10. No need to observe park rules. The rangers and volunteers need to have a reason to be in the parks, and the fines you’ll have to pay will help the Open Space budget.

Enjoy your outing!

Open Space Update 8/20/2020

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Lava Loop Trail 

On Saturday, we hosted our first public volunteer project at South Table Mountain.  A total of 30 enthusiastic volunteers were able to finish 1,200 feet of the new Lava Loop Trail alignment.  A big thank you goes out to the Trails Team for successfully leading our volunteers and implementing our new COVID protocols, which kept everyone safe.

  Apex Park – Gate Installations 

With the September 10th management change at Apex Park on the horizon, the Team has been hard at work installing gates to accommodate the new odd/even day requirements.  Rock solid work, team!

Clear Creek Canyon Park Trail Improvements: Gateway Segment

In order to make the necessary repairs to the wooden flume we need to bring lots of materials and equipment onsite.  There is one major problem though, Clear Creek stands in the way!  Our contractor has come up with ingenious, custom solution to this problem.  Take a look at the high line now crossing the creek approximately where our suspension bridge will be located.  Built out of lots of pieces of parts that run off of a skid steer and a generator, this beauty can haul upwards of 2,000 pounds.  What was the first thing sent across the creek?  The wheels for the drill that will make the structural repairs to the flume.

Mental Health First Aid Training

The Ranger Team completed mental health first aid training this week.  This is a required training that is refreshed annually.  Facilitated by our very own in-house instructors Maria S. and Shaun H. This training better prepares the team to deal with visitors in the park that may be in a mental crisis.  This could be due to illness, substance abuse, depression, suicide etc.

 

Plaque at the base of the Lubahn Trail, South Table Open Space Park.

The Lubahn Trail on STM, Ignored But Not Forgotten (updated)

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Hello from Miss Mountain Manners!

Plaque at the base of the Lubahn Trail, South Table Open Space Park.Today we have a little history lesson plus a talk about proper trail etiquette. I want to show you what happens when visitors to the parks fail to #StayOnTrail.

Rarely do we post about parks or trails that are not part of Open Space, but this trail deserves special attention. The Jack D. Lubahn Trail, a trail that belongs to the City of Golden, snakes up South Table Mountain from the eastern terminus of 18th Street in Golden.

The Lubahn Trail has a long history. It was begun by Jack Lubahn in 1965, shortly after he and his family moved into a house at the corner of 19th Street and Table Drive. This was a labor of love; each morning Jack would work on trail building for an hour before heading to his day job at the School of Mines.

Overview of the Lubahn Trail from the castle rock, South Table Open Spacce ParkThe trail took six years to finish; it was completed in 1971. To build the switchbacks, Jack had to move boulders that weighed up to two tons with just his block and tackle – truly a labor of love! The rock retaining walls on the trail stand as a tribute to his efforts.

https://stewardsofgolden.org/lubahn-trail%2Fsouth-table

The trail tracks through land that belongs to the City of Golden. In 1995 and 1996 Jeffco Open Space paid 70% of the cost of 7.5 acres on the western slope of South Table Mountain, which the County then deeded back to the City of Golden with a reverter clause – typical of JCOS investments that partner with a city or rec district. The reverter clause ensures that the land will be used for recreation; otherwise, the property will revert back to Open Space.

Detail of rock walls used on the Lubahn Trail, South Table Open Space ParkAccording to Colorado Lifestyle: “No one ever hikes the Lubahn Trail by itself. Instead they use it as the primary way to get part way up South Table Mountain in Golden and then use one of the many unofficial (social) trails to the top of Castle Rock (formally known as Table Rock). According to the city, this additional excursion is illegal because it traverses private property.”

http://colorado-lifestyle.blogspot.com/2009/05/lubahn-trail.html

 

Damage to rock walls on the Lubahn Trail, South Table Open Space ParkThese photos show what can (and does) happen to a trail when it’s abused. Over its lifetime, trekkers and hill climbers, on foot and mountain bike, have short-cut the switchbacks, causing damage – in some places, significant damage – to the original rock work that forms the walls that line the trail. As a knowledgeable Park Visitor, I’m sure you would never do something like this, because if you did, then you would be adding to the damage on the trail.

Hiking the Lubahn can be challenging. The base of the trail is 5676 feet in elevation. By the time you get to the top of the official trail, you’ve gained 400 feet, and if you persist in trespassing and climb to the top of the castle rock (a total of 643 feet from base to top of the castle rock), you’ll encounter multiple social trails and the crumbing Lubahn itself. But, Dear Visitor, I’m sure you would never knowingly trespass on private land.

Loss of rock wall due to trail abuse, Lubahn Trail, South Table Open Space ParkAs you can see from these photos, the Lubahn Trail can be narrow in parts. Social distancing in this age of Covid is not possible when encountering others coming in the opposite direction, so have your mask ready and put it on.

Note: stepping off the trail is not a good idea, since South Table is known rattlesnake territory. Even though a rattlesnake cannot lunge much beyond 1/2 to 1/3 of its length, an encounter with a rattlesnake that results in a bite is not something that you want to experience.

The Lubahn trail emerges on top of the mesa on private land; it’s the most obvious route up to the castle rock, which is where most visitors want to go.  The castle rock itself is on private land. Continued and ongoing short-cutting, perhaps because of the steepness of the grade, has continued to tear up the trail, causing loss of the rock walls’ integrity and serious erosion of the slope.

Loss of rock wall due to trail abuse, Lubahn Trail, South Table Open Space ParkThere is no clear boundary between the private and JCOS land, although there are some recently installed posts on the JCOS border along the new JCOS trail, saying that it is private land behind the posts.  None of these posts are visible from where one attains the mesa top via the Lubahn trail, and no one taking the Lubahn would have any way of knowing they were on private land.  It’s also not clear where the border is between city of Golden and private land.

Today there are two trailheads within 1/2 block of each other, on a neighborhood street, both very visible.  The Lubahn trail has a sign and a trashcan at the entrance plus an information board on local geology. The plaque in the top photo is a short distance up the trail.

Social trails, with and without warning signs, near the Lubahn Trail, South Table Open Space ParkA half-block away is the new JCOS trail. It has a COVID signboard plus a newly installed map of South Table Mountain open space.  There is no official parking or public restrooms. The neighborhood street is almost always packed with parked cars.  Any park visitor would assume both trails are sanctioned for use.  A very common hike is to go up one trail and come down the other.

The new trail construction on South Table Mountain is beautiful.  Many people are excited about it.  The field patroller who provided the information for this article has talked to many visitors who are really excited about the new trail, and two equestrians who were making their way up to the mesa top – something that was not previously possible for a horse.

The Lubahn trail has done well for being over 50 years old and not having had a dedicated maintenance program. Mike Foster, JCOS Stewardship Manager, has been in conversation with Golden about building an alternate to the Lubahn that would require less rock work and would integrate more closely with the contours of the land. At this time it’s not clear what will happen to the Lubahn.

Many thanks to our PLAN Jeffco Board Member and JCOS Field Patroller Lydia Andrews-Jones for providing these captioned photos on the historic Lubahn Trail. So remember, Dear Visitor, when you’re hiking South Table, Lydia will be watching and welcoming, and can tell you the story of the Lubahn trail.

Update February 9, 2021 – the City of Golden Parks Board is evaluating future options for the Lubahn trail. “The trail has been around for a long time and it is in really poor condition,” said Rod Tarullo, the director of Golden’s parks department. “There’s probably a variety of reasons for that but it was never really built to today’s trail standards and we have a lot more people using our trails then we did in past years.” Read the entire article here.

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