Yesterday, Monday, November 29, 2021, the FOSM Trails Maintenance Crew hiked Lower and Upper Switchback, Buried Cable and portions of Crest Trail 130 South to perform whatever tasks needed to assure that these trails and trail sections are safe and in good condition for the January 22, 2022 Annual Sandia Snowshoe Race. This hike will be repeated as needed including a sweep of the race course on the Friday before the race.

Friday, November 19, 2021, Sally and I hiked these same trails to do some preliminary work for Monday. Our purpose was to do some of the "simple stuff" so that Monday's crew could concentrate on more complex tasks. It is the practice of our crew to evaluate standing dead trees adjacent to our trails. Some are small, but since they are dead, sooner or later, they will fall. Basically, the tree is shaken, if it is firm and stable, it is left unless it has another hazardous condition. If it is easy to move the tree due to rotten roots, in most cases if it is small enough, it is simply pushed over and moved away. If larger, it can be pulled down with a long rope. On that Friday, Sally and I removed fifteen of those small dead trees.

In our previous reports, it was often mentioned that winter was approaching in the Sandias, well, it has arrived. We were greeted Monday morning with two to four inches of heavy, wet snow. Its not much, but it’s a start. By day's end, the crew had removed a total of twenty-six trees ranging in size from two to fourteen and a half inches in diameter. As usual, many of those were in the small tree push-over category, but there were also plenty of more complex situations to keep things interesting. There was also a twenty four inch cut needed to remove protruding roots from a previously fallen tree.

The day was mostly sunny and cold, but not unpleasantly so. With the winter sun so low in the sky, it almost seems like perpetual sundown on the east side of the Sandias. Regular hiking boots were at least adequate on Monday, but unless there is a big warm-up, traction devices or snow appropriate boots will probably be needed on the mountain in the future.