Hello everyone,

Last Thursday was interesting: Not only did Kerry Wood (and another USFS Region 3 staff member) join the trail construction crew building new tread on the Challenge Trail extension, but we also got rained off the mountain well before noon (and before the photographer could capture all the work). Kerry's presence was fortuitous: He identified a location where the planned line for the new extension would pass too close to a CCC artifact, and he was able to assist in flagging a better line. Unfortunately (from a trail-building perspective) the new line will need to go through some rocky, steep, densely-wooded terrain. Between this change and some necessary realignments we identified on several of our new trail sections during our rainy return hike, the new time estimate for opening the Challenge Trail south of Tree Spring is September or October!

See attached report for some pre-rain photos.

Jenny Blackmore

FOSM Project Leader