Yesterday, Monday, June 26, 2023, the FOSM Trail Maintenance Crew hiked Rocky Point, Crest Trail 130 South between the upper tram terminal and Tree Spring trail to perform mitigation of damage to Crest Trail 130 caused be a huge fallen tree/root ball and to perform other work as needed. This fallen tree had been discovered/reported last fall/winter. The crew visited the tree then, but snow and frozen ground caused any work on it to be postponed until summer. As expected the majority of the work on this hike involved the root ball tree. As can be seen in the attached photo file, the huge root ball produced by the fallen tree had pretty much obliterated the trail at that location As is our practice, the crew did a group evaluation of the situation and discussed appropriate ways to mitigate the damage. Due to the size of the tree, its location, its double trunk and the damage to the existing trail caused by the root ball, it was determined that the safest and most practical solution would be to build a trail re-route around the uphill/bottom side of the root ball. This involved moving a lot of dirt, rocks and the usual forest debris. The resulting new trail section should prove to be sustainable and safe for users.

In addition to the major root ball tree work, the crew removed or cut back about a dozen fallen or hung-up trees or parts thereof including previously cut logs ranging in size from three to fourteen inches in diameter that had sagged back into the trails plus other minor pruning of brush or other growth as needed.