The Friends of Sandia Mountain (FOSM) and the New Mexico Mountain Club (NMMC) turned out to make improvements to the Ranger Rock climbing area near the Sandia Ranger District (SRD) station. The improvements were requested by Kerry Wood, Trails and Wilderness Program Manager, to support the local rock climbing community at a popular climbing location. The volunteer turn-out for the project was so good the group had to be split into two different projects.
One group, composed primarily of the climbing community, worked on the improvements to Ranger Rock. The other group hiked up Chamisoso trail to cut in a sustainable reroute around a badly eroded section of trail.
The volunteer crew at Ranger Rock was led by Mark Grazier under the supervision of Russell Berman, Cibola National Forest and National Grasslands Resource Assistant - Trails, and included Terry Owen, Dean Athow, James Harrison, Mark Starr, Nan Zou, Pat and Mike Madden, Phil Cromer, Jenny Blackmore, Jeff Huser, Tom Claus, Anna Brown, Dave Harding, and Mark Grazier. With multiple tasks to accomplish, experienced trail builders Jenny Blackmore and Mike Madden stepped up to lead individual sub-projects.
The volunteer crew building trail on Chamisoso were under the supervision of Canyon Young, SRD seasonal Trail Crew Foreman, and included Byron Garner, Steve Roholt, Rav Nicholson, Bruce Hansche, Sim Cook, Don Carnicom, Jim Houle, and Betsy and Bob Galloway.
The crews made a lot of progress on both projects and everyone felt the effects of the heavy work and warmest temperatures of the season.
Ranger Rock pics in the attachment are by Russell Berman.
Chamisoso pics in the attachment are by Betsy Galloway.
Mark Grazier
Bob Galloway
FOSM Project Leaders