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Hawes Trail Day - Sat 3-7, 7:30am

1K views 20 replies 12 participants last post by  BullitTom 
#1 ·
Meet at the Walgreens parking lot (behind store) at 7:30am on Saturday, or on Mudflaps\Cardiac hill at 7:45.

We will be working on rebuilding the waterbars on the hill, narrowing the go-arounds to reduce erosion, and closing the spider trail at the bottom. Please bring water for yourself. Gloves, shoes\clothes for yardwork, sunscreen, shovels are encouraged - some tools will be supplied. We will likely work for about 3 hrs.

Any amount of participation is welcome - feel free to bring your bike and help for a while during your ride. The work site is easy to get to, and close to home for many of us, please contribute in any way you can. Friendly volunteers to communicate what we are doing and encourage good trail usage will also be very useful - dozens of trail users will pass us and anything we can do to spread the message will be helpful.


Please share this info with your friends, clubs, East Valley shops, and other message lists.

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Directions
From Walgreens we cross Power and head into Las Sendas (east). There is a trail entrance on the east side of the canal. Look for the wrought iron fence to your left. Enter the trail at the sidewalk and immediately cross an artificial wash with rocks imbedded into cement. Follow the trail (tour de backyards) due north into the Tonto forest. This access trail crosses the Tonto boundary and makes a sharp right (east). It comes out on the Hawes trail on a sweeping turn. Keep heading due east (gradual uphill). Trail will eventually turn north. When you reach the top of the hill you have reached the section of the trail being worked on.

Walgreens is located on the NW corner to Thomas and Power roads in north-east Mesa. If you are coming from the 202 Red Mountain eastbound, exit at Power Rd. and take a left (north). Walgreens is at the next intersection. From the westbound 202 Red Mountain, exit at McDowell and take a left (west). The next road is Power. Take a right (north).
 
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#4 ·
AZ Mikey said:
How long do you think the crew will be out there? I have a couple of family commitments that will keep me tied up until noon or so.
I'm guessing 3-4 hrs, based on other trail days and people naturally running out of gas? I need to be home by 11. Prolly not worth you driving all the way out from Tookie, but thanks for thinking of it!!
 
#6 ·
Word has been spread to the Missing Link team, which has a lot of East Valley riders. Please spread the info to your other clubs, lists etc. For those of you on East side, this is a good way to pitch in with something close to home. Thanks!
 
#7 ·
I'll jump in and help. Couldn't BELIEVE the state of that trail last week; hadn't been out there in eons.

I got lotso diggin' tools: Spade/Sharpshooter/pickaxe/mattock. I can also bring some canvas bags for hauling gravel/rock. I'll just bring tools to Wgreens and compare to what's needed and already available.
Any tempe-atuke folks want to carpool out?
 
#8 ·
jean-louey said:
I'll jump in and help. Couldn't BELIEVE the state of that trail last week; hadn't been out there in eons.

I got lotso diggin' tools: Spade/Sharpshooter/pickaxe/mattock. I can also bring some canvas bags for hauling gravel/rock. I'll just bring tools to Wgreens and compare to what's needed and already available.
Any tempe-atuke folks want to carpool out?
thanks. I'm sure some extra tool will be useful, and the bags are a great idea. I plan to mark my tool with colored tape.

Look forward to meeting you, and finally meeting Maadjurguer and others - I'm kinda psyched that this will be in a way more social than some rides.
 
#10 ·
BIGHORN LEW said:
is the spider trail at the bottom the one that goes north and drops into the wash? if so, why would you close that? i like it and use it to change up my rides.
I am struggling to answer this accurately, as I've said all along I'm newer to trail work. but let me try to by saying its not part of the system, so flat and straight that its become wider every month, and the runs into the wash on both sides are getting swept of vegetation. The one interesting feature that is steep going from south to north is completely swept out and not climbable in the other direction.
 
#12 ·
#13 ·
Just got back, I had to leave early unfortunately to do my share of parenting. We had about 20 folks show up, I did not get all the names, but from MTBR there was Clockwork, Daniel, Maad, Jean-Louy. Some Missing Linkers, and a bunch of MBAA folks. Huge thanks to Scotty Mac for doing most of the admin work, rallying a lot of MBAA and Linkers, organizing tools, and instructing us.

WOW! it looks like a different trail. It looks like single-track again, and will be a much more challenging climb. Look around on your next ride, things have moved and there are rocks and cactus bordering the trail now.

Thanks to everyone for contributing. have fun!
 
#15 ·
chollaball said:
Just got back, I had to leave early unfortunately to do my share of parenting. We had about 20 folks show up, I did not get all the names, but from MTBR there was Clockwork, Daniel, Maad, Jean-Louy. Some Missing Linkers, and a bunch of MBAA folks. Huge thanks to Scotty Mac for doing most of the admin work, rallying a lot of MBAA and Linkers, organizing tools, and instructing us.

WOW! it looks like a different trail. It looks like single-track again, and will be a much more challenging climb. Look around on your next ride, things have moved and there are rocks and cactus bordering the trail now.

Thanks to everyone for contributing. have fun!
You guys rock! Seriously, thanks for taking the time and making the effort. Everyone benefits.

More challenging climb? I rode it Friday after work and made it from the bottom to the top of Mudflaps for the first time ever without stopping. So much for that . . . :)
 
#19 ·
thanks folks for the supportive comments. I went back out on Saturday night with the big bike and the dog, just to ride up Mudflaps and see our work, and launch some jumps coming back down. Its not so much harder, but better...it just feels like a trail again.

this was my first trail day, and I learned a lot from Scott and Clockwork about how to better a trail. Also it was ironic how i wound up as one of the bell ringers for this event, since I did not know squat about how to do it. Goes to show that anyone can make a difference.

We got mostly good comments from passersby - bikers and hikers. A few people just put their heads down and cranked through us, one dbag said he didn't need to do trail work for his mbaa points cause he will win his races. :rolleyes: Some of the people working with us were very capable racers - its about your attitude, not your clothes or your speed.

I really can't explain how positive this experience made me feel - Hawes is out my door, I've ridden it so many times over the 8 yrs I've lived there I kinda take it for granted what a fun trail it is. This week I rode Hawes 4 times which for me is very unusual - I prefer Somo, Hawes is typically only once a week for me. I just really wanted to be on "my trail" this week. I'm planning to bring some small tools on some of my long no-destination rides in the future, and fix a few things for a few minutes here and there. I understand a lot better now the sense of pride and ownership others take in "their" trails now, and realize that if you don't pitch in then these trails just degrade over time. This rambling is probably sounding hokey to those of you who never did trail work (like me up til last weekend), or quaint to those of you who do it all the time. But I never expected to be so pumped about my bike-week like this when I didn't do anything epic or nail any cool trials and my wrenching was a total failure. :cool:
 
#20 ·
New cholla on Mudflaps need water

Thanks to everyone for your efforts on mudflaps. The trail looks and rides like a trail again, instead of kitty litter.

We transplanted a lot of cholla to tighten up the trail and to make it look more natural. If you have water to spare, could you give the new cholla a little bit to ensure that they take root. Thanks!!
 
#21 ·
Big props to all you guys that worked on the trail this weekend! I was out of town all last week and didn't check the computer a single time (odd...but kind of nice!!). Just saw this thread today. I did ride Hawes on Sun AM and first noted some of the signs Maad and I hung were missing. Then noticed the closure of the spider and guess some were "appropriated" to mark that trail "closed"? Anyway...great effort. These things really have people talking on the trail...all good from what I've heard so far, too!
 
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