Wild Basin, Notes from Blue Crew

Mid-January 2020

This week blue crew was working at Wild Basin wilderness preserve just outside of Austin. We were resurfacing the Arroyo Vista Trail removing the erosion prone decomposed granite and replacing it with staylock which is decomposed granite mixed with wax.

We first removed all of the old tread and then raked in the staylock and tamped it with a motorized tamper. We also extended a hand rail on a bridge with on site sourced ash juniper to make it more safe. Finally we added 2 check steps at the bottom of the entrance to the visitors center to prevent more erosion and make the walk easier for the visitors.

This was a very tough project with a lot of tedious raking and leveling and with a dwindling supply of staylock we had to adequately cover the trail to the correct depth as well as cover the whole trail. Overall it was a fun learning experience for us all and we hope for more trail projects in the future.