One of the best ways to get trails open for bikes is to build the trails! We are active in Joaquin Miller Park, Dimond Canyon, Mt. Diablo State Park, Pleasanton Ridge and Camp Tamarancho in Marin where we work with The Marin County Bicycle Coalition (MCBC).

Trailwork is sweat equity. Land managers and government agencies appreciate reliable, competent volunteers. BTC members have volunteered numerous hours of their time to build new trails and improve existing paths. Trail work is fun, rewarding, a great workout and it helps assure continuing trail access for our sport. Please dedicate one half a day a year to BTCEB Trail Work.

Check our calendar for the next trail work day!

Joaquin Miller Park | June 8-10, 2012

The City of Oakland's Office of Parks and Recreation and Volunteers for Outdoor California (V-O-Cal) are teaming up with Bicycle Trails Council of the East Bay, Friends of Joaquin Miller Park, and Friends of Sausal Creek for a weekend service project in Oakland's Joaquin Miller Park. Work is needed on the Bishop's Walk and Fern Ravine Trails to help reduce erosion and restore the native habitat of Sausal Creek and to improve trail signage and aesthetics. You may volunteer for one or both days. Participants are invited to camp for free near the Sequoia Arena on Friday and Saturday nights. All meals will be provided. Ages 14 and older are welcome to participate. If you plan to camp on Friday and/or Saturday nights, you must provide your own camping equipment and make arrangements for free camping when you register. Advance registration is required.

Some Past Trail Days
	Joaquin Miller Park BTCEB held a trail workday at Joaquin Miller Park. Thanks to the Berkeley High School mountain bike team and other BTCEB members for all the help and to Cliff Bar for supplying snacks. We worked on Cinderella. We corrected the top section of the trail for proper water drainage. We also pulled some French broom from taking over the trail bed. So next time your out in Joaquin Miller, check it out.
	Mt. Diablo We worked on Buckeye trail off North Gate road (close to Diablo Ranch). Buckeye trail is a multi-use trail opened about a year ago by the BTCEB. Thanks to Cliff Bars for once again providing snacks!
	Joaquin Miller Park The weather was awesome and we worked on 2 different trails. special thanks goes out to Jay and Roger. We worked on the mud pit on lower Sinawik. We out sloped and fortified the trail bed for better water runoff. We then went over to Cinderella and cleaned out the drainage dips and did some light pruning. We also cleared the top drainage point where the 2 railroad ties are.
	Pleasanton Ridge It was a beautiful day at Pleasanton Ridge for the last trail work day. We cleared out the drainage dips along the entire Sinbad trail. A couple of the switch backs are exhibiting some erosion and Park Supervisor, Laura Comstock decided we'd come back in the Fall with a larger crew to fix the problem. Along with the good company Laura taught us about some of the native plants and little known trail access further up the canyon. Combined with free snacks and drink it was a very enjoyable day.
	Redwood Regional Park IMBA held a Trail building School in the East Bay in December. The School include a half day of classroom instruction and day of field work. Each school combines interactive learning, hands-on trail work and top-notch instructors to develop skilled trail workers and crew leaders. Topics covered include designing a contour trail, controlling water flow, building effective trail structures, and routine trail maintenance.
	Joaquin Miller Park The International Mountain Bicycling Association's (IMBA) Subaru/IMBA Trail Care Crew joined BTCEB for a trail work day in Joaquin Miller Park in December to help clean up a boggy section on Sinawik and Sinawik Loop. IMBA & BTCEB putting our new trail maintenance skills to work in Joaquin Miller Park. The Crews teach "sustainable" trail building, which means building trails that last a long time and require minimal maintenance. This helps reduce trail damage, protects the environment, and enhances visitor enjoyment.
	Joaquin Miller Park It's raining in June! Which is perfect for trail work in JMP. We had a load of crushed rock to wheelbarrow about two hundred feet over to our rock drain on Sinawik Trail. No one was spared and we all left with extra long arms. Hopefully the rock will pack down this winter keeping this area dry.
	Dimond Park, Oakland It was an awesome day to go out and clear some brush, in some parts more like a jungle. We met up at 10:00 at the Diamond Park parking lot with shears and loppers in hand, just in case we brought a mattock. In hindsight, we should have also brought the 14" machete. It was a short walk to the trail head, which crosses a stream about a mile in. We worked the entire trail, all the way up the canyon. We cleared a lot of ivy and brush. In some parts it felt as though we were clearing the trail for the very first time. We also tackled and destroyed (at least temporarily) one of the most feared and evil vegetation, poison oak. We were out for about 2 1/2 hours and the trail is now prime singletrack once again. Now, ride and enjoy the dirt, look for more trail dates this fall. Any help is good help.
	Joaquin Miller Park In conjunction with the JMP Trails Working Group about 20 volunteers showed up to do some drain cleaning on Sunset Loop and Chaparral. Park Supervisor Martin Mataresse lead the group with a quick demo on how to use a McLeod down in the meadow and then we got to work. Afterwards we meet at the Fernwood picnic area for our anual picnic where Marion cooked up a tasty BBQ of steak, chicken and smoked bratwurst. Along with amble beer and other tasty treats a great time was had by all.
	Pleasanton Ridge For all those who missed Nov. 19 at Pleasanton Ridge you missed a great day. First off the weather was awesome and the views from Sinbad trail were incredible as usual. We first met up with Steve Quick (Pleasanton Ridge Park Supervisor) and Harry (Park ranger) and went over some of the current activities and news about the park. We also talked about some of the history as well. We then left park headquarters and headed for Sinbad. We cleared all the existing drainage dips and made sure they were ready for the winter rains. These drainage dips are sometimes barely noticeable and feel like they are part of the natural flow of the trail. Often times we have to make them a bit more dramatic because of the trail layout. Even though they can sometimes require yearly maintenance they are an easy and effective way to keep water off the trail and stop rutting. We were out for almost 4 hours and plan on going back this winter to see how the trail is holding up. To top it off we “chowed” down on some Mexican food in Dublin went for a ride afterwards too. Not a bad day.
	Joaquin Miller Park We can't blame anyone for missing out on this trail work in JMP (in conjuction with the Trails Working Group) as it was raining pretty good in the morning. But right about the time we got started it tapered off and stopped all together by 9:30 or so. We had a pretty good turn out with 15 people including a couple park staff. We did some light broom clearing at the top of Cinderella and cleared the drains all along the trail. The top of Cinderella is really muddy with the earlier grading work done by park staff. The thinking is that the trail bed can be moved to the right and allow the runoff/creek to take over the left side of the trail. Hopefully this area will get better this spring if we all stay to the right. Martin also cut back the tree across Cinderella which had been cut back by a park user and had turned into a giant spear head high. We also cleared the drains and a couple of large bogs along Chaparral Trail.
	Pleasanton Ridge We had 17 people at the Pleasanton Ridge trail work day. We actually did ran short of tools for all of the volunteers that showed up. Thankfully Board members Dan and Paul were on hand to help, without them it would have been extremely difficult to lead all the volunteers. We ended up breaking into about 4 groups and working our way down the south side of the trail. We covered all the ground we wanted to cover thanks to the numerous volunteers. So a huge thanks to both Paul and Dan for coming out and lending a hand.
	Joaquin Miller Park The light rain didn't keep eight riders from showing up for the Joaquin Miller Park work on Saturday. We started out installing three trail signs on the new Big Trees reroute and gave them a fresh coat of paint over the graffiti tags. We then did some light maintenance on the new trail, shoring up a loose section and created a couple new drains. Then we headed down the hill and picked up a supply of split rail fencing and hiked out Sequoia Bayview to work on the closure of an informal trail. After lengthening an existing fence we covered up the "trail" (which lucky was not heavily used). It's important to note that most damage to the redwood understory at JMP is caused by a small fraction of park users that includes bikes, hikers, and pet owners. However, the impact of each individual is critical, since a pattern of use adds to future visitors' perceptions that the area is free to trample. People often learn norms from observing what others do, so by providing positive role models and rehabilitating areas promptly we hope that users understand the need to stay on the trails. After the trail work we headed back up the hill for some cold beers and snacks.

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Joaquin Miller Park | June 8-10, 2012

Some Past Trail Days