Journey to Trailwork

I met Margaret at Quail Hollow Ranch while my parents were visiting back in 2021. She was the Volunteer Coordinator for Santa Cruz County, and one of those people who radiates a genuine love for the land and the people who show up to take care of it. This was a good fortune for me, since one thing I had in mind since moving to Scotts Valley was to be involved somehow in taking care of parks. I got onto Margaret's mailing list, but it took a several years for the right opportunity to land.

The Wildlife Undercrossing

My home park is Glenwood Preserve. It's a great spot just a few minutes from home, with 6+ miles of trails in rolling grasslands and redwood hillsides. I run there about every week. Glenwood is managed by a local organization called the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County, and I also got on the Land Trust's volunteer email list.

In early 2025, they advertised a French Broom pull event near the Highway 17 wildlife undercrossing -- a passage built under the highway so that animals can safely cross between habitats. I had heard about it but never seen it up close. It was not far from home and looked interesting, so I signed up. I had no idea what French Broom looked like, but I was excited to learn and help and see the undercrossing from below.

We spent the morning pulling broom, and afterward got a tour of the undercrossing itself. Walking under Highway 17 while cars roared overhead was surreal. You could see the animal tracks in the soil -- evidence that the crossing is doing its job. There are a dozen wildlife cameras under there too, and the Land Trust has posted some videos about it.

The Marywood Connection

The land on the far side of the undercrossing belongs to a convent called Marywood. They worked with the Land Trust and Caltrans on an easement to make the crossing possible. When we were gathered in the morning to hear about what we were going to do, a couple of the Sisters came to talk with our group about what they do there. They mentioned that they were connected to the Dominican Sisters in Fremont, and that floored me. When my family moved from Kentucky to Fremont in 1985, we stayed for a few months right between Mission San Jose and the Dominican Sisters convent. I talked with couple of the Sisters at the end of the event, and we figured out that all of us were right there in Fremont 40 years ago.

The world is small and connected in ways that can be surprising.

Back At Quail Hollow

Shortly after the undercrossing event, I got an email from Margaret the Santa Cruz County Volunteer Coordinator about a broom pull at Quail Hollow Ranch. I signed up right away, since I was now a broom pro.

This is where I first met Jeff and learned about the Pace project -- a plan to build new trails at Quail Hollow. Jeff has become a good friend out there. He has been volunteering at Quail Hollow for the last 7 years and is on the board of directors of the Friends of Quail Hollow Ranch, so he's kind of the grand poobah of the park. He was one of the leaders that day.

Our group of 10 or so went on familiar trails up to the top of the ridge overlooking the park, then we took a secret turn and hiked down a secret path to a secret place with a ton of French Broom. Pulling broom was step one before the work pivoted to trails.

We pulled a huge amount of broom that day. The pile we made was enormous, and it's been interesting to watch it slowly decompose over the almost-year since. A visible marker of that day and a reminder that the work continues.

That broom pull was just the beginning.

Soon after, another email came from Margaret advertising trail building, and I was all over that like dirt on a trail.

Building Trail

The first days of actual trail building came in May 2025, a year after I retired. Those early days were led by employees of Santa Cruz Mountains Trail Stewardship (SCMTS). Jeff would come out too. These trail building professionals were also experts at showing the ropes to first timers like me. I came back day after day to learn from Justin and then Andrew, getting to know these awesome guys, the other regular volunteers, and the one-timers looking for something new or fulfilling a high school graduation requirement.

A moment that sticks out for me was a quiet day on the trail in June. We had a nice little regular group and were led by Justin at that time. He went ahead with the chainsaw early on to make sure we could press on with our soil-moving tools. We heard the buzzing of the saw in the distance at full bore, then stop cold. A few minutes later, Justin walked back with the saw in one hand and his gaze at the ground. He had inadvertently cut into the nest of a rat and a mom with four babies clinging to her back ran out across the to-be-trail. One of the babies fell off and was making this shrieking sound. The mom continued to safety. Justin thought about what to do and decided to just leave. He needed to take some time to collect himself that day. He went back to check the scene, and there was no trace. We all hoped the mom rat came back for her baby.

I think that showed the strength of his character and his attitude toward the work that he does. These were great guys to learn from.

Stepping Up

The guys from SCMTS started talking more and more about a job they were doing at Pleasanton Ridge for the East Bay Regional Parks District, and they would be rolling off of the Quail Hollow project in July.

Jeff was present at most of the days up to then, so the idea was for Jeff to take on leading days out there too. However, he had other obligations that got in the way of being out there two days a week.

Always a problem solver, Margaret got in touch with me at this point and asked if I was interested in being a leader as well. Um, heck yes I would! She explained that I would need to get fingerprinted and background checked -- no big deal. I was so honored and stoked! I guess I had made a good impression on the decision makers out there and looked forward to working on this project with more responsibility.

By this point I had put in a dozen or so days of working on the trail and felt comfortable enough going at it mostly unsupervised, so leading was an easy pivot.

We had a good group of regulars in the beginning -- Sofia, Megan, Eli, Norbert. That group evolved to Rachel, Mark, Neli, and Chris toward the end of the project. Every day out there was special in its challenge and its landscape. I learned so much about not just the mechanics of trail building, but about connections with people that can come so easily, and that every person as an interesting story.

I started sending updates to the County employees and fellow volunteers at some point over the summer. I would use my Strava data to see where along the trail I spent the most time and distance, annotate a map, and send it with the email. In the fall, I shot some time-lapse videos of doing sections of the trail. It was hot out there! I then got the idea to shoot before and after video walkthroughs of the section of the trail we would work on each day. It was easy to synchronize them in DaVinci Resolve and it made for a fun memory of that day, and of the overall project.

Days with Drew and Mike

The trail was designed by Drew Perkins of SCMTS. It just so happens that Drew designed the Glenwood trails that I run in all the time, the Cotoni-Coast Dairies National Monument that just opened last year, and many many other local trails that so many people enjoy. I got to work with Drew a couple days on the Pace Trail. He'd come through occasionally to check things out, but there were a couple of days he just came out and worked with us. This was so enlightening, since he was happy to answer my questions about all the whys of designing a trail, along with the hows. He's a guru of the industry, and a big reason why SCMTS is as successful as they are.

Mike Pruitt is a Park Planner for Santa Cruz County Parks. He is the project manager of the Pace Trail project, and so I've gotten to know him both through his role as a county employee, but as a fellow volunteer. Mike regularly spends a Saturday or holiday Monday out there on the Pace Trail, moving dirt with the rest of us. He's super passionate about his work, and I think this project has also lit a spark in him around more trail building.

It's been a pleasure getting to know these guys, along with Jesse the Parks Superintendent, Beth the Park Host, Emma the new Volunteer Coordinator (Margaret retired!), Mati the all-around doer at SCMTS, and everyone else who shows up to contribute to the project.

Closing the Loops

They were memorable days when we completed each of the two one-mile loops.

The Access Trail

Eventually the two loops were done, and we turned our attention to the Access Trail. We had been using a temporary connection from the Sunset Trail to the Pace Trail loops. This was because the planned trail was in a particularly difficult and sensitive habitat, so there were certain times of the year that the project could be worked on there. The county arranged to have two California Conservation Corps crews on site in February -- one to pull invasive French Broom and one to build the Access Trail. Both crews did a terrific job considering the weather they experienced during their week-long camp at the park.

SCMTS

I kept the SCMTS events on my radar, since they are the primary force of trail building and maintenance in the area. I came to know many people from SCMTS -- Justin and Andrew from the beginning of the project, Drew the trail designer and all-things-trail whisperer who worked with us and taught us for a couple of days out there. SCMTS advertised and operated a few volunteer days at Quail Hollow, and those events pulled in 20-25 volunteers versus our usual 1-5. I got to know Mati who runs the SCMTS volunteer days at Quail Hollow, and they got to know me more. I got to lead some of those days with SCMTS, which was a satisfying feeling of accomplishment.

SCMTS advertised a Trail Crew Leader training program, which caught my eye. Endless thanks to Jenn for changing up our Seattle / Scotts Valley schedule to allow me to do the in-person parts of the training. She's the one.

Natural Surface Trails by Design

One day that Drew came out to work with us on the trail, I asked him if he had a recommendation for a book that talked about the two sides of designing trails -- the hard considerations like managing water erosion and the soft side of designing an experience for trail users. He gave me one recommendation and it was a great one: Natural Surface Trails by Design by Troy Scott Parker.

I ordered the book as soon as I got home that day, and 30 minutes later got an email from the author asking me where I heard of it. I emailed back explaining that Drew sent me, and with a little bit of information on the Pace Trail project. I traded a few more emails with Troy and then suggested we just have a conversation.

We ended up talking for more than two hours on Zoom. Troy is a fascinating guy and has some great stories. He's working on a monster 240 mile trail system project now, which was also very interesting to hear about.

This was a great lesson in just reaching out to people, no matter how elite they may seem. The more accomplished people tend to be the friendliest.

Wrapping Up the Pace Trail

The Pace Trail project is wrapping up. As of the beginning of March 2026, we are just putting the final touches on the Access Trail. An AmeriCorps crew will be camping on-site starting in the middle of the month to install benches, signage, final trail changes, and more. So the Pace Trail will have a soft opening sometime in April, about six months ahead of schedule.

Part of the funding for the project included public artwork, so that will be made and installed later in the summer. Another cool opportunity that came out of this project was that I got to be on the art selection panel.

And thanks Mike the Park Planner's nomination, Jeff and I received an award on behalf of all of the Pace Trail project volunteers at the annual meeting of the California Parks and Rec Society District 6 meeting.

Personal Growth

I have learned and grown so much through this project. It's been great to have a regular outlet getting closer to nature, giving back my time and effort to the community through trails. It's hard work, but they last for decades and serve a virtuous purpose so it's absolutely worth it. I am stronger than ever and am enjoying a newfound fitness. I look forward to what projects come next, either long-term ones like the Pace Trail or touch-ups to trails as they need them.

This project has brought new people to my sphere and helped me to find a new facet of myself that I knew was there, but never had a chance to let it flourish. I know that it's an important part of who I have become in the last year, and am so thankful for the opportunity and capability to do it.

Overall, I can very confidently say that this has been the best year of my life. The Pace Trail has been a part of that, but so has finding love in Jenn, enjoying (semi-)retirement, enjoying connection with Marina and Naomi, and staying in better touch to friends and family. This is all what is most important.