Camp Trail Reroute Project

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Back in February, we came to the conclusion that the Camp Trail had become too rutted to be enjoyed by any type of park user. Like most trail damage, water was the culprit, but it wasn’t the seasonal creek’s fault that the trail and it were sharing the same alignment!

We invited Oakland Public Works, Friends of Sausal Creek, and the Bicycle Trails Council for a site visit to determine the best plan of action. We all agreed that the trail needed to be moved, so we did a native plant survey, transferred some bracken ferns, cleared a fallen tree, then flagged the new route away from the seasonal creek. (On our first real work day, the filmmakers for our upcoming documentary, “Old Survivor”, came out to film our collaboration).

After two weeks of preparations, including flagging the new trail, clearing brush, and putting some fresh paint on a PAL Camp storage shed that was near the new route, we were ready for a big work day.

Park Patrol volunteer Sara K. is also an employee of Airbnb, and with their Week for Good community service event coming up, she engaged me to lead a project for her group. We decided to use their help – with more than 20 volunteers – to build the new trail. Along with leadership from the Bicycle Trails Council, we met on a foggy Wednesday morning and got to work.

With more than 30 volunteers involved, from Oakland Trails, the Bicycle Trails Council, and Airbnb, we had not only built the new trail, but also blocked off the old one so it could return back to nature.

A big thank you to our partners on this project: Oakland Public Works, the Bicycle Trails Council, our Park Patrol volunteers, and Airbnb.