The sounds of birds chirping above, perched in the densely growing forest of towering trees, mingled with echoes of scraping and clanging metal this Saturday morning as over seventy volunteers came to work on Mount Sutro on June 6th for National Trails Day, participating in a day of both literal and symbolic trailblazing.
Armed with picks, shovels, wheelbarrows, metal poles and rakes — among other tools — able-bodied men and women dug deep into solid soil and began the construction of the Edgewood Trail. It marked the first joint trail project between the UCSF Mt. Sutro Open Space Reserve and the Rec Park Interior Greenbelt.
“As you can see just by all the groups represented here today — we have people from Rec and Park, Mt. Sutro Stewards, SF Urban Riders, the Rotary Club, One Brick, Nature in the City — we are building a community between user groups with different perspectives,” said Dan Schneider, Director of SF Urban Riders, a non-profit that aims to increase cycling opportunities in San Francisco.
While about half of the volunteers sweat down on the trail-building project, another group worked on trail and habitat restoration as they hiked the switchbacks of three separate trails, converging at the Mt. Sutro summit’s Rotary Native Plant Garden. Volunteers on this project spent the day removing non-native, invasive plant species, like blackberry, from the sides of the trails in addition to clearing away dead plant material and leaf matter that cluttered the paths.
“There aren’t a lot of places where trail-building and restoration are being combined,” said Aaron Thies, who led the group on the North Ridge Trail and volunteers with Mt. Sutro Stewards once a month. “It always seems like it’s the trail users — the bikers, runners, dog walkers — versus the restoration groups and environmentalists. Those groups think they are working at odds, where we’re working for the same thing.”
And that thing, according to Thies, a mountain biker himself, is sustainable trails that people will want to use.
“The trails [at Mt. Sutro] are the best in the city because they are designed by those with knowledge of how people want to use them,” Thies said.
It’s an important winning point for conservationists as well.
“Access to open space is precious,” said Schneider. “When people have access to the outdoors, it leads them to appreciate it more. Where it can be done, it should be considered.”
Not to mention, trail-building in its own right could also be deemed an act of restoration.
“When we clear a trail, we often will expose the native seedbed,” said Nicole Masters, a dedicated volunteer and Schneider’s wife. “So we’ll begin to see natives that were once dormant emerging. By clearing the area, we’re helping Mother Nature come back.”
Throughout the day, long-time, faithful volunteers, like Masters, worked side-by-side those — and there were many — who had never before set foot inside the reserve, let alone had known it even existed.
“I actually live a mile or two away,” said Erika Alexander, a volunteer with One Brick. “I had no idea it was here. I had heard about it but always thought it was really far away. And being here [in the Reserve], it seems like it’s far away.”
The scene inside the Mt. Sutro Open Space Reserve is undisturbed and peaceful. A sun, muted by a thin layer of ever-present fog, scatters its rays through the gaps between hundreds of staggeringly tall trees that make this place their home. Trees, brush, dirt, and sky are all that one can see, making it easy to forget the concrete buildings and car-lined streets of the city that surrounds it.
“I just like being here. It’s beautiful,” Scott Ling, a resident of South San Francisco who volunteers with One Brick, said. “It’s like this forest oasis in the middle of San Francisco.”
It’s this escape from city life, the chance to really be surrounded by a pristine nature, that keeps people coming back.
“I come here to dig in the dirt and be an oversized kid and have a good time,” said Cortland Kirkeby, who lives in Oakland and has been volunteering with Mt. Sutro Stewards for the past year. “I have all sorts of friends who live in San Francisco who don’t know anything about this place. It’s kind of like when you find a good place to go fishing, and you don’t want to tell anyone so it’s there for you next time.”
The secret of Mt. Sutro, by the end of the day, though, was a little less kept, as all the first-time visitors enthusiastically affirmed they would return again. And the surprisingly agreed upon key word used to describe the highly strenuous work was: “fun.”
“We work hard, and we have a good time doing it,” Kirkeby said.
“It’s been fun. Great people and a beautiful day,” added first-timer Gordon Clark, a mountain biker who found out about the event from the Bay Nature Web site.
Then again, that may have been the most important goal of the day.
“We all need to appreciate this together,” said Schneider of SF Urban Riders. “When we form partnerships and begin involving more people, we’re making sure everyone understands how much work it takes [to build a trail] so they’ll appreciate it and share it.”
There was no lack of work this morning, evidenced by the considerable visible progress made on all the targeted trails. But there was also no lack of appreciation for the volunteers, as a stack of pizzas donated by UCSF and kegs of beer sponsored by three of the breweries in San Francisco met them in the parking lot as they carried their tools back to celebrate the end of a satisfying day. 
“When you walk the trail we cut today, it’s a beautiful alignment,” said Craig Dawson, the founder of Mt. Sutro Stewards. “It really gives you a great feeling of walking into a special place.”
--Michelle Gantos
For more photos from the day, click here.
