When Cathy Moyer wakes up around 5:30 a.m. Saturday morning, after a night camping out in The City’s McLaren Park, she’ll get busy making coffee and breakfast — for as many as 100 people.
Moyer, executive director of the nonprofit organization Volunteers for California, will be one of about 40 ambitious campers and an estimated 100 volunteers who signed up to help create and clear trails through a portion of the wooded, 315-acre park Saturday or Sunday morning.
“If you’re asking volunteers to show up at 7 a.m., you better have coffee ready,” she said.
The volunteers will also be treated to lunch and dinner.
The weekendlong project has a goal of carving about 2,000 feet of pathways 3- to 5-feet wide through the park, which sits on Sunnydale Avenue in Visitacion Valley.
The organization started in Colorado, but has since taken on large-scale trail maintenance projects in California.
“There’s a lot of science to trail building,” Moyer said. “We provide a volume of labor and do more technical stuff than just cleaning up trash.”
She described the science behind carving pathways. The trails have to be constructed in a way that doesn’t allow water to linger while it rains. Water has to run down hillsides in a fluid motion instead of stuttering where it meets paths, Moyer said.
Franco Mancini of the organization Friends of McLaren Park holds the volunteers in high regard because of their work with park trails. Still, it needs a lot of work, he said.
“McLaren Park is a perfect palette for them because they like large-scale projects,” Mancini said. “This particular project is going to have a small impact because there’s not a lot they can do in a weekend.”
Ideally, more old paths would be restored in an extended period of time, especially in areas where people pushing strollers can’t get through, he said.
Mancini was intrigued by the plan to camp.
“McLaren Park is thought to be a spooky park and I don’t think you’ll get a heck of a lot people who really want to camp there,” he said with a laugh.
McLaren Park Trails
How it works
Who: Volunteers can register at www.v-o-cal.org. They will be divided into groups of eight to 12 and assigned a portion of a trail.
When: Aug. 7 – Aug. 9 Friday: 5 p.m. – registration and camping opens at Lakeview Campground
Saturday: 7:30 a.m. – light breakfast and registration, 8 a.m. – project begins, 4 p.m. – work day ends
Sunday: 8 a.m. — light breakfast, registration, 8:30 a.m. – project begins, 1:30 p.m. – pack up camp
What to bring: Water, sunscreen, loose-fitting clothes and closed-toe shoes, reusable dishes and utensils and camping items if camping
Source: www.v-o-cal.org/projects/mclaren.html
