How I Got Into Trail Work

I met Margaret at Quail Hollow Ranch while my parents were visiting back in 2021. She's the Volunteer Coordinator for the 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. We stayed in touch over the years, but it took a while for the right opportunity to land.

The Wildlife Undercrossing

In early 2025, I signed up for a French Broom pull event organized by the Land Trust of Santa Cruz County. This was 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.

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.

The Maryknoll Connection

The land on the far side of the undercrossing belongs to the Maryknoll Sisters, who worked with the Land Trust and Caltrans on an easement to make the crossing possible. When I learned this, my jaw dropped. The Maryknoll Sisters have a convent in Fremont -- right next door to where my family stayed for three months when we first moved there. I was a kid, and the convent was just part of the neighborhood. Decades later, here I was on the other side of their generosity, walking under a highway through land they helped protect.

The world is small and connected in ways you don't expect.

Quail Hollow

Shortly after the undercrossing event, I got an email from Margaret about a broom pull at Quail Hollow Ranch. I signed up right away.

This is where I first learned about the Pace project -- a plan to build new trails at Quail Hollow. My usual running route there was just under 4 miles, so some more distance was welcome. Margaret introduced me to the people involved, and I got on the list to start working on the trails themselves.

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 the beginning.

Building Trail

The first days of actual trail building came in May 2025, led by employees of Santa Cruz Mountains Trail Stewardship (SCMTS). 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.

I think that shows 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 in Pleasanton for the East Bay Regional Parks District, and they would be rolling off of the Quail Hollow project in July. A lead volunteer, Jeff, was present at most of the days up to then, and so the idea was for Jeff to take on leading days out there too. Margaret got in touch with me at this point and asked if I was interested in being a leader as well. I would need to get fingerprinted and background checked -- no big deal. I was honored! 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.

We had a good group of regulars in the beginning -- Sofia, Megan, Eli, Norbert. This turned 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.

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.

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.

Wrapping Up

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. I got to be on the committee to select the art for the project, which was a double-honor. And thanks to Mike the Park Planner, who spent many days working on the trail as well, Jeff and I were nominated for a Volunteer Group of the Year recognition from Santa Cruz County.

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. I feel 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. I do know that it's an important part of who I have become in the last year.