Holy Cross creek crossing

VOLUNTEER GROUP: CORE

DATE: 9/11/24

LOCATION: COLORADO, White River National Forest - eagle holy cross DISTRICT

VOLUNTEER HOURS: 400

DONATED EQUIPMENT USED: HAND TOOLS, 4×4 VEHICLES, MINI-EXCAVATOR

ESTIMATED PROJECT VOLUNTEER VALUE: $20,000

The Holy Cross Trail is a Jeep Badge of Honor Trail and one of the most popular, true destination trails in Colorado. One of the unique features of the trail and one of the hardest obstacles is the French Creek crossing. A high mountain creek flows across the trail, making it wet and challenging to climb the slick granite boulders on the uphill side.

This spot can be a parking lot during busy weekends, as users often try several times before successfully navigating the creek and obstacle. But over the years, this section also began to cause water quality and resource concerns as increased use of the trail wore down the creek crossing, to the point that water began running down the road for nearly 100 yards before returning to the original creek Channel. Many times, people waiting for their turn at the obstacle would park their vehicles on the road, with the creek running beneath. This caused obvious issues with vehicles leaking oil and other fluids that would directly drop into the water.

The White River National Forest was concerned with this environmental problem and asked CORE to help implement a fix. This was by far the most challenging project to date, getting equipment into the backcountry. CORE’s equipment operator had to navigate several difficult obstacles with the excavator to get up the trail and then back out after the work was completed.

The volunteer project was successful, and the creek water was diverted back to the original channel and no longer runs down the road. The trail's difficulty was maintained, and the experience of driving to the Holy Cross City site remains available to those with a capable vehicle.