Sierra Club
Redwood Chapter Newsletter
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Nattkemper Trail Bench Memorial Carol Vellutini | |
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A work party was held on February 8th to erect a memorial bench and poem. Mother Nature cooperated and the day was sunny. Sierra Club built the connector from Goodspeed Trail in Sugarloaf to Hood Mountain Regional Park in the years 1982 and 1985. Clark was the moving force behind trails in those days. It is fitting that his bench overlooks the beautiful valley. I visited the trail many times before selecting just the right spot. On warm sunny days hiking the Nattkemper Trail is a challenge. After a hot steep area there is a forest. Right before the trail goes into the forest is the bench. The poem is tucked under a tree. I had 22 hard working volunteers. Thanks to a nearby landowner we parked less than a mile from the construction site. We had hundreds of pounds of material to pack up to the site by hand, backpacks, and a sling. The carvings on the bench and woodwork on the poem were done by SRJC professor Bob Rubin. Woodwork had to be carried very carefully. I want to thank Leo & Jolayne Copper, Rich Turner, Harry Rockey, Bill Arenander, Dave Chalk, Dave Barry, Jill Thompson, Ed Smith, Kent Thatcher, June Smith, Rick Abbott, James Merrril, |
Kathy Teixeira, Jeff Sanders, Hildy Gallagher, Scott Lewis, Ed Barich and son Tim, Brian Martens and Marcus Lipton. They faced a challege. I had never done a project like this. We had to carry all the tools, cement, and water to the site. Marcus is a master cement mason and he showed everyone what to do. Volunteers worked together to dig post holes, gather materials, haul water and level the bench site. The poem had to be in just the right spot. The result is fantastic. The work is perfect and Clark would be proud of us. Thank you Dave Chalk for hiking back up the trail the next week to take the "please don't sit on yet sign" off the bench and touching up a few scratches with stain. Thanks to Edith Newsome for coming to the carpooling spot to wish us well. She was a friend of Clark's. Thanks again to the people who donated money for the project. So please hike the trail and discover the bench. The trail from Sugarloaf has a slide and you have to take a detour to walk the trail at this time. Hopefully parks will fix it soon. We will have a work party on the trail May 3rd. Another project will be putting a trail sign at the boundary. |