![[Image Description: Two MCC members taking a brief break; one is sitting on a rock, the other is standing nearby. They are both in their uniforms, looking out at the expansive, mountain view surrounding them.]](https://cdn.firespring.com/images/c3f85e97-43a9-4810-8081-e8e6338173d0.jpeg)
This summer, our crew has the privilege of working with Allie Wood, an experienced trail builder and maintainer. Our first major project is to help restore a section of "The Beaten Path" after the major flooding that occurred in 2022, which knocked out bridges and washed out large sections of the trail. In the last few years, other MCC crews have worked to scratch a temporary path back along the East Rosebud Creek, but we're tasked with returning to this piece of trail and refining it for Equestrian use.
The primary objective this week was to assist Allie with Emulsion blasting. We learned how to set up the explosives and safely maintain a worksite. The first four days, while Allie was with us, we used over 400 pounds of explosives to clear a larger corridor through a sloped rocky section of trail, and we quickly learned the routine of blast rock, move rock, repeat as we moved through this section of trail piece by piece. Most of the rock moving was able to be done by hand, but we also moved around 50 large boulders with rock bars. After we ran out of Emulsion, we worked the remaining days with Shane and continued to widen and re-route different sections of the trail.
This project was a great learning experience for the entire crew, both in learning how to clear a trail with explosives but also getting to learn different trail building techniques alongside Shane and Allie.
