Welcome to the Deer Creek Trail!
A Troop 3 Public Service Project
New Deer Creek Trail sign at the Highway 32 entrance.
On Sunday, November 17, 2024, at 0900, NCRLT staff members, Hannah Espinosa and Lucas RossMerz, along with NCRLT’s newly recruited AmeriCorps SNAP Member, Sam Vasen, met members of Chico’s Boys Scouts of America Troop 3 at the Chico Park & Ride on Highway 32. The missions of the day were to install two large wooden framed signs and three property boundary signs at NCRLT’s Deer Creek Preserve. The new Deer Creek Trail signs would be mounted on the wooden frames Troop 3 fabricated earlier in the year and cemented in at the Highway 32 and K-Line Road trailheads. The property boundary signs would be installed at the K-Line trailhead, K-Line gate access, and 2-miles down the trail at the boundary line between United States Forest Service and Deer Creek Preserve lands. Troop 3 loaded up tools, concrete, and water into vehicles. The new signs, wooden frames, and stakes were loaded into NCRLT ‘s work truck. The caravan departed for the mountains at 0935, arriving at the first installation zone at 1040.
“Deer Creek Trail traverses public and private lands, offering visitors a peaceful forest experience with sweeping canyon views and access to the water.”
While staging the signs and preparing packs to hike in and install the interior property boundary marker, a mature Bald Eagle heading up canyon and looking for salmon gave the group a flyby. Shortly after the Bald Eagle show, Lucas and Sam hit the trail with loaded packs to install the interior property boundary sign. The idea was for the two hiking team members to meet the group at the other end of the trail after all parties had accomplished their first missions. Loaded with a sign, post, post-pounder, and fasteners, Lucas and Sam headed down trail and downstream toward K-Line Road.
After installing the wooden framed sign at the Highway 32 trailhead, mission lead Hannah, guided Troop 3 to K-Line Road and down to the other end of Deer Creek Trail. A majestic mature black bear with cinnamon fur greeted the caravan as it wound down the switchbacks of K-Line Road to the gated Deer Creek Preserve access road. Just as the team parked the vehicles, Lucas and Sam emerged from the wilderness, it was a perfectly executed rendezvous at 1300. The second wood framed sign was then installed as the first was: two 24” deep holes were dug at the proper distance as to match the sign, 4x4 post sign legs were placed inside the holes, leveled, concreted, and braced. By 1500 tools were loaded back into the Troop 3 transport vehicles and the Boy Scouts departed for Chico. Hannah, Lucas and Sam installed the final two boundary signs, and then headed for home. The day was a success! After three long years of coordination, design, construction, and planning, the new Deer Creek Trail Signs were installed at key trail locations.
NCRLT Staff and Troop 3 hope the public enjoys the new signs. This project hopes to encourage public use of the Deer Creek Trail and increase appreciation for the goals of the Deer Creek Preserve.
Thank you Troop 3!
