On Sunday, September 11th, 32 volunteers headed up Hostettor road (La Tuna Canyon) in the Verdugo Mountains. Eagle Scout candidate and St. Francis High School racer Steven Ayoob had chosen to work on the trails at Verdugo Peak for his Eagle Scout project. Verdugo Peak is the highest peak in the Verdugo Mountains. CORBA trail crew volunteer Steve Messser served as an advisor for the project, supplying CORBA’s tools and expertise.

After a round of coffee, juice and donuts, the group held a moment of silence in memory of the victims of September 11, 2001. Steven gave instructions and organized the group before heading up to the peak and trailwork site. At the top Steve Messer gave a talk on safety, tool use and the objectives of the trailwork.

Steven Ayoob is a member of Boy Scout Troop 127 out of Glendale, and is the troop’s fifth Eagle Scout candidate for 2011. He has ridden the trails in the Verdugos and wanted to help improve and preserve them. The user-created trails that lead up to the peak along the old firebreaks have been ridden and hiked for decades. They have been becoming increasingly rutted and eroded in recent years. About 32 volunteers came out to help with the project, filling ruts, cutting in rolling dips and nicks to divert water, and trimming brush.

Ayoob also had some of the volunteers install a restored and freshly painted park bench on an overlook near the top of Whiting Woods motorway, giving weary hikers and riders a place to sit and enjoy the views of the Crescenta Valley and San Gabriel Mountains.

One of the volunteers who came out was Eagle Scout Chris Sercel, whose Eagle Scout project was the restoration of the Doc Larsen trail in 2010. He put the leadership and trailbuilding skills he’d learned in his project to good use, helping direct one of the two crews working on different sections of the trail. Sercel’s Court of Honor, the ceremony and final step in the long trail to become an Eagle Scout, was held the day before on Saturday, September 10th. At that ceremony Chris surprised CORBA’s Steve Messer with an Eagle Scout Mentor pin for his guidance on the Doc Larsen project, a true honor.

Ayoob’s Eagle Scout project was coordinated with the City of Glendale’s Community Services and Parks Department. CORBA thanks Steven and all the volunteers for their contributions to Glendale’s trails, and we congratulate him on a successful Eagle Scout Project.