Almaden Quicksilver Calcine Roads Project 1/21/18 by Ronald Horii
Starting in June 2017, there was a big project in Almaden Quicksilver County Park. It was called the Calcine Roads Remediation Project. What was it? This is from one of the environmental review documents:
"Project Description: The project would remove calcine pavement used as surface cover on fire roads and trails (for purposes of this document, roads and trails shall be used interchangeably) in Almaden Quicksilver County Park (AQ County Park) that are identified as containing calcine pavements. The project would include removal of all calcine pavement and replacement with clean soil; the repair of inboard drainage ditches; and stabilization of existing slumps and over steepened road edges...The purpose of the project is to reduce mercury laden sediment that may be transported from
calcine paved roads in AQ County Park, downstream into the Guadalupe River Watershed."

I hiked from the Wood Road Trail to Mine Hill and took the Castillero Trail to English Camp. I hiked the Yellow Kid Trail partway, then went back to English Camp. I took the Mine Hill Trail to Bull Run and took the Castillero Trail back to the Wood Road Trail. Here are pictures of some the trails that were affected by the project.

Here are the environmental reviews for the project: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/PlansProjects/Pages/calcine-roads-remediation-project.aspx

See the map of Almaden Quicksilver County Park to see which trails I'm referring to: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/parks/parkfinder/Documents/AQGuideMap.pdf.

Here are pictures of the project in August 2017, while construction was ongoing: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1685612524795596.1073742307.100000405933924&type=1&l=d7704cc8c6