OJAI VALLEY : Rotarians Honored for Trail Shelters

As Jeff Rains bicycles along the Ojai Valley Trail, he is compelled to pause and chat with anyone using the two new rest shelters on the nine-mile path.

“I just can’t help but stop and talk to them,” said Rains, an Ojai retailer and Rotary Club member. He is proud of his role in coordinating apprentice masons and fellow volunteers from the Rotary Club of Ojai West to build the shelters and donate them to Ventura County.

The County Board of Supervisors honored the 53-member Rotary Club last week for its contribution to the county’s longest, narrowest park.

The trail winds along California 33 from Foster Park in Casitas Springs to Soule Park in Ojai. Many residents discovered that it was easier to use than driving after authorities detoured coastal traffic onto the narrow highway for six days last week after a train derailment.

Bruce Dunwoody, a retired vice president of Bethlehem Steel and past Rotary Club president, said the group plans to build five more shelters along the popular bike and bridle trail in the near future. “We’ve had people call us and thank us for putting them up,” he said. The next shelter will overlook Devil’s Gulch in Oak View; it will not be visible from California 33.

Marc Whitman, an Ojai architect who serves on the city Planning Commission, designed the rest stops with stone walls, wood roofs and benches, water fountains, garbage receptacles and bicycle racks. “A lot of people like the fact they are substantial structures,” Rains said. “They’re a solid part of Ojai and the trail.”

The first two shelters cost about $3,000 each for the design and materials, with donated roofing, Dunwoody said. Funds were raised at the club’s annual Ojai Wine Festival. “We gathered the stones from roadsides around valley, and the club gave the apprentice masons a $250 check to buy a new set of tools,” he said.

County officials have also honored two Ventura Eagle Scouts for their contributions to the trail. The county’s Parks and Harbor Commission said the work that Andy Serr and Jon Roach, both 18, did during their Easter vacations saved the county $9,000. Serr built a 60-foot-long retaining wall in Casitas Springs. Roach constructed three wooden racks for trail guides published by the county Parks Department.