Volunteers for Outdoor California

04/21/2026

What a fantastic weekend at Mt. Madonna! We brought great energy and high spirits to this multi-use trail, and with perfect weather on our side, the team worked seamlessly, shaping the trail with impressive enthusiasm. As always, no V-O-Cal project is complete without good food and plenty of laughter to fuel the effort. A huge thank you to Bay Area Barns and Trails, which again provided financial support to make this weekend possible, and also to everyone who showed up and gave it their all; the trails are better for it, and so are we!
Photography by Anka Karewicz.

04/08/2026

Mt Madonna County Park
Santa Clara County Parks
April 17-19, 2026

The next V-O-Cal project is just around the corner, April 17-19 at Mt. Madonna Park in Santa Clara County, and will feature a beautiful Redwood park, an extremely supportive agency and trail work that is literally just a few steps away from camp! We will re-route a portion of the multi-use Meadow Trail, and there will be fun and rewarding work for everyone. Many thanks to BaBay Area Barns and Trailsor their financial support helping to make this project possible.

There is something in this project for everyone. Like to create a new trail where none existed before? We've got you covered! Want to obliterate an eroded section of trail and return it to nature?Check! Interested in working with park staff to use grip hoists to drag downed trees out of the new trail alignment? Heck yeah! For those more inclined to assist in camp and kitchen, you'll spend the weekend in the shade of beautiful Redwood trees. Signups are open now, so we hope to see you there.

Sign up now to be a part of it!

04/07/2026

Some of Anka's photos from China Camp, or see all 144 at https://www.flickr.com/photos/ankakarewicz/55191552599/in/album-72177720332948543

04/04/2026

China Camp Recap

Thanks to our awesome volunteers who made our China Camp trial weekend project a great success.

For those of you who worked in camp: the food was delicious and the camp was well run.

For those of you who worked on 1/2 mile of the Bayview Trail: the work you did was impressive and the China Camp staff were very happy with the results - they were particularly impressed that on most of the trail you were able to remove the berm to improve drainage. The trail was widened to its original width, drain drips were improved, protruding rocks were knocked out, and the trail was well brushed on both sides and up to 10 feet high to accommodate equestrians.

03/05/2026

Registration is now open for V-O-Cal's first 2 2026 projects.

We'll be at China Camp State Park, near San Rafael, March 27-29, and at Mt Madonna, near Gilroy and Watsonville, April 17-19th

Sign up at www.v-o-cal.org, or use the QR codes on the flyers posted on this page.

Volunteers for Outdoor California believes that the quality of the experience is the most important part of any of its efforts. As a result, everything about the organization and our projects is designed to make sure that every volunteer has a great time and leaves with a genuine sense of accomplish...

01/28/2026

2026 V-O-Cal Schedule

A lot of V-O-Cal volunteers have been asking when V-O-Cal will be doing what, and our planning team has got the ball rolling. Although there is more in the works, you can mark your calendars now for these verified parts of the 2026 V-O-Cal schedule:

Sun, Feb 22 Season kick-off party
March 14 –Crew Leader Training
March 21 –O’Toole Day –at the V-O-Cal warehouse
March 27-29 – China Camp weekend project
April 17-19 –Mt. Madonna weekend project
May 15-17 –Joaquin Miller, Oakland weekend project
August – Santa Clara weekend project
September 1-7 East Bay Hills

More detail will be posted soon on the V-O-Cal website, and especially as registration opens for each project.

We are all looking forward to making a difference in the parks and on the trails this year, and hope you will join us!

10/29/2025

10/28/2025

Huddart Park Recap

96 volunteers came to San Mateo County’s Huddart park, near Woodside, for V-O-Cal’s final 2025 trail weekend and helped maintain the beautiful multi-use Skyline Trail. We had previously been to Huddart Park in 2006, our very first year!

Thanks to all involved and to our project sponsor, Bay Area Barns and Trails, whose mission is to assist landowners and land managers with the preservation and maintenance of publicly accessible barns, stables, pastures, staging areas, horse camps, and trails throughout the nine Bay Area Counties.

Thanks to Anka for the photographs! See link in comments for more

09/26/2025

The Sam MacDonald project was an absolute blast! Thanks to Anka and Lauren’s photos, you can really see how we worked, played, and laughed together. With our amazing team leaders and even more amazing volunteers, we conquered the challenges and got it done!
We hope to see you again at our next project at Huddart Park, October 10–12, 2025.
www.v-o-cal.org

09/16/2025

Join us at our final 2025 project will at Huddart Park, near Woodside, October 10-12! Register here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/5080B4FA4A823AAFC1-58246469-huddart