Do you like to leaven your volunteering with a catered gourmet meal and cocktail hour? Then spending a weekend in September restoring a portion of the Big Trees Trail in Joaquin Miller Park may be just the good deed you’ve been looking for.

Volunteers for Outdoor California is recruiting folks to help build new sections of the Big Trails Trail which have eroded in two spots leaving the root network of adjacent trees vulnerable. It’s two days of moderate manual labor, and plenty of sustenance to maintain the aforementioned labor. On Saturday, September 11 the work day begins at 8 am and ends at 3 pm. Happy hour starts at 4pm, dinner and entertainment begins at 6:15pm. Volunteers are encouraged to start camping at the site Friday evening. This will be the second time V-O-Cal has partnered with the City of Oakland to work on projects in Joaquin Miller Park. In 2007, 200 volunteers came out to build half a mile of new trail.