Trees, trees and more trees

Date Worked	12/29/12	12/30/12
Weather	Cold Rain	Cold snow
Temperature	38-42	32-35
Workers Present	2	2
Time Worked	3.5 hours	3
Manhours Spent	7 hours	6
Distance Completed	zero	zero
Total Trail Distance	100 yards	100 yards
Total Manhours Spent	19.5	25.5

This weekend we switched gears a little and put in 2 good days of work cutting downed trees on the Wilderness trail. The "Sandy" storm a few months ago left that trail in a complete mess to say the least. We estimate that somewhere between 80-100 trees and limbs were/are down on the trail.

Saturday William and Josh started the journey and Sunday, William and I picked up where they left off. All in all we got maybe half of the Wilderness cleared. All the brush and thickets down along the way made it very difficult and time consuming to clear. We estimate another 2 days and we can have the rest in fair shape.

That's what we will be working on this coming weekend, tune in next week to see how we made out.

Zeke along for some fun

Work Day 1......Wildcat extension

Date Worked	12/16/12
Weather	Sunny
Temperature	55
Workers Present	3
Time Worked	2.5 hours
Manhours Spent	7.5 hours
Distance Completed	50
Total Trail Distance	50
Total Manhours Spent	7.5 hours

This past Sunday we spent the first trail work day for the 2013 season working on the Wildcat extension that will bring the trail all the way down to the park museum/train.

Being the first day things went a little slow as we were not use to the digging that is involved. After we got swinging things picked up and turned out pretty good.

We plan on working this coming weekend, 10am.............hope to see you there.

 

Does anyone remember this blog???

Well I guess I have really been neglecting this blog for quite some time now but as you all know it is Winter and that means............Trail Building Season.

Plans for this Winter are to continue where we left off last year on the Wildcat trail. Starting our work at the second shelter on the right fork of the park and bringing the trail down to the museum/train area.

We scouted this area last year and we hope it will be achievable by Spring.

This Sunday, the 16th at 10am will be our first day of work. We are getting a little later start than usual and we will need all the help we can get to accomplish our goal. If you're free and can join us please do!!

Be on the lookout next week for a post with all the usual details including pictures of our work.

Thanks,
Chris

Storm Damage/Wildcat Update

We finally got down to the park for a few rides so we could see the full extent of the damage that the storm left when it swept through a couple weeks ago. As I posted before there is a big mud slide with multiple trees down near the ranger station. Our recent rides have revealed the rest. All in all it's not too bad, there are a few new trees down, a small slide on the Wilderness, the waterfall section on the Wildcat is wiped out and almost every water crossing needs a little TLC to get them back in shape.

As for our work efforts lately we have decided to stop work on the Wildcat.......just one good day from finishing the "bail out" section that would complete this years leg. With all the storm repairs that are needed and not a lot of time before our race, we felt like we had no choice but to shift our efforts from trail building to trail maintenance. We went down this past Sunday and worked for 3 hours on the Rattlesnake and Woodpecker and got most of the areas on them cleared, just one more spot on the Woodpecker and that side of the park will be in good shape.

Cleared creek crossing

Logs that were in creek crossing before we started

Next we will be working to clear trees on the Lakeshore and Blackbear, hopefully that will happen this Sunday. After our race we hope to complete the "bail out" on the wilderness but for now that will have to wait.

In the mean time I did see a few interesting thing on my ride today, hope you enjoy:

Virginia Blue Bells in full bloom

Sneaky little fellow

 

Antique Archaeology (American Pickers) van hiding on the museum parking lot


As you can see the Antique Archaeology van was in Logan today and hiding in the park. As I finished my ride I saw the van drive up the park, after loading my bike I decided to go look for it. They pulled in behind a big U-Haul van and covered the decal on the door. I guess that's what showbiz will do. I did see Mike walk by but I didn't try for a picture. Thought I would respect their obvious desire for privacy. Pretty cool to actually see them and the van right here in Logan. I noticed a few other pictures of the van on Facebook from around the area, so be on the lookout and maybe you can sneak a peak too.

Work Day 15

 

Date Worked	03/11/12
Weather	Sunny
Temperature	55
Workers Present	3
Time Worked	2.5 hours
Manhours Spent	7.5 hours
Distance Completed	65 yards
Total Trail Distance	1324 yards
Total Manhours Spent	167.5 hours

This work day didn't go quite as planned. On my way to the park my wife got called out to work and I had to return home to be with the kids. I did get to drop off the tools and the guys went ahead and worked without me. They managed to complete the next section that we had planned that included cutting a massive tree that was in our way.

Another big item on the agenda for the day was to decide how to proceed with the trail. This also has been decided........we are making a bailout trail right past the big tree that will bring us off the mountain exiting at the 2nd shelter on the right fork of the park.

We believe that this "bailout" section can be completed in one more workday IF we get a good turn out of workers for our LAST trail building day of the season. I would like to ask that everyone make an extra effort to show up this Sunday to help the last big push to complete this section of trail.......hope to see you there!!

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After

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Work Day 14

Date Worked	03/04/12
Weather	Light Snow
Temperature	30
Workers Present	4
Time Worked	3 hours
Manhours Spent	12 hours
Distance Completed	100 yards
Total Trail Distance	1259 yards
Total Manhours Spent	165 hours


After 14 workdays completed it's time for a quick look at the averages. So far we are averaging about 12 total manhours worked every Sunday while completing about 90 yards per trip. This Sunday falls right in line with the averages as you can see above. As I mentioned last week, we are running out of time as race season approaches and our luck has not been that great as we  look for a place to make a connector trail to come out of the woods. Next Sunday we will be completing a difficult creak crossing and cutting the largest tree that we have cleared to date. After that it will be time to decide how to proceed; stop the trail as an out and back, bomb down the mountain at a less than perfect spot or push forward around the next point in search of an ideal location to come out of the woods. A big work crew would be great for next week, so if you can free up please come down and join the fun.

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After

Work Day 13

Date Worked	02/26/12
Weather	Sunny
Temperature	50
Workers Present	8
Time Worked	3
Manhours Spent	24
Distance Completed	150 yards
Total Trail Distance	1159
Total Manhours Spent	153 hours

Sunny, 50 degrees and 8 mountain bikers makes for a great day of trail work. We managed to complete 150 yards of trail and cleared 5-6 trees in our path. Thing are really moving along and with volunteers showing up like today we are making great ground. Roll call for the day looked like this:

Chris R, Dennis B, William B, Joey A, Ron S (Grand Master), Rick S (Pooh Bear), Josh W and Alan D. Big shout out for all the help!!!!!

Although we are making great progress we are running out of time as the Logan race is only 51 days away and the race season is right around the corner. We are now in planning mode to determine the best approach to finishing the trail for the year. Since we are pretty sure we can't quite make it to the Museum as originally planned we will be looking for a good place to make an "out" to come off the mountain and render the trail ridable without it having to be an out and back only. Keep your fingers crossed for a good location for the bail out.

Big Trees Before

Big Trees After

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After

Now for a little something not related to trail work.............I picked up my new ride on Saturday, 2011 Trek Superfly, makes me faster just looking at it!!

Work Day 12

Date Worked	02/19/12
Weather	Overcast
Temperature	40
Workers Present	3
Time Worked	2.5
Manhours Spent	7.5
Distance Completed	100 yards
Total Trail Distance	1009 yards
Total Manhours Spent	129 hours

With the threat of snow Sunday morning I though we would see a little white on the ground but I was wrong. With the temperature hovering around 40 degrees all morning the snow held off till that evening. With a crew of 3 we managed a great distance. We benched a short section near the BIG downed tree from last week and then cleared a 75 yard flat that basically just needed raked and a little smoothing. We skipped the tree cutting, planning that for the next work day. We are now in the hollow directly behind the second shelter and making great progress toward the museum.

This Sunday will be a difficult workday with multiple trees to cut and the entire trail will need benched. We hope to see everyone out to help.



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Beginning of Flat

Middle of Flat

End of Flat

Work Day 11

Date Worked 02/12/12
Weather: Clear
Temperature: 22
Workers Present: 5
Time Worked: 3 hours
Manhours Spent: 15 hours
Distance Completed: 100 yards
Total Trail Distance: 909 yards
Total Manhours Spent: 121.5 hours

Not much time to write today, so I will make it quick.

It was cold, difficult digging, lots of roots, still made good progress. Next time we have a BIG tree to cut, big flat to clear, looking to clear 100+ yards.............hope to see you there.


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Work Day 10

Date Worked 02/05/12

Weather: Rain

Temperature: 45

Workers Present: 3

Time Worked: 1.5 hours

Manhours Spent: 4.5 hours

Distance Completed: 65 yards

Total Trail Distance: 808 yards

Total Manhours Spent: 106.5 hours

3 is the loneliest number that I've ever seen........just imagine a musical tune and you'll get the idea.

3 worker present, rain and difficult digging leave me a little less than excited about our day. What we got completed looks really good, just not that much of it. The good news.........we scouted ahead a little and found a 100+ yard flat right around the corner. If we have a good turn out Sunday we might get thru the next section and clear the flat.......sounds good to me. Hope to see you soon for another work day.

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After

Work Day 9

Date Worked: 01/29/12
Weather: Clear

Temperature: 38

Workers Present: 6

Time Worked: 2.5

Manhours Spent: 15

Distance Completed: 108

Total Trail Distance: 743
Total Manhours Spent: 102


I know I keep saying it...............but another great day of trail work. All the help we are getting and the weather we are having is making this year a great success for the build, hope it continues.

We had another first timer for the year show up this past Sunday to lend a hand. The man, the myth the legend.....POOH-BEAR, Rick S. was out for a hard days work. It always fun when he's around.

POOH-BEAR hard at work

The day yielded about 100 yards of fresh cut trail through a valley and starting back toward the next point. We had about 25-30 yard of flat that we took advantage of without having to bench, now we are faced with a long bench to the point. If we keep hitting flats each workday and manage to complete 100 yards plus each work day we might make our goal.



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