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 2....Wildcat extension

Date Worked	12/23/12
Weather	Snow cover
Temperature	25
Workers Present	2
Time Worked	2.5
Manhours Spent	5 hours
Distance Completed	50 yards
Total Trail Distance	100 yards
Total Manhours Spent	12.5 hours

Day 2 started off a little cold and snow covered but ended up being a very comfortable day of digging. Only 2 people showed up today but we still managed to make pretty good progress. Most of the day was spent building up this section with a small rock retaining wall to help bench this slight right handed turn at the bottom of what will end up as a pretty fast flowing section.

 

Can't really see the rock wall...........sorry!

At the top this turn there was VERY short section that required no benching, just raked the leaves.

 

 Now this is the view for next week.

 

 

 I know this picture looks great and everyone will have a hard time waiting till next Sunday to dig in but with the Holidays hear it will pass before you know it and we will all be able to have the fun we deserve. Hope to see you Sunday at 10am. 

 

Now on to another topic that came up today. While we were in the park we noticed the below picture posted on several of the trees in the areas we were working........Looks like the five-0 are after someone!!!!

 



 

 











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

As Usual

Well, as usual our work season is over and I have quit posting on our blog with any noticeable regularity. My apologies,  I really am going to try and change that this year. I have a few things to talk about and update on.

First, the "drop out" section of the wildcat that comes out by the shelter is ridable except for one tree. It is very slick and absent of any benching, but ridable. We plan on cutting the tree and bench a little very soon. Hopefully a few hours of work and it will be in OK shape. Pitcures of that to be posted soon!

Next, the 2012 Wilderness Challenge has come and gone. Last Sunday the weather stopped raining long enough to get the race in. With all the rain leading up to race and the threat of rain on race day we only had 50 riders show up. The course was muddy but everyone was pretty understanding of the conditions and several racers commented that the race course was in better condition than they expected. The LMBA race team was there in full force (almost, one member was out due to a surgical procedure recently) but suffered a few mishaps that effected all but myself. William and Josh broke chains, Derek was battling a stomach bug and Dennis had to abandon the race to direct traffic at a missing sign that split the beginners off from the rest of the pack, as for myself I had a good race and managed to capture my first ever win (in my class of course).

Here are a few pictures to help catch everyone up on all the action:

Waterfall section of the Wildcat the first time it was repaired for the race, 2 days before the race a storm wiped out most of this work and we had to repair it at the last minute so it would be ridable for the race.

Last minute race course preparations on the Wilderness:





Just a cool view on a loop I have been riding. Leaving from my home, back rodes to the park, loop the trails in the park and return......usually around 25 miles.

Hope to be posting more soon!!!!

Race course

Just wanted to let everyone know that the race course will be ready for pre rides on thursday. The course is super fast this year.

Another Step Closer

We worked this past Sunday for about an hour clearing trees on the Lakeshore and Buffalo. We also smoothed a couple creek crossings to finish off the day. After the work William B and I rode a little, getting in about 15 miles. All in all a pretty good day. so hear is whats left for work on the race course

Cliffside- Huge slide with multiple trees. We will probably re-route and take this section out of the race     course.
Wildcat- 2 creek crossing to smooth and the waterfall section needs a good bit of work.
Wilderness- 7-8 trees to clear and one small mudslide
Woodpecker- 1 creek crossing and the slick rock section on the downhill needs fixed
Backbone- 3 tree to clear, 1 small section of road washed out and a small mudslide to clear.

I feel bad for not having any pictures to post today so hear are a few funny picture I stumbled across today.