Birchbank Overlook Trail Register Removed

 

Graffiti's door

All good things must come to an end, and so it was with the Birchbank Mountain trail register.  It was great while it lasted, and the logbook filled up by hikers at the height of the pandemic is priceless. But in 2023, lots of people started to hog and skip pages, turning the 'guest book' into something not worth saving, so it was removed. We were thinking about trying it again in 2024, but discovered that people had just recently starting carving into the door. And the little totem pole that someone left had been broken off and taken. This is why we can't have nice things. And so the register was removed. But honestly, we were surprised it lasted as long as it did. 

We'll replace the door and maybe install it somewhere else less prone to vandalism. Maybe the end of Stockmal Trail, since that's such an abrupt ending for a trail. 

Signs of Spring

 Ah Spring!  The weather gets warmer, snow turns to rain, lots and lots of rain, more rain, the trails get muddier, and birds start flocking northward to their summer homes.

The Porta-Potty's have also flow North from their winter homes.  One has started roosting at the Dog Park near the RecPath and Trails Barn.  Just in time for the Trails Committee Meeting this Wednesday at 5:00.  A welcome harbinger of Spring.  The public is welcome to attend in the New Barn.

And the daffodils are coming up too next to the flower gardens.  Ah Spring.

The 2024 Trails Marathon Challenge

Shelton's hiking challenge for 2024 is up and running! We don't do a challenge every year, so take advantage of this one as a way to get out and explore trails that may be new to you.  Even if you been on every trail before, it's easy to get in a rut and keep hiking the same favorite routes over and over. Consider this challenge a kind of 'bucket list' of hikes for the year. 

We're calling it the Shelton Trails Marathon Challenge because the hikes add up to a total of 26.2 miles, the length of a marathon. That's a nod to the 2024 Olympics being held in France.  The prize this year features "Hank the Hiker" from the Trails Barn weathervane, the five Olympic rings, and a French ribbon. 

This challenge is very similar to the one we did in 2016, and some of the hikes are exactly the same. But this year we added a second level, so if you did all the hikes in 2016, you have the option of doing Level 2 this year with all new hikes. Level 2 was added because we have found over the years that some of our trail sections are a bit too rocky or steep for a lot of people. So those trails were removed from the basic level and concentrated in the the Level 2 hikes. The Burritt's Rocks section of the Paugussett Trail between Birchbank and Indian Well, for example, requires people to use their hands to scramble over boulders. Some people hate it and some people think it's fun. The Level 2 hikes also tend to be more remote and there are lots of hills. Again, some people hate that sort of thing and others love it. Pick whichever level you would enjoy the most. 

Both levels share a loop at Nicholdale Farm

In preparing the descriptions for these hikes, we were surprised at how many of the old hikes had changed since 2016. Oak Valley Trail is now blazed red, not white, and the Paugussett Trail was rerouted in several places. And we have a number of new trails that didn't exist in 2016, including French's Hill, Woodsend Trail, the Pearmain Path, and Stockmal Trail. 

Our National Trails Day guided hike on June 1 will feature one of the listed challenge hikes at Birchbank Mountain. This is a Level 1 hike, but with an option to turn it into one of the Level 2 hikes. Stay tuned for more information about the Trails Day hike. 

To get started, click on the main 2024 Hiking Challenge page on this blog, which is list on the main menu to the right near the very top. ---> Or click HERE. 

Print out the tracking form for either Level 1 or Level 2 (or both if you're really ambitious). Then take a look at the description and map for each hike before you set out. Some hikes are not recommended during mud season, or may cross a highway that is best avoided during rush hour, so plan accordingly. Level Two has a custom Google Map that you can save to your Google account and use while hiking to geolocate yourself along the route. 

The Eversource Steps of Nells Rock Trail

The Eversource Steps

Once the trails reopened at Shelton Lakes, people on Nells Rock Trail discovered a new set of steep rock steps. These steps have been a point of contention between the Shelton Trails Committee and Eversource, and we're now looking at the possibility of bypassing the stairs entirely. 

Looking down the steps

The steps aren't bad if you're not a mountain biker and you're going uphill. But if you're going downhill, especially if it's wet or snowy, the top half of the stairs are treacherous. The treads are not level as they should be, but instead slant downhill and off to the side. If you do slip, you could have a pretty good fall because the steps are so steep. As for mountain bikers, they probably need get off their bikes and carry. 

Before construction. The trail went up the slope on the left

Prior to the Eversource project, the trail followed the old utility road up the natural slope. It was always rocky and you needed to watch your step going downhill if it was wet, but it wasn't as steep. 

Eversource brought in fill to build a construction pad

But then Eversource placed a lot of fill at the top of the slope in order to create broad, level construction pads around the old towers so that these towers could be taken down with modern equipment. This resulted in a steep embankment where the trail used to head up the previously moderate slope. 

An embankment was constructed on the trail

The only reason the construction pad was built across the trail was so that the old towers could be removed. The new towers were built in a slightly different location, so the construction pad was no longer needed and could have been removed from the trail. During a site walk with Eversource representatives, we asked for the company to pull the fill material back off of the trail. Instead, their contractor built the stairs we have now without consulting the City, then promptly removed their temporary access haul road so they could no longer get heavy equipment to the site. We never had a chance to comment on the steps. Eversource did subsequently offer to straighten up the top two or three steps, but we really wanted the area restored. 

The temporary haul road bridged a swamp

One of our Trails Committee members recently slipped on the steps and scraped up his leg pretty good. Unhappy with the steps but unable to force Eversource to rectify the problem they created, the Trails Committee is now looking at the possibility of bypassing the steps with a trail reroute. This would take advantage of the disturbance created by Eversource's temporary haul road across a narrow marshy area.  The company had chipped away some of the cliff face that rises up from the swamp, allowing for pathway up from the water's edge.  A bridge would be needed, but it looks feasible. Approaches to the bridge location have been cleared out because it's so much easier to do before everything starts growing back. This new route should be much better for bikes as well as hikers. 

Looking north across the swamp. Red marks the potential trail.

If you are doing the Nells Rock loop clockwise, you would come out of the forest at the edge of the construction pad (now grassy) and instead of going straight across the pad towards the steps, you would keep to the right and re-enter the woods briefly to zig then zag down the slope. That will bring you to the edge of the swamp where a bridge would be needed. The swamp narrows in this spot. After crossing, the trail would angle up the slope, which is now a jumble of loose rubble that can be worked (this was under the temporary Eversource bridge).  Nells Rock Trail is close by off to the left.  There is also the possibility of someday rerouting Nells Rock Trail away from the powerlines by going to the right into the woods instead of to the left after crossing the swamp. 

View from the north side of the swamp showing the potential trail route.

Eversource Trail Closure Status

TRAIL  CLOSURE  STATUS (updated March 18, 2024):  All trails have reopened. However, you should be prepared for muddy sections where timber matts have been recently removed, especially at French's Hill and along the Paugussett Trail north of Constitution Blvd. A few other locations still need improvements due to the Eversource activities. a set of steep rock steps that were installed by Eversource for Nells Rock Trail may be bypassed with a future project. 

Muddy Marshmallow March 2024

Under threatening skies we did get in the 2024 Marshmallow March before it rained, hard.  A little sprinkling at the end.  Last week's scheduled event was rained out.

But were our hikers deterred by a little rain?  Heck no, not with a campfire to be had.

And that was just the trails volunteers who were excited, never mind the kids.  A hot fire and some toasted marshmallows at Nicholdale banished any dreary skies.

A group of trails volunteers got there earlier to get the fire started.  The new firewood crib built by the scouts was a nice addition this year.  Here is Mark using the trails blowtorch to get the fire started.

The kids and parents seemed to have a great time.

Thanks to the Shelton Land Conservation Trust for hosting the event on their property at Nicholdale.  Joe Welsh, President of the Land Trust was doing some hands on land management trying to dry out the trails leading to the scout camp.  The Shelton Land Trust is a great local charity if anyone is interested in helping with nature preserves.

We even had some out-of-state tourists show up for the event.  Rich S. was a former trail commissioner who stopped in from Florida for the event.

The scouts also fixed up the picnic tables over the winter.  Mark, Ellen & Bill were whittling sticks and helping out with smores during the event.

It was a surprisingly fun afternoon given the forecast.  Rich and Bill kept rotating around the fire to minimize the smoke in their eyes.  All the kids and families had fun time.  Shelton's first 2024 guided hike was successfully, if somewhat muddily, in the books.

Fixing Fences, Finally

A large group of trail volunteers got to work on Saturday morning to repair a large number of broken fences along the RecPath at Silent Waters.

The fences suffered a lot of damage during December storms and several section had collapsed or were ready to collapse.  The first task was getting all the replacement materials in place.  The second was digging out the old posts.  Here Jeff, Boodie, and Gary  are digging out the old base and trimming stumps so we didn't fall off the old dam.

Did I mention that the RecPath runs along the top of a historic dam that used to supply downtown Shelton with water?  So we were often working several feet above ground and didn't want to trip on some piece of brush sticking up and fall.

This is one of the "before" pictures from late December.  The string of storms was too much for the fence built in 2006.  The post had rotten, falling over and several sections of fence were compromised all at once.  We did wrap the fence with pink tape to let people know not to lean on it and take a selfie, and that seemed to work.

It took a while to purchase this much fencing, get it delivered (long saga), and schedule the work party.  Here are Zach & Brooklyn digging out the old post.  Luckily today was unseasonably warm for February and there was no frost to break through.  Even so - Removing the bases of the old posts too a lot of digging bar, post hole work and hand work; the posts were stubborn and didn't want to come out of their warm home in the ground. 

But, with some persistent digging we got them out, lined up the posts, inserted the rails, and got them back together.  Once a section of fence was removed and the post loosened it was easier to replace the rails.  Sometimes it was necessary to partially dig out a solid fence post and loosen it to replace a rotten bottom rail.  But that is where the Fine Adjustment Tool (our 15 lb. sledgehammer) came into play.  Many of the trail volunteers had never had the joy of replacing a split rail fence before; but now they can add this to their list of job skills.

Helpful Trail Tip:  Use the weight of the digging bar to work for you.  Raise and drop the bar to break up the soil and posts where you can, rather than driving it down.  You back will thank you the next day.

The Gator was helpful in getting all the parts out to the job and we ferried or carried all the rotten pieces out to the road for later pickup.  Mark had to make several trips to get more posts and fence rails.

Luis was helping hold the post straight while Zach and Zion tamp in the backfill around the new post.  The round end of the digging bar for pounding the loose soil to compact the soil firmly around the post.  Many, many times.

And that new fence is solidly in place.  Great job.  It's gratifying sometimes to see trail work where you go out and at the end it is a dramatic improvement like that.

The old fence posts and rails were hauled out to Constitution Blvd. N. for later pick-up.

Today was a good morning's work.  The RecPath was pretty busy during the work party and all the trail users liked the fence being repaired.  It was really helpful to have a lot of trail volunteers on this job to take turns digging, setting the new fencing, haul all the materials on and off the RecPath, etc.  Thanks to Bodie, John, Zach, Zion, Brooklyn, Val, Annie, Luis, Gary, Jeff, Mark, Bill, and Terry.  

And nobody fell off the dam. 

Val posted more, and better, pictures on the Facebook page.