Wednesday, November 27, 2024

2024 Wiacek Meadows Project: Mission Accomplished!

2024 Treadway Improvements 

It's done! A half-mile of frustrating footing along the Paugussett Trail has been "hardened" in the areas that were mud and roots, and shifted in the areas that had become eroded gullies. This is the stretch between Constitution Blvd and Meadow Street. The task was so large it was broken down into smaller projects, as shown in the map above.  Here's a summary: 

Project A1: Crushed stone over rooty terrain

A1: Crushed stone was wheelbarrowed in from Constitution Blvd for about 600 feet of trail to fill in muddy areas between a lot of tree roots. This involved six work parties in April and several SHS students in need of volunteer hours. (Previous post, and another, and another)

Project A2: One of the new bridges

A2: "The bridges" needed to be constructed so that those wheelbarrows full of gravel could get over some wet spots. The bridges started out as temporary works, but were made permanent in the fall. Mark Vollaro took charge of this task. 

Project B: Eversource work turned this original route into a morass

B: Powerline reroute. Eversource work had created a large mudhole several inches deep across the trail. Rather than builds bridges, the trail was shifted about 50 feet to a spot with more firm terrain. This was done by staff. 

Project C: The trail was shifted closer to the meadow

C: Maybeck Wall reroute: The trail had followed an old old cattle path along the north side of the stone wall that separated the old Maybeck and Wiacek farms.  The trail soon become a gully, with large muddy spots during the wet season. Staff shifted the trail to the south side of the wall and cleared out a couple viewpoints for the upper Wiacek Meadow. (previous post)

Project D: The trail was shifted off of an eroded section

D: Gullied trail: Another 160 feet of trail were shifted due to erosion. Runoff had previously jumped a break in the Maybeck wall and continued down the Paugussett Trail. The wall gap was filled in to stop the flow, and the trail shifted slightly to better ground. This was another staff project, completed in a couple hours. (see previous post)

Project E began with an 85' bogwalk

E: The next 320 feet were soaked during mud season and much of the trail tread was full of roots. There were also a lot of rubble rocks that had been thrown down during a work party in an attempt to address the issue, but which were often difficult to walk on because they were so uneven. This was a fall project and, as luck would have it, there was a "flash drought" that made working conditions here ideal. 

The effort began with the construction of an 85-foot bogwalk along a stretch that didn't have much rock along it. The bogwalk was easier and quicker, but the boards were expensive will eventually need to be replaced. Mark Vollaro and Terry Gallagher got the supplies to the work zone and cut to length, and staff installed the bogwalk over the next few days. (see previous posts here and here)

Project E: Stepping Stones

The rest of the section was slowly improved with regrading for better drainage and installing stepping stones. Several stepping zones were harvested during a Trails Committee work party, but most were already in or near the trail, having been harvested at previous work parties years ago.  Staff then installed most of the stones, with some help from Terry Gallagher. The last stone was dug in the very day that the rains were forecast to begin again. Yay! Mission Accomplished! (see previous posts here and here)

For 2025, this entire stretch will be monitored. It's likely that some new wet spots will need to be addressed, especially in the areas that were rerouted. 

Sunday, November 24, 2024

Thankless Jobs; Clearing Ditches and Culverts

 Some trail work parties are great; nice weather, lots of volunteers, awesome photos.

This one, not so much.

 It starts at the Beginning.  The cold rain was moving out.  I ask everyone to turn around and get a "happy beginning group photo" and this is what I get.  It's like every family Christmas card photo, except everyone turned in unison away from the camera with better timing than the pool scene from "Caddyshack".  This is what we have to work with.

OK, after several takes we have a decent "Before" picture of volunteers at Lane St heading out in robust winds to clear the drainage swales and culverts along the RecPath.  Some people are even smiling.

Drainage maintenance is a thankless task.  And it has to be done ever year, sometimes multiple times!.

In this case a low berm of washed out gravel, leaves, and sticks builds up at low points and keeps runoff on the Path.  The shoulders and culverts have to be cleared out to allow runoff to flow off the RecPath and into adjacent woods and wetlands to prevent sedimentation and erosion from impacting the Path.

In this case the low point and a couple of bleed off locations uphill were cleared out to help drainage on the RecPath.

The Rouge Hoe is a great tool for this work.  The Shelton Trails Committee has a couple of them and they are the bomb for both heavy duty side hill digging and fussy scraping of seasonal debris.  They are heavy duty versions of US Forest Service tools that we have for volunteers to use.  They are very rugged tools that are Made in America and we can't recommend them enough for trail work.

The Lane St. Boardwalk looked funny with all the recent deck repairs last month.  It may be a little cocked and twisted but the boardwalk is in decent repair heading into the winter.

Further up the RecPath the crew was clearing ditches and overhead blow downs.  There are still some blowdowns hanging over the Path from previous storm damage, but, if you move quickly, and don't dawdle under them, they probably won't kill you.  We took down the "Caution" tape because most of the worst problems had been cleared.  That doesn't mean that branches that are hung up overhead won't come crashing down at any time and hurt you.  Look overhead as you go through the woods and move quickly past anything sketchy looking, particularly on windy days.

Meanwhile Mark and Ray were replacing a broken board on one of the wooden bridges north of Wesley Drive.

 

We cleared out upstream and downstream ends of cross-culverts and drainage ditches from Lane St. up to  Wesley drive.  A few of the inlets were buried by vegetation and had to be cut out before clearing the built up sediment at the pipes.

This is the chipmunks eye view of one of the culverts.  A portion of the pipe is clogged with silt down by the outlet, restricting the pipe's capacity.  The culverts need to be cleaned so runoff doesn't build up, overtop the Path, and erode the crushed stone surface.

The downstream channel needs to be cleared of blowdowns, barberry, sediment, and briars.  Some of the drains need further clearing with saws and power tools.

Some of the drainage ditches needed to be cleared of fallen logs and tree limbs.  Mike Flament lead the effort to roll the logs out of the ditches and un-block the culverts.

After clearing the ditches, Devin would jam one of our sturdy leaf blowers up the culvert and blast the leaves and sediment out the downstream end.

Bill Dyer was giving the official Thumb's Up to Devin's culvert cleaning efforts.  It's kinda fun to see all the gunk blasting out the end of the pipes.  It makes you feel like we have the system set up for winter storms.  After 2 months of drought we finally seem to be getting into a winter rainfall/snow cycle.

It was a cold morning with the wind picking up, but we had a good crew; Ray, Mark, Devin, Luis, Ellen, Bill, Mike, & Terry.  These are thankless routine maintenance tasks that need to be done every year to keep the Shelton Lakes RecPath in good shape.  Most people may not realize that these things need to be done, but like cleaning the gutters on your house every year this maintenance prevents  a lot of problems and damage.  All done by Shelton's Trails volunteers. Enjoy.

Thursday, November 14, 2024

Paugussett Bridge Blowout

The Shelton side of the bridge was pushed off its footing

The beautiful bridge over Round Hill Brook on the Shelton/Monroe border was shoved a few feet downriver on the Shelton side. The Monroe side was cabled securely to a tree and stayed in place. We just found out about it, although it happened during the August deluge that flooded much of the region. This was an Eagle Scout project in 2020 by Korey Barber and Troop 27

Alex at CFPA had taken a look at the bridge earlier and deemed it to be passable until next season when new footings can be constructed. Although it's twisted and doesn't feel very stable, it doesn't appear to be in any danger of collapsing. CFPA lost many bridges throughout the region during the flood. At Webb Mountain, a new Paugussett Bridge was swept away and another bridge sustained damage but was repaired. Bridges that were firmly secured were more likely to have survived the floods. Both of the Scout bridges at Birchbank were overtopped but survived. 

We didn't know about this problem for three months, in part because we had been told the bridge was still there and thought that meant it was OK. At the time, we were focused on cleaning up from the big microburst at Shelton Lakes and Boehm Pond. Remember, if you see something, say something! We don't live out on the trails, nor do we routinely walk every section of the 32-mile system. We've had multiple cases this year of massive blowdowns completely blocking a trail for weeks or even months and not one single person told us. Help future trail users by contacting us when there's a serious problem like that. Don't assume we know about it. It's not being a complainer, it's being a trail hero!

So Many Stepping Stones!

 

New Paugussett stepping stones

The Paugussett Trail through the woods of the old Wiacek farm near the High School have been a problem for years. The broad hillside is seasonally wet for a good 300 feet due to hardpan. After building an 85-foot bogwalk for the lower section, work continued gradually up the trail in the form of stepping stones and is now complete.  That's over 200 feet of stepping stones. Some of the stones were already there, but most are new.  The "flash drought" of 2024 turned out to be the perfect time to work in this area. 


The big rock behind the hole will become a stepping stone

Putting these stones in was more arduous than laying patio stones. The rocks were typically 6-9" deep and irregularly shaped. Finding a flat-sided rock of a good size from the woods was a challenge. When you look at a stepping stone, you're only seeing a small portion of the rock, which is mostly underground for stability. A deep hole needed to be dug through lots of tree roots and rocks. Some of the roots and rocks were so large that the stepping stones needed to be spaced to fit around them, or a smaller stepping stone may have been used.

Terry Gallagher dug in some of the rocks.
Note the fresh dirt in foreground.

But before any of that, there was earthwork. Much of the trail had become compacted and sunken, so that it looked like a water-filled moat during mud season. There were obstructions that prevented water from draining off to the side, including stacks of branches and logs that had been tossed just off the edge of the trail to form an accidental dam. There were also a few scattered lines of rocks that had been placed onto the ground years ago during a work party in an attempt to create stepping stones.  These obstructions had trapped soil and rotting leaves, and then tree root had come up through them.  Water flowed down the trail instead of across it. These obstructions were all removed and avenues for drainage re-established. 

Annoying ground conditions before
new stepping stones were installed. 

Buckets of sediments were then spread along the trail so that it was no longer sunken and could drain. This also covered some of the exposed roots and rocks that cluttered the treadway. Speaking of treadway, two treadways were established: A summer tread and a mud-season tread. This isn't common for hiking trails, but the land here is atypical. It's not a classic mucky wetland. It's near the top of a gently sloping, broad hillside covered in a layer of hardpan a few inches down. The water cannot get through the hardpan, but it does gradually drain down the hillside, and it dries out during the summer.  Most people hike during the summer, so a dirt tread option was maintained next to the stepping stone option. 
Two treadways: Wet season and dry season
If you're hiking anywhere and you come upon a bogwalk or stepping stones, you'll see that people will start walking alongside those trail improvements whenever possible. Bogwalks and stepping stones can be slippery, so if conditions are dry enough and there is room off to the side, that's where many people will walk.  The dirt used to fill in the trail mostly came from the area just up the hill where sediments from the trail had been getting washed off of the trail. There had been a whole lot of trail erosion over the past several years and this is where all that dirt ended up. 

Here's a "before" (from April 2024) and "after" in the Pin Oak Grove section near the new boardwalk:  

"Before" (April 2024)



"After" 


Between the bogwalk and the new stepping stones, this section of trail should be a lot easier during mud season!

Sunday, November 10, 2024

Dam! That's a Nice View

 

The Housatonic River is the reason that Shelton and Derby exist.  Originally this was the limit of navigation for trade and settlement.  Later the River was dammed to provide hydro power to the mills and factories on both sides of the river.  This 1930's WPA mural with it's dam and smoke-belching factories celebrates that local history.  The mural is located within the post office in downtown Shelton and is worth checking out when you have the chance.

A fine group of volunteers met in Riverview Park in downtown Shelton for the annual fall clearing on The Bluff Walk overlooking the River.  It was a crisp and breezy morning and we got right to work.  Riverview Park is Shelton's oldest park and was established in the 1800's, and is home to many large trees that drop A Lot of Leaves.

Mark & Ray were futzing with the chainsaw before clearing blowdowns.

We fanned out with rakes and leaf blowers going north and south from the basketball court.  Clouds of leaves and dust were flying everywhere.  The trail has some nice overlooks of the river now that many of the leaves are down.  This is the Pootatuck Indian's memorial boulder on the south end of the trail.  

An initial clearing of leaves with the leaf blower, was followed up with volunteers raking and cutting brush.  Teamwork was a plus with this many leaves.  Pardon the thumb.

Gary was doing a fine job clearing.

This was the "before" picture of the blowdown blocking the trail, just below the baseball fields.

Mark and Ray cutting up the tree top.

And the 'after" photo - all clear.  They also got a couple of other blowdowns before heading up to Birchbank Mountain to cut up another blowdown.

The baseball fields were just above the trail.  Riverview Park is not large, but it has a nice mix of trails, paved drives and sidewalks that allow for public enjoyment of the River, particularly during the Fall.

The Parks and Recreation Dept. cleared out the main overlook of the River by the "Boy with a Fish" statue this fall.  Nice Job.

With good views of the dam.  Compare that to the Post Office Mural.

The dam owners have lowered the water level upstream of the dam for maintenance.  Contractors were restoring rip rap erosion protection at the toe of the dam.  We could occasionally hear them yelling at each other working on the dam while we were working on the trails.

Ellen had one group of volunteers.  We were also picking up whatever trash that we could find as we worked.

Ted was cutting saplings and branches following the clearing.  The trail could use some benching and drainage in places.  Possibly a good spring project or scout project.

Aleck and Jake were wading thru the leaves.  Parks & Rec staff clears the drives and roads, then we do the trails.   Hopefully, now that the trails are clear the P&R folks can keep them clear while doing the rest of their fall maintenance.

Bodie, John, and Danny were doing a fine job clearing the trails.  They not only brought their own leaf blowers they used one of the Trails Committee's backpack leaf blowers.  Those are a blast when clearing trails.

On a lot of our trails we deliberately leave the leaves on the trails to protect the topsoil and provide a safer winter footing.  Riverview is a special case though, and we need to blow leaves here.   Plus it is a bumper crop for acorns this year.  It's almost a hazard with the dry leaves walking on steeper slopes.  Bill Dyer almost took a tumble scouting out the work party.  

Trail Safety Tip:  Bring trekking poles or a walking stick for hiking this Fall.  Trying to hike down a slope on some of those acorns is like trying to walk on ball bearings.

The main trail crosses an old concrete bridge that was built in the 1930"s?  We think.  There was some work done on the trails in the 30's as part of a CCC or WPA work.


 The northern end of the trail ties into the park drives by the kiddie playground.

The kids playground is a popular spot for families with small children.  I think most of the families in the area have taking their hyperactive kids there to burn off some steam and one time.

Did we mention that there were a lot of Big Oak Trees in Riverview Park.  Several that were planted were decedents of Connecticut's Original Charter Oak Tree.

These massive trees have quite the leaf canopy, hence all the heavy duty trail clearing every fall.  It's one of our main seasonal tasks.

John, Danny, Bodie, Aleck & Jake were clearing out the lower trail as a production line of rakes and leaf blowers.  The Yale Rowing Teams were practicing on the River while we were working.  

It was fun to watch the rowing teams, and listen to them while we worked.  Luckily, we didn't have a coach in a boat behind us with a megaphone telling us to rake faster.  The Yale Boathouse is right across the shore from Riverview Park and the park was a popular viewing spot to watch boat races.

Teamwork along the side hills.
 

And the final product; a cleared trail that is easy to follow.  Nice job by everyone and we hope that all the leaves and dust comes out of your clothes, ears, and hair some day.  It was a fine morning along the Housatonic River and The Bluff Walk.

Note to File:  Bring Dust Masks next year.

Riverview Park is a great spot to enjoy in the fall.  Remember, these trails didn't make themselves, and they sure don't maintain themselves.  Thanks to everyone who came out to help: Ellen, Ray, Mark, Luis, Bodie, Danny, John, Ted, Gary, Jake, Ray, Aleck, Angeli,  & Terry.