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. 

Thursday, October 24, 2024

New Paugussett Bog Walk at Wiacek Meadows

Securing the last board

The Paugussett Trail has a new 85-foot bog walk to address the lower section of the seasonal wet area near Meadow Street (see previous post).  Mark Vollaro and Terry Gallagher purchased the 2x8" and 5x5" boards at Home Depot and rented a truck to drop the materials at the Meadow Street trailhead. Terry returned to cut the 8-foot 5x5's into thirds to be used as "sleepers." A couple days later, Mark and Ray used the Trails Gator to cart the boards closer to the work site. Getting the building materials was at least half of the job right there.  Over the next few days, I (Teresa) finished the job by laying out the boards, leveling them up, and securing them with screws. 

Two stacks of Home Depot lumber at the Meadow St. trailhead

Even though the Wiacek Meadows Open Space is at the top of a  broad hill,  there is a solid layer of hardpan a few inches down that resists both water and tree roots. During the wet season, that thin layer of topsoil is often waterlogged because the water cannot penetrate the hardpan, but during the summer it can become bone dry since it's at the top of a hill. During peak hiking season, the trail is normally dry and you would never know the trail gets wets. For this reason, the existing tread was preserved for summer hiking and the new bog walk was set off to the side for use when the rains come. 

The Pin Oak Grove

The bog walk curves through a grove of large Pin Oaks, a tree that tolerates poorly drained sites, which this certainly is. Pin Oaks are used in landscaping because they do well on human-impacted sites, but are less commonly noticed in their natural settings. They can be identified by the lowest branches pointing towards the ground, and their sharp pointy leaves that are cut more deeply than other oaks. These Pin Oaks are particularly large for this area. Some of the tops were damaged from the August 3 microburst. 

Sunday, October 20, 2024

The Lumber Run for Bog Walk Construction

A lot of pressure treated lumber was needed for the bog walk at the Wiacek Woods.  More than the roof rack of our cars could carry, so we experimented with renting a truck at Home Depot in Derby on a Sunday morning.

Mark arranged the truck rental with Dwight in the Rental Department.

Mark and Shawn loading lumber (Shawn and Greg in the Lumber Department were great helping us load up lumber - couldn't ask for nicer people).  We had a lot of 5"x5"x8' and 2x8x8' pressure treated timbers to get.

We got one of the $19/hr. trucks, Mark loaded it up, while I signed my life away with a lease agreement.  It was actually pretty easy, but Home Depot's Legal Department apparently doesn't want people taking off for parts unknown with any of their trucks.

We had our one safety incident of the trip when Mark jumped into the cab and banged the Funny Bone in his left elbow on the truck center console.  Me, being the helpful guy that I am, took a picture of him.

The truck was the right size for 10 bog bridges.  Too many more and we might've needed some tie-down straps.

Driving safely and carefully over to Shelton we dropped off our load at Meadow Street.  Teresa Gallagher met us there and after unloading assisted us with backing out onto Meadow St.  We put a little gas back in the Truck and returned it to Home Depot with nary a scratch on it.  And within the 1.5 hr. timeline to pay just $19 to rent the truck!

Later I went back up to Meadow St. with a chainsaw to cut the 5x5 sleepers into smaller 2'-8" sections.  These would go on the ground and the twin 2x8's screwed onto them after a lot of ground layout and preparation.  But our Lumber Run was Done!  Successfully, I might add.

Some items to note:

  • Get there early if you need a truck - good planning by Mark.
  • Home Depot staff were very helpful
  • Bring help to load and offload the lumber (it was WAY easier with 2 people that one person loading the roof rack on the car)
  • The HD truck worked OK.  It's an automatic transmission, with big rear view mirrors.  Take your time and drive easy.
  • Thanks to Dwight, Shawn, Greg, and Kelly at Home Depot for all their help.

Thursday, October 17, 2024

Yep, It gets dark out here at night.

The Trails Committee decided to host a moonlight hike, and it discovered that it does get dark out at night.  We met at Lane St to walk the RecPath and see the Hunter's Moon, and possibly even a comet.  But it was dark.

But we had a few headlamps and flashlights are were able to proceed without too much confusion.

It was a warm Thursday night so around two dozen people showed up.  No kids unfortunately, but it was a school night.  So off we headed out to the Land Trust Meadow.

We got some intrepid volunteers to go out into the meadow to try to see the comet, but we were looking in the wrong location in the sky.

There were some nice views of the full moon rising above the trees.  We headed out along the RecPath up to Wesley Drive and out toward the powerlines.

Where we got some good views of the moon and the stars near Great Ledge and Nells Loop Trail.  It was a beautiful night.

There was a nice view of The Big Dipper on our return thru the Land Trust Meadow.  Everyone made it back to Lane St. (we think), and had a good time.  Another nocturnal hiking adventure in the books.

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Paugussett Trail Improvements at Wiacek Meadows Continue

 

A "to-do" status list in map form

Now that the growing season is over, it's time to get back to the Paugussett Trail improvements at Wiacek Meadows. By the way, that is the current working name for the open space property located to the north of the High School, between Constitution Blvd North and Meadow Street. Wiacek is pronounced "WHY-seck." Or possibly WHY-a-seck. The above map shows the overall plan and our progress. As you can see, most of the tasks have been completed. Part D was just completed last week in an afternoon. That involved shifting 160 feet of trail off an eroded gully. 

October 2024 reroute (160 feet)

Part E has just begun. This is the ~350-foot section that floods during the wet season, sometimes for months at at time. There is no possible reroute -- it's all wet in every direction. It's not a skunk cabbage mucky type of wet, which would be worse. Rather, it's a hard pan hilltop with roots everywhere type of wet. In the summer it all dries out and is fine to walk on except for roots and rocks. 


April 2024 conditions

Although this section of the Paugussett doesn't get a lot of use, it must have at least a few regular users because last spring someone put down long branches on the trail, parallel to the direction of travel, which is a big no-no. Stepping on a log or branch parallel to the trail is just asking to slipping into the mud. And the mud wasn't that deep, so people with hiking boots could have just walked right through it except these branches were in their way.  Not helpful!

April 2024 conditions
Section with rocks

Over the years, some sporadic efforts were made to put down rocks in places, with varying levels of quality control. Some sections of rocks aren't too bad, but some are very uneven and pretty tedious to walk on.  

Summer conditions:
Lots of roots and rocks!

During the summer, the trail dries out, but all the rocks and roots have been a serious annoyance. The first task will be to create a summer treadway, with many of the rocks and roots removed or covered over.  Most people hike during the dry months. That part has been started: 


A summer treadway cleared
on the left of the rocks

After a summer tread has been cleared out, the winter/wet season tread will slowly be improved. Some parts of the trail will get new 8-foot bog walks consisting of a pair of 2"x8" boards resting on top of 5x5 sleepers.  Other parts of the trail will likely have some rock work done. The goal is for these improvements to be off to one side so that people can choose to walk on the dirt when things are drier. 

None of this will be quick or easy. If anyone would like to help out, please let us know

Sunday, October 13, 2024

RecPath Repairs at Lane Street

The boardwalk through the floodplain at Lane St. needed repairs.  It had been put off for a while due to all the storm damage restoration and clearing.  Having finally gotten a breather from Mother Nature, we tackled Lane St on a beautiful Fall Saturday morning.

Betsy, Aidan and Gia were our cutting and clearing team.  The briars and brush was growing into the RecPath and was cut back from Lane St. to the woods at the end of the Land Trust meadow.

This was one of the "Before" shots of the boardwalk.  One of the boards was really missing, and a number had holes or were on the way out.  These decking boards needed to be replaced.  

A surprising amount of planning goes into even a simple work party like this one.  One of the preliminary steps was estimating the materials and tools necessary, and getting them to the job site.

Going to Home Depot in Derby for supplies on Friday Night before a work party - good times.  The decking boards at Lane St. were 5/4 x 6" x 6' which isn't sold, but 12 footers are.  Home Depot normally doesn't cut pressure treated lumber.  So we brought a saw with us and did a little cutting in the parking lot to modify the boards to fit into the car.  Oddly, nobody at the store came over to ask me what I was doing at 9:15 at night cutting boards in their parking lot.  I guess it's not the weirdest thing they've seen.  We also got screws and a tool for pulling nails.

The next step was to drive the boards over to Lane Street, put on a headlamp, and carry them in part - way for tomorrow's work party.  It was a pretty night, and I could see my breath.  Fall is here.

Saturday morning was the usual crazy  running around getting tools at the Barn.  We really have to do a better job pre-planning and packing up all the tools in bags the week before so we don't forget things, which happened.  Then drive to the trailhead and deliver the tools to Lane St. where I met Bill Dyer: who, for awhile, looked like the rest of the work party, but then people came rolling in and we got started.

Devin and Mike are replacing the deck boards.  There was a lot for heavy work removing the old deck boards and some of the screws (square drive & torx head) were stripped and had to be pried out or cut off.

The RecPath was pretty busy; there were a lot of runners and bikers.  After some near incidents, we strung flagging across the Path.  People could still pass after we gave them permission, but they had to walk and not just push by.  We wanted everyone to be safe and not get hurt; including us.  

Using the flagging to actually close the trail around the work area worked well.  We removed the flagging at the end of the job.

Some of the boards came out in one piece and others had to be cut out.  A variety of crowbars helped too.  Betsy brought her garden cart with her and hauled all the old boards out the the trailhead.  We will contact the Shelton Parks and Rec. Dept. to see if they can pick them up, otherwise it'll be a dump run next week.

The deck boards are attached to stringers elevated on timber piles set in the marsh.  Some of the screws were stripped and couldn't be pulled out.  These were cut off with a small reciprocating saw with a metal cutting blade.  Some side rails were bolted to the ends of the boards (another trip back to the car for the adjustable wrench that was forgotten).  

Interesting fact: there's a lot of animal tracks visible in the mud under a boardwalk that you only see when you're kneeling on the boardwalk looking upside down trying to loosen carriage head bolts.

Meanwhile Aidan was cutting back briars with one of the electric hedgetrimmers.  We had cut this area earlier in the year, but brush +sun +water =lots of growth + thorns.

Gia got some hands-on quality trail time with the loppers and trimmer.  The RecPath looked a lot better when they were done with it.  Now all we have to do is work on the grass to get our full crushed stone width back, but that's for another day.

Devin & Bill were replacing one the last boards.  We replaced 8 broken or spongy boards in all, and the RecPath Boardwalk is back in serviceable condition.  Nice job.

Mike, Gia, & Devin on the repaired Lane St. Boardwalk at the end of the job.  We hauled all the tools back out to Lane St, loaded the cars, and Mike & I put things away at the Trails Barn.

The Shelton Land Trust's Hawley Meadow along the RecPath is at the end of the boardwalk- a "Before" picture.

Thanks to everyone who came out:  Aidan, Devin, Gia, Betsy, Bill, Mike & Terry.  Maintenance is seldom glamorous, but it was a good fall morning to be outside.  

And as Bill put it "I am impressed how we were able to replace bad boards without anyone getting tetanus, at least that we know".  Now There's a performance metric for success on a work party.  

Go visit the RecPath at Lane St. - it's really pretty right now.  Also check out the events page for our Full Moon Hike on October 17th (that's THIS Thursday).