Nells Loop Trail Workout

The Trails Committee and some great volunteers tackled clearing brush and hay along the Nells Loop Trail on Saturday.  Like many of the past few work parties it got steamy as we cleared along the powerlines.

This was actually the "After" picture showing how wet it was.  Shown are Mark, Rich, Bob, Graham, and Mike.  Not in picture are Tyler, Luis, Jim & Terry.  As we said it was warm work.

 
We cleared out a bit at the entrance to start.  We met at the Abby Wright Open Space across from L'Hermitage Condominiums on Nells Rock Road.  Parks and Rec was going to cut some of the brush behind the gate and we didn't want to take all their fun from them.

We fired up the power tools and headed into the the woods.  Here's Graham with one of the hedgetrimmers.

Jim and Rich took a little time getting the other hedgetrimmer going; possibly even resorting to reading the switch directions.

We worked our way out through the woodland sections to the powerlines, where the trails were pretty overgrown.  It looked like mountain bikers had kept a single track open, but it was pretty brushy.

Tyler and Mark used the new sickle bar trimmer for clearing out the trail.  It works pretty good and having 2 brushcutters speeds things up a lot.

The "After" trail is much easier to walk or bike than the before picture.

We also did a lot of manual cutting.  Here's Jim along the powerlines.

Luis, Jim, and Rich also trimmed back sections of the Basil Brook Bypass trail.

The Sweet Pepperbush were in bloom along the wetlands.

The crew cleared back from the powerlines, out to John Dominick Drive, and back along the white trail to the parking lot.  We kept going till we got everything or ran out of gas, whichever came first. 

It was a good turnout and we got a lot done.  A few bikers and hikers passed us, but it seemed most were waiting for nicer weather.  Thanks to Luis, Tyler, and Graham, as well as the trail committee for helping out.