Crisp and Beautiful Fall Saturday at the Paugussett Trail

The first day of Fall was ushered in with rain on Thursday following with a blustery Friday, but Saturday was a nice crisp Fall morning.  A great day for cutting along the Paugussett Trail.  We worked north and south of Constitution Blvd N., following up from the last work party two weeks ago.

Luis was string trimming the trail all morning and we cleared out a lot of spots where the grass was thick.  Here he shows off his leave-spackled outfit, complete with safety glasses, and sporting a new (& clean) RecPath cap.

We focused on cutting the tall grass and brush that had been growing in.  We were going to cut some of the blow downs across the trail, but cleaned up around them today, and saved the chainsawing for a later date.

Another crew was cutting back briars and invasives along the stretch from Constitution Blvd. N. going south toward Independence Drive.

Even though it was cut two weeks ago there were things growing in and sections of the trail needed weekwhacking.

The Winterberry bushes were doing well and forming an arch over the trail where it dove into the woods from the powerlines S. of Wellington Court.  Despite the dry summer it looks like it'll be a good winter for the birds who use the shrubs for food.  The trails are still bone dry despite the recent rains.

A lot of lopper work was done to clean up the trail edges and entrances at road crossings.  The green briar can extend out 6'-8' into the trail from wherever it's growing, so that's always good to cut back.

Some sunny sections were really overgrown.  This is under the powerlines going toward the Wiacek open space and Meadow Street.  There have been some mechanical issues with our field mower this summer, so we've had to do more manual cutting.  This is the Before picture and it looks like there could be a pack of velociraptors hiding in there.

After - now can you find the trail?

There were a lot of late summer wildflowers along the trail.  It was very scenic, and no velociraptors were spotted.

It's early Fall with nice weather to walk the trails.  The gardens down by the Dog Park were still in bloom.

There did appear to be some dead ash trees that came down near Nells Rock Road during the storm.  Probably the first of many in this area.

I took Quinn out for a walk later in the afternoon and the trail was in good shape all the way down to Meadow St.  The birch tunnel down by Meadow St. was looking good and will probably be very attractive in the next couple of weeks as the leaves turn.

Thanks to Sam, Brooklyn, Luis, Ellen and Terry for cutting this Saturday morning.  The trails are in good shape, but there are a lot of sticks down from all the winds so if everybody can toss a few off the trails as they hike that would be a good thing.  

And thanks to all the other folks who were picking up trash along Rt. 108 by the Dog Park, Oak Valley Trail, and the Turkey Trot Trail.  Every bit helps a lot.

Enjoy your Fall walks and hikes.