The Paugussett "Indy Link" Improved

A better tread for the wet season

The "Indy Link" section of the Paugussett Trail is probably no one's idea of a hiking destination, but it's an important connection between Shelton Lakes and other open space properties like Housatonic Woods and Indian Well. It now has a better treadway that will hopefully remain dry during the wet season and have fewer annoying roots and rocks.  

The Indy Link section of the 
Paugussett Trail

The woods are poorly drained and we've had lots of problems with the trail over the years. Parts were previously relocated and we have several Scout bridges. North of the bridges, the treadway became confusing the past few years. It was originally routed on higher ground covered with tree roots, but summer trail users took the lower ground instead, packing in a treadway over temporarily dry wetlands and up drainage gullies. The higher ground grew over with vegetation and the lower ground became a morass during mud season. 

Treadway (right) separated from
drainage gully (left)

The trail tread has now been reestablished back on higher ground and clearly delineated, with material added to help with the tree roots. Another reason for excess mud was people placing rocks in the middle of a drainage channel, damming it up. That keeps happening around town.  If the trail is wet, please don't screw up the drainage even more with logs or rocks. Anyway, the dam was removed, the drainage channel reclaimed, and large stepping stones were placed in a few muddy spots. The one remaining low spot was then given an 8-foot section of bog walk. 

New bogwalk

Some of the existing Scout bridges have decking boards that are rotting out. The worst boards were replaced for the winter, but the remaining decking is getting spongy and will need to be replaced within the next year or so. We've learned that 1" boards rot too fast, so they'll be replaced with 2" boards. 

Rotting boards

OK now until next year

The next section of the Paugussett requiring attention is the Meadow View section just south of Meadow Street, which last winter was covered in mud for a few hundred feet. This probably needs a long bog walk. Stay tuned!

Nicholdale Cutting Party

The brush at the Nicholdale Land Trust Preserve can grow really fast at certain times of the year; like Summer.  And it certainly has this year.  It's been several weeks since the trails were last brush cut so today was the day.

We had eight volunteers on a cloudy morning to cut out the blue-blazed Nichols Loop around Nicholdale.

Ellen & Mike lead most of the volunteers along one end of the trail and a couple of us went the other way.  It's sometimes better to spread out when you're using power tools for work party safety.

The section of the trail that parallels Rt. 110 was pretty thick and overgrown.  Particularly where trees were cleared (by ConnDOT or UI) within the State Right of Way earlier in the summer.  The grass and brush exploded with the extra sunlight when the trees were removed.  Above is a before picture.

And the "After" picture.  We tried to cut the briars, thorns, and grass, and leave the wildflowers and native plants.

Bill was coming thru with his electric hedgetrimmer cutting out briars.

Anne, Athena, and Ellen at the end of the work party.  Everybody made it out at the end.  Another perfect work party without loosing anyone: 100% volunteer retention.

The Shelton Land Trust's Nicholdale parcel is a great location to observe fall wildflowers and bird migrations.  And the Preserve is easy to navigate now that the trails are cleared.  Thanks to everyone who helped out today: Aidan, Athena, Anne, Bill, Ellen, Greg, Mike & Terry.

Blowdown Brook Strikes Again

Mission Accomplished!

There's a reason we call an unnamed stream at Indian Well "Blowdown Brook."  Every year some big tall trees blow down near the brook. And here we go for 2024! This along the Paugussett Trail about half a mile north of the beach access trail. 

Two large oaks 

Where's the trail??

We received an email last week from a hiker about multiple trees down on the trail (thank you!!) and were horrified to find the trail almost completely blocked. A pair of big tall oaks had uprooted and fallen across the winding trail in three spots, taking some smaller trees with them. Some of the blockage was the main tree trunks, over two feet in diameter. Further down the trail it was large branches and the canopy. 

I went out first with a small battery-powered chainsaw to scope out the problem.  At first I thought the trail would need to be rerouted, but I couldn't find a better way through the woods.  So I did what I could and cleared out small stuff to direct people where to go. 

When your chainsaw is too small for the job
but is better than nothing

When the weekend arrived, Terry Gallagher sharpened up his big chainsaw and I joined him for safety reasons. After looking at the mess and taking chronic erosion issues into account, we decided to tighten one of the curves so that the trail levelled out for a bit. This would force rainwater runoff off of the trail, and there would be less chainsawing. In the meantime, I worked on erosion issues up and down the hillside. The photos below show what one part of the blowdown looked like before and after clearing and shifting the trail location (looking southbound down the hill):

"Before." The trail is to the right under the big log

"After": The trail was shifted uphill to the left, which
should help with drainage.

One of the tree trunks turned out to be the trickiest because it pinched Terry's saw. He had to detach the bar and chain and we came back the next day with a second saw. 

Had to leave the chainsaw bar
and come back the next day

Finishing up that last log

Here's another before and after, showing that it's not just logs but lots of smaller stuff that has to be moved first, especially where canopy branches land. And why it was hard for people to figure out where the trail was. 

"Before"

"After"

 

Reblazing Turkey Trot Trail

Just passing through

Turkey Trot Trail has been long overdue for a blaze make-over, so I took advantage of a long streak of dry weather and got to it. Lots of wildlife along this trail while I was working. A small bear came in off of Shelton Ave and crossed the trail as I was coming around the bend. He behaved perfectly, moving off the trail promptly when he saw me, and vacating the premises. That's not a bear to be concerned about unless you have an off-leash dog that might chase it. Later I passed a deer near the trail, holding a freeze pose as if I couldn't see her. 

She thought I couldn't see her.

Turkey Trot Trail is usually pretty easy to follow since so many people use it, but there are times in late fall when the trail is full of fresh leaves, or in the winter after a snowfall, where the curving tread can become unexpectedly confusing. All the sudden those blazes become really helpful. Blazes are especially important for trail users who aren't familiar with the trail. I added some left turn and right turn blazes here and there to help out in spots where it might not be obvious that the trail was changing direction.  

Quality trail blazing takes a lot longer than you can imagine, but when done right it looks good and lasts for many year. Eventually, though, it's time to completely redo the blazes. The paint fades, of course, but as the trees grow larger, and the blazes grows wider with them. It's often half an inch or an inch, but on one tree, the blaze was 10" wide! Blazed trees are lost when they blow over in storms, or succumb to disease.  We've lost all our ash trees and now the beech trees are dying from Beech Leaf Disease. Some blazes are vandalized. Someone had carved an "X" through a lot of the Turkey Trot blazes (why??). And the trail even shifted in a few places, resulting in old blazes 20 or 30 feet off the trail. All this is to say that the Turkey Trot Trail blazes from twenty years ago were in really bad shape, if they were there at all.  

Ugly old white blaze and black concealer from years ago.
The tree will probably die, so the blaze was move to a different tree.

Blaze now concealed

For a complete reblaze, I reassess the location of each existing blaze. If it's on a dead or dying tree, it will be relocated if possible. Is it at a weird angle? It will be shifted. Is it too wide because the tree grew? It will be narrowed. Most old blazes are also scraped as needed to remove any bark or paint that is getting flakey, and then brushed to remove dirt and dust. A 2x6" template is used to outline the new blaze, and then the outline is filled in using a short, square, stiff craft brush.  The bark is rough, so there's not a lot brushing action. It's more like stabbing, forcing the thick paint into the nooks and crannies of the bark. 

Old blaze:
Too wide, and vandalized with an "X"

Reblazed!  Scraping and concealer paint
was used to narrow the blaze

After the new blazes are done, I come back with concealer paint that has been color-matched to a typical black birch or tulip tree, and cover up any parts of old blazes we don't want any longer. It's a flat exterior paint and usually does a great job of blending in and hiding the old parts of the blaze. Back in the day, we used to use a dark brown or black spray paint to resize the blazes when they got too wide, and that never looked good. So that old dark paint is now covered over. I don't use this paint on beech trees, though, because they are a much lighter color.

We sadly have a lot of dying beech trees along this trail with obsolete trail markings, so I came back with another concealer, gray, and then gave it a few spritzes of light green camo spray paint to blend in. Not perfect, but a lot better than it was. 

Virgin's Bower, a native vine under the powerlines

After the blazing was finished, I cleared a couple of the trail crossings under the powerlines. They grow back so fast. The one with the little bridge was especially overgrown. A lot of the plants are invasive (mugwort, wineberry, autumn olive), but there's was tons of a native vine called Virgin's Bower that gave the appearance of a blooming shrub, or maybe Japanese Knotweed in bloom. I was careful not to cut it. 

Seedpods of Virgin's Bower

2024 Microburst Recap

 

Boehm Pond and Shelton Lakes were slammed!

It's been just over a month since the August 3 microburst cut a swath through the middle of Shelton, felling trees and knocking out power to almost half of our residents.  Here's a recap of all the chainsaw work that created. Committee members Mark Vollaro and Terry Gallagher are the only two with the bigger gas-powered chainsaws capable of cutting larger logs (some were enormous), and both have had repeated chainsaw safety training courtesy of the Connecticut Forest and Park Association. Mark often went out with a spotter/helper. Teresa Gallagher (staff) uses a smaller battery-powered chainsaw that was effective in cutting many of the tree crowns and branches that fell on the trails, and for delimbing the larger logs so hikers could step over them while waiting for the larger chainsaws. And then some anonymous freelancer cut up several big logs that were across Turkey Trot and Oak Valley Trails. 

August 4 - September 7 chainsawing hours: 

Mark Vollaro with Ray Hansen:  25 hrs (12.5 hrs each)
Mark Vollaro with Ellen Cramp: 15 hrs (7.5 hrs each)
Mark Vollaro with Luis Isaza: 16 hrs (8 hrs each) 
Mark Vollaro with Bill Dyer and Ray Hansen: 9 hrs (3 hrs each)
Mark Vollaro (solo): 8.5 hrs
Terry Gallagher (solo): 12 hrs
Mark Vollaro and Terry Gallagher: 8 hrs (4 hrs each)
Ray Hansen and Ellen Cramp: 8 hrs (4 hrs each)
Teresa Gallagher (staff - solo): 25.5 hrs
TOTAL CHAINSAWING HOURS = 127

Mark Vollaro and Ray Hansen on Nells Rock Trail

Note that these hours do not include all the work that went into pulling a zillion branches and sticks off the trail (many trail users helped with this), scouting out trail conditions, mapping all the blowdowns, or the anonymous chainsaw work that fell from the sky. Phew! 

All that is to say that some trails are a tad overgrown here and there, but we've been busy! 

Ellen Cramp assisting Mark Vollaro
(Paugussett Trail near Eklund Garden)

Luis Isaza often works with Mark Vollaro

Teresa Gallagher's little battery-saw was great at cutting
branches and small logs so the trail was passable until
Terry or Mark could cut the larger logs.

Mark Vollaro make a tremendous effort cutting up blowdowns

Terry Gallagher finished off a major blowdown across the
Rec Path near Lane Street that Mark and Ray had started. 

RecPath Blowdowns Cleared at Lane St

Following the Upper Wesley Crossing Val asked about we thought about the Lane St blowdown. We said we'd look at at it not knowing what she was talking about.  I took the dog for a walk on Sunday, saw a nice 4 point buck in the Land Trust Meadow; who didn't see a bit concerned about us.  My dog was very concerned about the deer however; he was vibrating and would've chased that deer to Oxford if he wasn't on a leash.  And this is one reason that dogs are required to be leashed on the trails.  

We moved on up the hill into the woods and Holy Crap what a mess it was.

The busted tree top that was hung up during the Microburst, had come crashing down during Tropical Storm Debby, and shattered across the RecPath.  A Large Oak top was shattered in the storm and dropped across the RecPath above Lane Street blocking all access to the RecPath. The oak took our a birch and made a mess of the place.

 There were sections of trunk, big limbs, and lots of acorn laden branches everywhere.

 

Mark and Ray were out there a week later and cleared a bunch of the blowdown, but it was an especially hot week and they couldn't finish the job.  Slackers.  They got the initial clearing done with a lot of work, and fixed it so you could get past the blowdown, but there were still logs and branches blocking part of the RecPath.

So, this morning, after cleaning up the damage at the Winterberry by the Trails Barn, a volunteer went to whittling at the blowdown. After a lot of time and dragging branches, and hauling logs, the area looked like a RecPath once again. 

Public Safety Notes:  Most people were pretty good and appreciative of the work to clear the trails following wicked storms.  One mountain biker however rode right behind the sawyer while he was cutting, scaring the b'jeasus ooute of him, and could've caused a serious accident.  It only only have e taken a quick jerk of the chainsaw when startled to hack off the leg of a passing mountain biker or runner.  Please consider that there's no Undo button for that.  DO NOT RIDE OR RUN PAST SOMEONE WHEN THEY ARE CUTTING WITH A CHAINSAW ALONG THE TRAILS.  YOU COULD GET KILLED.  The volunteers can't always see or hear you coming while wearing ear muffs and a hard hat, steamed up safety glasses, with a loud chainsaw going and wood chips flying.  If you come across someone clearing storm damage on your ride or run on a trail STOP.  It is your responsibility to get off your bike, or stop running, and either get their attention to see if it's safe to pass, or bush whack off the trail and go well, well, well around the work area.  Do not go running or biking through the work zone as fast as you can like it doesn't matter, if you value your life and limb, or the volunteers. 

Also look up while out hiking or riding.  There's still a lot of storm damaged branches that volunteers can't get to that may come crashing down at any time.  That would hurt if you were underneath them at the time.  Walk briskly in those locations.  Have a nice walk but be aware of your surroundings.

I can't say much for the weather forecast accuracy, however we worked thru the rain to clear the big logs off of the RecPath. 

Helpful Trail Tips:   The cant hook/timberjack can be a friend to your back when it comes to rolling heavy logs.  Bring water to drink, always.  Don't believe the weather forecast.

Enjoy.

RecPath Clearing - at the Lower Wesley Drive Crossing

We had 13 people out on a beautiful Saturday morning to cut back the vegetation along the Shelton Lakes Recreation Path from the lower Wesley Drive crossing going North to the upper Weslesly Drive crossing.

Some people went toward Lane St. and some went north toward Wesley Dr.

Devin did well with the brushcutter after we got the correct poly cut blades to the worksite.

Bill Dyer was clearing out sightlines along the road to make the crossings safer.

The Shelton High School students did a good job clearing along the Path.

The volunteers cut back the briars along the RecPath

Val Gosset kept all the volunteers moving in a productive fashion. The trail bridge decking needs a bit of work and we are trying to organize that for this fall. It was a good work party and we thank everyone who came out. Thanks to Noiah, Hoelle, Aiden, Luis, Devin Val, Terry, Jeff, Anne, Sason, Tyrell, Betsey, and Bill.