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.