Spring Cleaning; Fixing Split Rail Fences

The First Day of Spring was Friday, March 21st.  The next day was our first fence repair work party of 2025.

There was a number of damaged fence sections along the RecPath at Silent Waters.  Some sections were broken from the Fall/Winter storms, some posts and rails were just old and failing.  We had gotten replacement rails and posts last December, but then the frost set in, which made it difficult to replace posts.  Now the frost was out of the ground and now we could fix the fencing.  Ellen & Mark are off-loading the new fence sections.

First the old fence posts and rails that were broken were removed.  Bill and Steve are digging out the broken post stump with digging bars, post hole diggers, and by hand.  It takes a bit of effort, but they got it out.  

Mark was shuttling tools and fencing all morning.  We had split up into multiple groups to repair different sections of fence at the same time.  The RecPath was very busy this morning, but the public was good and pleased with the work to maintain the fence.  It probably was like driving thru a ConnDOT work zone.  All the work was done in a nice safe manner.

The Spring Peepers were going at it in Silent Waters.  The frogs and other amphibians came out last weekend.

Carter, Zane and Larry cleared out sections on the other end of the dam (the RecPath is build on top of the historic dam that used to supply water to downtown Shelton).  The fencing is there to keep people from falling off the dam.  

Mark had to cut some tree trunks that were in the way.  Jeff and Larry are spotting Mark while he's chainsawing.  We had just finished fixing some of this fence last year when the Micro-Burst Storm occurred in August and sent fallen trees smashing down on the trails and fence.  The trails were cleared fairly quickly, but some of the repairs took longer.  The broken tree trunk made a gratifying crash when we rolled it off the top of the dam using crow bars.  

 Zane & Carter did a good job digging out the old rotten fence posts and setting the new posts.

Jeff & Larry would set the new rails in place between the existing and new posts.  We left the new posts loose in the holes until we got the rails set, and then tightened them up with fill.  We gently tweaked the fence posts and rails together using Fine Adjustment Tools (15 lb. and 6 lb. sledgehammers).  We do dainty work.  Gravel and crushed stone was dug out of a nearby ditch and carried by 5 gal. pail to finish filling in the holes.  The posts were tightened when the fill was tamped in place with digging bars, sledgehammers, and a driveway tamper.  

Ellen was cutting back invasive Burning Bush along the RecPath.  The invasive plant spreads out and takes over the woods along the trail.  Cutting it back now helps control it later.  Shelton could use a lot of help from volunteers controlling invasive species.  The Trails Committee tries to do what we can when we're running work parties.

The work party was successful.  We repaired all the damaged fence along the northern section of the dam (the southern section at the bridge will be on another day).  Here's Bill, Jeff, Larry and Steve at the end when the sun finally started to come out.
 

A finished stretch of repaired fencing.  Not a bad job.

The old rotten and broken pieces of fence were brought out to the road for disposal by the City.

Thanks to everyone who came out today; Carter, Zane, Steve, Larry, Jeff, Ellen, Mark, Terry & Bill.  We now have several newly experienced split rail fence installers ready for the southern section, and a lot less invasive plants next to the RecPath.  It was a good days work.

Kiosk & Clean-Up at Hope Lake

Early March - Should be sunny, warm, and dry.  Our scheduled work party was to finish repairing the Hope Lake Kiosk and clean up portions of Oak Valley Trail and surrounding areas.

We had a good crew of volunteers on what turned out to be a chilly and blustery March 7th Saturday.  We did get some sun.  There was a lot of storm damage around the parking lot from the various ice storms and high winds.

Nancy and some of the other folks got busy clearing debris away from the parking lot.  Mark and Luis when back and got more supplies while we were setting up for kiosk restoration.  They also brought the hammers that I had forgot to pack for nailing the shingles on the kiosk roof.

Luis pitched in, along with the others.  Mark went back and got one of the chainsaws to whittle up some of the large tops and branches so they could be moved.

Erik helped with the clean up.  Bill went back to get a shovel to clear out wet spots and seeps along Oak Valley Trail.  Then Bill, Mark & Erik worked to reset an uneven bog walk along the lake and move stepping stones.

The re-set bog walk.  Mike had to go to the Barn to get some rock bars to un-stick the bog walk from the frozen ground so it could be leveled.  It was a good thing that this work party was so close to our Barn.

Helpful Trail Tip:  We should work on our pre-work party checklist of tools to bring.  Also get the stuff we'll need together during the week so loading up Saturday morning is less chaotic. 

Terry & Larry got started on finishing the re-roofing of the kiosk with cedar shingles.  We were continuing the repairs started in December.  At times the wind was gusting so hard across the lake the kiosk was rocking, but it was warmer then the work party in December.  We got the rest of the shingles on.  Some of the roof trim and doors will be put up a little later when we have a taller ladder and some warmer weather.

The other folks split up into multiple crews cutting brush and clearing debris along Oak Valley Trail, the Eklund Garden Connector, the Paugussett Trail over to J Pond and 4 Corners, the Flower Path, portions of the RecPath, and the Paugussett Trail on the back side of Hope Lake.  There was a lot of storm debris on the trails, and the early spring cutting really helps a lot with trail maintenance later in the year when everything starts growing at once.

Some of the storm debris cleaned up around the Hope Lake parking lot on Nells Rock Road.  It was a productive and brisk work party.  Thanks to everyone who helped out; Bodie, Danny, Erik, Nancy, Luis, Mike, Bill, Larry, John, Mark, & Terry.   

Also, thanks to everyone who helped take everything back to the Barn.  And thanks to Ray, Larry, Mark and Luis for getting the metal file cabinet up the stairs.