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.

Christmas Kiosk Cleanup Commencing

A number of our trail kiosks need rehab work.  The Hope Lake Kiosk is probably in the worst shape. Unfortunately, other trail tasks and repairs have gotten in the way.  I've been getting subtle reminders about fixing the kiosks for years.

The Hope Lake Kiosk is at the entrance to Oak Valley Trail on Nell's Rock Road.  It was in tough shape.

It was old and damaged.  The doors had blown off in a storm.  That left the corkboard exposed, and the rain destroyed that.  The roof was mossy and rotting.  The map box needed rehabbing.

The back side wasn't much better.  This kiosk was built in 2001 and is one of the oldest ones built by the Scouts.

We'd been talking about this forever.  One of the hold ups was getting cedar roof shingles to replace the old roof.  We decided to do these kiosks with cedar roofs in keeping with the woodsy Shelton Trail Fung Schway.  After looking around here and there Mark Volaro when up to Newtown to get the shingles, and then drove all over the place to get the right roofing nails for cedar.  Sometimes the preparation and logistics required for a trail work party take more time than the work party itself.  Then there's the getting of the supplies, ladders, boards, tools, garbage bags, etc. to the job site.  I should've gotten a picture of Luis buried in the back of the car wedged in between all the shingles and stepladders.

But we did get all the stuff there on a chilly Saturday morning.  It was a chilly Saturday morning and we got started to keep warm.

First the demolition.  Striping off the old shingles was interesting.  After a while Mike & I got the hang of it.  While we pried up the shingle on one side of the kiosk, Ellen, Bill & Ted took off the junk on the other side.

Cold work finding and putting the right bits in the drill driver.

Safety Trail Tip:  Remember to bring safety glasses and hard hats next time. 

Mark & Ray went over to Eklund Native Garden on Oak Valley Road to cut up a big oak blowdown that crushed a portion of the deer fence around the garden.

We managed to get all the old mossy shingles off one side, then all the nails.  The scouts really nailed this roof on for keeps.  Ted was reminding us of all the fun that went into building the scout kiosk at Lane Street when he was there.  On that one they used a tow truck to set the kiosk in place.

Then we moved our fancy scaffolding to the rear side.  It was a good idea by Ray to bring a plank and 2 stepladders.

Aidan and Luis were helping with supplying tools and cleaned up some storm damage along Oak Valley Trail and parking lot.  There were some smaller blowdowns across the trail, however we forgot to bring a trail saw to clear that.  I normally have all that junk in the back of my car, but it was in the shop.  But Bill Dyer Was Prepared.

With a battery powered hand held chainsaw that he just happened to have with him.  And It Worked!  Here's an idea for your last-minute Christmas shopping items.

Mike & I got the back of the roof stripped.  This side went faster because we were experienced roof ripper-uppers by now.  We had to replace a couple of rotten nailer boards.  Fortunately,  Mark had gotten some 1x4 cedar boards so the ground crew cut those to length and passed them up.  Then we started nailing on the cedar shingles.

It wasn't any warmer though.  But the ground crew kept us well supplied with nails and a variety of shingles, and cut whatever we needed.

Ted took a photo of Mike in action re-shingling.  Mike looks cold.  He did manage to get thru the whole morning without hammering his thumb.

He wasn't the only one who was cold.  More than a few times Mike helped me fumble to pick up nails with frozen fingers to do some nailing.

Mark & Ray eventually came back from cutting up the Eklund Garden blowdown.  It was a big mess of an oak tree that knocked down a portion of the deer fence (another thing to fix).

And here is an Artist's Rendering of Mark cutting the tree.  It's a pretty good likeness.

We finally got one side of the kiosk re-roofed, and decided that it was cold enough for today.  We reached a good stopping point.  We packed everything out and went is search of warmer locales and some hot food and drinks.

But it was a good start to getting some long-standing stuff off our "To Do" list.  We took off all the old rotten stuff and hardware from the kiosk, got half the roof re-shingled, cleaned up the trailhead parking lot and a portion of Oak Valley Trail (bridges still need some boards), and cut up a big blow down at Eklund (another remains across drive).

Thanks to Mike, Aidan, Ellen, Ted, Luis, Ray, Mark, Bill & Terry for coming out on a chilly morning. (Mike said this was the "second coldest work party he ever attended".  Ellen asked him what that was (it was before she became a member of the Trails Committee) and after Mike gave her the Cliff Notes Version of one of our Ice Capades Adventures she just shook her head and oh gosh, No).  Good Times.

Hope Lake Jackhammer Party

It was a brisk morning in February, Groundhog Day to be exact, with the wind in the trees, the woodpeckers drumming, and the sound of jackhammer on concrete in the distance.  The Trails Committee was removing an old concrete bridge foundations out in Hope Lake.

In the old days farmers would wait for the cold of winter to move heavy objects over frozen ground.  After a lot of planning and logistics Mark Vallaro decided that today the ice would be strong enough to remove the old concrete bridge foundation out in Hope Lake.

Mike, Mark, and Jim are jackhammering the concrete foundation.  Mark, Joe, and Bill had gone over to Home Depot in Derby to rent an electric jackhammer and portable generator (more on that later), which were then skidded and rolled across the ice to the work area.

Portions of the removal were awkward, because the concrete was tilted at a funny angle.  It was a challenge to get the jackhammer positioned properly, and still have a place to stand.  And the electric jackhammer was heavy!  It didn't seem to bad at first, but it got heavier and heavier as the day went on.

We attacked the concrete from various angles trying to gradually break it into smaller pieces.  We though this would go quickly, but the concrete was very strong and didn't feel like giving up easily.

Mark did a lot of planning for this work party.  One of the things that worked out surprisingly well was a temporary walkway of OSB plywood screwed into the ice.  It gave great footing for moving wheelbarrows and buckets of concrete chunks back to shore.  A couple of us were wearing micro-spikes, but the rest wore regular boots and had good footing.

This is the typical setup with the portable generator and Hilti jackhammer.  A series of holes would be drilled in the top and sides of the foundation, and when necessary the concrete was encouraged to split with 12 lb. sledgehammers and rock bars.

Here's Jim with the jackhammer while Mark, Joe, and Mike are using bars to loosen the foundation chunks.  A number of people got a shot at the jackhammer, but Mark did the bulk of that work.  Everyone got covered in concrete dust or shot with flying chips.  We used safety glasses and ear muffs but it was dirty work.  It certainly makes one appreciate construction pros who work with jackhammers daily.

 The bigger pieces were carried by rebar (yes it had rebar too) or slid on the ice to shore.

 

   After about 5 hours we got the last of the concrete out.

 Finished!  Joe, Bill, Jim, Mike and Mark have the victory photo over the concrete.

There's still a bit of clean up for tomorrow, but the view up Hope Lake is improved by removing that old bridge abutment.  The other abutment will probably become a bench along the lake.

Some of the concrete debris hauled up to Oak Valley Road for removal next week.  This is about half of what was removed.

One of the biggest tasks was hauling the portable generator back up to the road.  There were 4 of us doing it and I think that we stopped 4 times just to catch our breath.  But everything and everybody got back OK.

Jim took the Gator and tools back.  Thanks to Joe for lending his truck to pick up the heavy jackhammer and generator.  Joe and Bill returned the jackhammer and generator back to Home Depot; who very graciously donated the rental time to the Shelton Trails Committee and Conservation Commission.  Thank You Nancy.    It's always great when a local business helps out trails volunteers. 

So we decided to do our part and patronize another local business; Bad Sons Brewery in Derby.   We completed a long-standing wish list project to restore a portion of Hope Lake.  We tried a new construction method and learned a lot.  We were dusty, dirty and tired.  There may be a lot of aches and pains tonight, but nobody lost any fingers or toes.  Today was a success.  Cheers from your friendly, neighborhood Shelton Trails Committee.

Ice Capades at Hope Lake

It's been a slow month for trail parties due to the weather, but Saturday morning the Trails Committee met at Hope Lake to see what steps needed to be done to take down the arch bridge at The Point. Nobody really came prepared with all the tools to take down the bridge since this was more of a recon party, but after some discussion we decided to start using the tools that we had on hand. In the meantime a couple of folks went back to pick up drills with charged batteries, jacks, crowbars, sledgehammers, and other assorted implements of finesse.

We started by jacking up the high side of the bridge to take some of the load off the bolts that were holding the arches together. Having a frozen lake surface to work off of was much easier than wading thru the water.

Bill set up his jack and used an old 4x4 from the Barn to raise the truss. This Rube Goldberg contraption may look hokey (it was), but it did the job and met all the objectives of our safety guidelines (nobody was injured). We even had the first aid kit, Emergency Contacts List, and Go Bucket ready nearby just in case.

Gradually, we slowly removed enough screws and loosened enough bolts that we could separate the arches.

It took a little while but after we removed the first arch we were able to get the other two down without any incident.

The lumber was carefully stockpiled on either side of the trail and will be removed in a future work party. The lumber and hardware will get re-used on future trail projects. It was a shame to have to take the bridge down, because we really appreciate all the hard work the scouts and their dads put into it, but the foundation settled and it was a safety hazard. We had kicked around different ideas to repair the bridge for months, and the consensus was the best course of action was to take it down. An earlier work party in the Fall removed the decking after the bridge was vandalized. Not all trail management is fun or easy, but volunteers do try to keep our trail network safe and enjoyable.

Still, we did make accomplish much more than we thought we would when we started. Here's Bill, Lynn, and Rich at the end with the cleaned up work site. Jim & Terry are out of the picture. The abutments and ramps still need to be cleared, but that's for another day.