What's in Your Go Bucket

We run a lot of trail work parties but had the annoying habit of forgetting to bring something important out into the field that we need (like gas for chain saws).  We also get volunteers, including some High School students getting in their community service hours who don't bring gloves or other gear, so we keep some spares.  In an attempt at organizational efficiency we decided to throw a bunch of stuff into a bucket and bring it with us just in case we needed something in the field.

Here's our Go-Bucket which we cleverly named for just "grab the bucket and go".  We have 2 of them for multiple work sites, and sometimes we even remember to bring them with us in the field.  Here's whats in Bucket #1 currently:

1            5 Gallon Bucket and Lid (Home Depot)
1            Bucket Boss liner sleeve with pockets
1            First Aid Kit
1            Permethrin 12 oz. spray bottle (put on clothes to kill ticks)
2 pks      Off towelettes
2 pks      Hot Hands
1 pr        Ear Muffs
2 bags    Foam Ear Plugs
2 pr        Safety Glasses
2 pr        Work Gloves (plus one extra right hand glove)
-             Garbage bags - large
-             Garbage bags - small
2.5 rolls Flagging
1            Notebook (Rite-in-the-Rain)
2            Sharpies
1            Lumber crayon
4-5         pencils
10          TrailCom Business Cards (mix of Rich's cards to hand out)
1            Topsaw chainsaw multi-tool
1            hammer
2 pr        pliers
1            knife
1 box     matches
1 bottle  2 cycle oil
50 ft      1/8" parachute cord
1 can     WD-40
1            bottle opener
1            volunteer RecPath hat

Here's all the junk laid out.  The 5 gallon pail and lid with the bucket sleeve is a handy way to carry this stuff.  Some things that we may want to add are benedryl (for bee stings), neosporin (minor cuts), laminated emergency contact phone number list, duct tape, small tape measure, clipboard and sign-in sheets, small flash light, tissues, and a couple of granola bars.  We can't get too much stuff or we'll need a Shetland Pony to pack it all in to the work sites.  We don't need to keep everything in the bucket because we have separate tool boxes in Gator, or with some of the power tools.  And generally we're not that far from a road or trailhead.

Most people bring their own gear to the work parties, but these odds and ends things can come in handy.  We don't guarantee that we always have everything, or that we even remember to bring the buckets out to every work party, but we try to Be Prepared.  We want all the trails events to be safe and enjoyable, where possible. Now where's that duct tape?

Now we just have to check the other bucket contents and maybe we'll find that missing glove.  What's in your Go-Bucket?

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.

Basic Tools for Trail Clearing

Shelton's trail system is built and maintaiNEd by volunteers. The Trails Committee has a growing coLLection of hand tools, but most volunteers like to use their own tools and sometimes ask what to bring. Most of our work in clearing trails is done with loppers, bow Saws, and hand pruners (remember to bring those gloves).

Here's some of the loppeRs and hand clippers that we use. There are two pair of the anvil loppers (left and center), but sOme people prefer the bypass loppers (red handle on right). The anvil loppers crush the branch so they work better on dead wood and are easier to stick into a patch of brush. The bypass loppers make a cleaner Cut on live branches, so that's usually what homeowners have. The blade on those actually hooks around the branch and shears it off. I prefer the Snap-Cut anvil loppers in the center (grey handle) for most work parties because they're light and easy to use. The bigger ones with the wooden handles maKe short work of larger branches and saplings, but they're a bit nose-heavy.

The hand clippers are good anytime. Even if you can't make one of our work parties feel free to carry a pair the next time you go for a hike and trim off some brush as you walk.

These three saws take care of Most of our sawing. The bow saw works well to cut saplings flush with the ground so you don't trip on them. The chain saw is good to taking out blow downs and other storm damage. There are obviously A lot of safety issues with using a chain saw that I assume everybody is aware of. The third saw is a Pole saw that is good for taking out higher branches and cutting vines.

Helpful Trail Tip: Remember to look up before pulling a cut vine out of a tree, and don't stand under the vine when you pull. A lot of dead branches and other stuff can come down and hit you on the noggin. Some of us have been known to occasionally wear a hard hat after a few too many whacks to the skull.

Lee Valley Tools carries a nice cheap Booklet called Chain Saw and Crosscut Saw Training Course that I would recommend. They have nice catalogs for gardening and woodworking, and I've always had good luck with them.

Sometimes we even try to dO some things safely and efficiently. Generally though we just try to get the job done, take pride in our trails, have some fun, and not make things too complicated. A lot of our work is accompXlished with some simple hand tools and a little common sense.

Additional note for AQ fans: TRAP DOOR AT BOTTOM.

CFPA Winter Trails Workshop

I went to Connecticut Forest & Parks Association's winter trails workshop in Middlefield yesterday. There were about 60 volunteers who maintain trails & open spaces from around the state to listen to a variety of topics. The meeting room at CFPA Headquarters was filled - here's a photo from one of the breaks. I'm sorry that I had to miss the Nicholdale Marshmallow Roast & Hike in Shelton, but I'd never been to one of these workshops before & it was really worthwhile.

Laurie Giannotti from the DEP did an informative talk on the Recreational Trails Program; this is the program that Shelton has used to fund a number of the improvements on the Recreation Path. Ann Faust of Community Consulting did an insightful presentation on grant writing (I wish that I had had a lot of these tips earlier). Christine Woodside did a great presentation on how to communicate with the public on your trails (and I don't say that because she liked our Shelton Trail Committee Blog). She also used Teresa Gallagher's map for Riverview Park as an example of what a clear trail maps should look like. I handed out some of Rich's Trail Com. business cards.

There were a number of exhibits and props arrayed around the room. I liked this one with the models of the various types of trail bridges, and it tied in nicely with Bob Schoff's talk about the structures that the roving trails crews have built.

Did I mention that they had tools? With safety guards over the sharp blades no less! Elaine LaBella did an animated demonstration on how to use the various instruments of destruction without hurting someone. We may have to work on Bill Dyer's technique with the grass cutter this year. We had a fun back and forth discussion about how many tools are enough, and whether Rob Butterworth needs a new chain saw. (The guys all said yes). Bottom line was to use what you're comfortable with to get the job done. I was reminded of the episode of Dirty Jobs with Mike Rowe that I had just seen; Safety Third.

Rob also went over good tips for planning & managing work parties, and trail safety. In general, we are pretty good, but we just might be able to improve our safety techniques a tad. We could at least improve our volunteer retention at work parties by counting that we're bringing as many people out of the woods as we took in. Here's an example of a sign they put across the trail on either side of the work zone - this would've been handy when we were taking out the blow down on the RecPath last week.

Rob lead walk on CFPA's trails out back at lunchtime. They have a nice grove of handicapped accessible trails out there that they use for education events.

Oh, and look at CFPA's tool barn. Stanley Tools donated $10,000 to CFPA for this beauty, PLUS gave them a bunch of tools for their work. And I thought we were doing good with our funky old Red Barn. Imagine if some business or developer volunteered to fix up the White House at Nells Rock Road as the Shelton Lakes Greenway Center what a positive impact it would have on our community. Everybody from around the state was oohing and aahing at the Stanley Tools tool shed at CFPA yesterday. Now that's good advertising.

It was a good workshop & I'm grateful to everybody at CFPA for putting it on. Thank you Terri Peters, Eric Hammerling, Rob, Laurie, Elaine, Clare, Christine, Ann & everybody else who helped. CFPA is Connecticut's oldest environmental organization that takes care of over 825 miles of Blue Blazed trails in Connecticut - all with volunteers and a small but dedicated paid staff.

And thanks for the doughnuts.