Boehm Pond Bridge Relocation

During one of the storms this winter Mother Nature decided our footbridge on Boehm Pond Brook was too low and decided to move it downstream about 100 feet.  It came to rest under a tree at the top of a scenic cascade.  The Boehm Pond Bridge was built 2 Years ago, had weathered a number of storms successfully and was pinned int the bank, but this time the stream was really whippin' and the pins didn't hold.

This was where the bridge used to be.  We thought it would be a pretty simple matter to have 2 guys pick it up and walk it back into place.  So on a bright and blustery Saturday morning Bill and Jim went to get it and lo and behold it was heavier than expected.

Here's Jim, Bill & Bob rummaging in the brush trying to get the bridge out of the stream by themselves.  That wasn't happening so we went to Plan B:  get more volunteers and a rope.  Where were all the high school students today? 

With the aid of more volunteer horsepower they were able to slide the bridge across a log, carry it back upstream, then down a slope and back across the brook where another team had raised the stone foundations higher so the bridge wouldn't get washed out quite so readily in the future.

The relocated bridge back in place on the new footings.

We took a some time to level up the bridge, add more rocks to the foundation, and improve the access approaches.  Jim brought some steel cable out and he and Mike attached one end of the bridge to a nearby tree so if the bridge got adventurous again it wouldn't wander too far downstream.  (We didn't ask Jim why he happened to be driving around with some extra steel cable in his car).

Then the crews split up and cleared brush and blowdowns along the White and Yellow trails.  Some went over to Boehm Pond and looked at the old bridge on the North end of the pond.  Jim was the bravest and ventured across and back successfully.  He thinks we can just replace some of the old deck timbers.  This would re-open fishing access around the far side of the pond, which is part of the public open space.

Other people went out and cleared some larger blowdowns on the trail extension out to Boehm Circle.  There's a pedestrian easement that leads back out to Farmill Street there.  Several trees were down blocking the way though.

Mark cut up one large ash jumble that was blocking the path.

You can see the "Blonding" for the woodpeckers looking for the Emerald Ash Borers that all killing off the ash trees.  What a shame losing all these nice trees due to an invasive insect and what countless hours are required statewide to clean up this mess.

We also cleared out some multiple birch blowdowns that were blocking a re-route across the Brook.  There's more brush to cut, but at least it's smaller stuff now.  This was a busy morning and we got a lot accomplished; a bridge restoration, cleared multiple blowdowns, and general trail clean-up.  Thanks to Val, Mike W., Bill, Bob, Mark, Jim, Mike F., and Terry.  Now people can go watch the NCAAs.

Low Water Crossings at Acadia

This Fall's trip to Acadia National Park included a number of great hiking trails, many with varied ways to cross wet areas or streams.  A few examples include:

This is the Canon Brook Trail entrance over the south end of the Tarn.  It split logs elevated on pressure treated cross members and posts, approximately 1'-2' above wetland level.

The Kane Path contains sections of split-log puncheons along the shoreline of The Tarn.   These are low structures set on log sleepers just above the wet areas.  This system uses locally harvested lumber, and takes advantage of the curved nature of the trees to wrap around the topography.

Another section of The Kane Path; narrow; 1'-2'wide split log puncheons.

Stone stepping stones across the south end of The Tarn at The Ladder Trail Entrance.  Large stones with decent gaps to let the stream flow thru, but sturdy enough to be submerged temporarily in large storms without getting washed away.

Typical low bridge along the Canon Brook Trail.  Crosses narrow, but frequent drainage channels coming off the East side of Dorr Mountain.

Another low bridge with split log sides that extend up above the wide sawn deck boards.  The split logs supply support and stability to the short spans.

Rock paving and boulder walk along The Kane Path next to The Tarn.  Carefully placed boulders and cut stones provide a natural looking walkway along the waters edge.

Some sections of timber boardwalk (pre-fabricated?)  that look like they might have been built elsewhere and positioned with snowmobiles or ATV's.

So, a wide variety of ways to enjoy a walk in the woods while keeping your feet dry.

Foot Bridges in Acadia

The trail craftsmanship in Acadia National Park on Mt. Desert Isle in Maine is amazing.  Everywhere you look there are examples of elegant solutions to trail issues.  Here are a few pictures of some nice trail elements from Acadia:

Here's a simple rustic bridge from Sieur de Monts Spings.  It's a short span, but the channel it crosses gets considerable flow at times and it's an attractive bridge near the Wild Gardens of Acadia.

Here's a short span footbridge at Echo Lake; slight arch with timber decking and mortared masonry abutments.  It blends in well with the lake shore.

Here's another rustic bridge leading down to the shoreline.  This one has a corduroy tread made out of small diameter saplings, but with log supports spanning the stream.  It's a slight arch, with double hand rails made of peeled saplings.

And another footbridge; with sawn deck boards, and a single handrail.

There are a lot of interesting ways to cross a stream in Acadia.

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.

Bridge Moving 101

Originally, the RecPath was slated to cross over two telephone pole bridges were built along Wesley Drive by Eagle Scouts a few years ago when the RecPath was just a hiking trail. During construction, we saw an opportunity to shift the RecPath alignment a bit in the field, and preserve some nice trees near the stream crossings. The contractors had never moved any bridges before, but they were game for it. Bill Dyer was able to be with them the day they moved the second bridge.

One of the timber bridges is shown with one of the trees that originally were slated to be cut down. The contractors (Pruzinsky & Sons & Fairview Tree Farm) placed steel plates over the streams to protect the stream bed, put gravel over the plates and used that crossing for all their heavy hauling.

Once the heavy machinery was back across the stream the larger excavator removed the steel plates and stone foundations were built where the plates had been.

Steel channels were placed under the bridges and the entire bridge was lifted over onto the new abutments. We weren't sure how well this would work because we didn't have any records when the scouts built the 8 foot wide by 20 foot long bridge. Trails volunteers scrambled that week to add extra floor beams and stiffen the bridges prior to the contractors reaching those crossings.

Everything went well and the contractors took the better part of a day to relocate each bridge.

A lot of care was taken to minimize disturbance of the stream bed, and to make the bridge abutments look as natural as possible. At this point all the heavy earthwork was done and the smaller equipment was placing the final surface of fine processed aggregate.

The steel plates were loaded into a truck and hauled up to the next work area. They really worked well to avoid disturbing the stream bed.

The contractors then worked on cleaning up the side slopes, placing stones, and a lot of wood chip mulch to stabilize all the disturbed areas.

Here is the finished bridge looking very natural and with a number of trees preserved along the stream. One of the good features of a Design-Build contract is that you have the flexibility to try things like this in the field. Good job by everybody involved.

Bridge Replacement on the Turkey Trot

Well, we lucked out with the weather Saturday. What was predicted to be a raw, rainy morning turned out to be pretty nice for our work party. We replaced a footbridge on the Turkey Trot Trail along the powerlines north of Rt. 108. The former bridge was an old machine pallet that was well beyond it's life. Here's a picture of the rickety old bridge in it's tunnel of briars.

We had a good turn out so we were able to tackle different tasks; While we removed the old bridge Sheri & Luis started clearing briars at the stream, Lynn and Carol cleared out the trail down to the bridge, Nick & I started playing in the mud building the foundations, and Bill, Rich & Jim brought in the bridge materials with the Gator & started building the bridge.

Here's the start. The pictures don't do justice to the nasty, nasty briars that had to come out. I think Luis needs to get a new pair of gloves after this one.

The briars were trapping debris in the stream, which caused the water to build up and wash out the old bridge in storms. So we built the new bridge to be above the high flows and be more stable.
And here's Carol, Luis & Sheri with the "after" picture and the new abutments.

And here's Nick when he wasn't using one of our new used pickaxes to clear out the area for the bridge abutments. Nick is going to be replacing the "J-pond" bridge on the Dominick Trail latter this year as part of an upcoming Eagle Scout project.

The Gator not only is useful to haul in material, but it also makes a pretty fair workbench. We used pressure treated lumber for the new bridge so it should have a long life. Just have to remember to buy more driver bits - Jim & Rich are tough on equipment.

Bill & Jim walked the bridge down into position. The new bridge is 8 ft. x 2 ft.

As part of the Shelton Trails Committee Quality Control program we make the guy who built the bridge be the first to cross it. The public will be happy to know that Jim pronounced it fit & sturdy. He did go and get our new bridge all muddy though.

Almost right on cue we had our first customers. The passage was a success & we didn't even charge them a toll. Lynn reported that a number of other hikers and bikers were using it later that afternoon.


Here's the finished bridge with stone ramps built up on either end for mountain bikers. Our work force was all hikers so we tried to make the ramps nice and solid, but if anybody feels more stone is needed please feel free to do some additional work. Or work on the trails - the briars are tough to control in this area.

Happy Thanksgiving from your friendly neighborhood Shelton Trails Volunteers. Rich, Nick, Sheri, Bill, Lynn, Carol, Luis & Jim are shown here testing out the completed bridge. You'll be happy to know that it's sturdy. Happy hiking & dry feet.