Paugussett Trail Clearing; Mayflower Lane to Rt. 110

On a muggy Saturday, several trails volunteers met at Sinsabaugh Heights to clear out the Paugussett Trail from Mayflower Lane down to Rt. 110.  The work party was a success, and after everyone sweated out several pounds of water the trail was much clearer.

Graham, Bob, Jim, Val, Betsy, Mark and Mike, along with Luis & Terry (not pictured) posing in the briar tunnel (and not many towns can say they have one of those) after the cutting was done.  Nice Job.

This was the "Before" picture in some areas.  It's amazing what sun and rain can do for plant growth where you don't want it to grow sometimes.

Here's the "After" picture.  Can you find the Paugussett Trail now?  Good.

Jim & Luis headed down to Rt. 110 and worked uphill.  A second team worked downhill from Sinsabaugh.  A third team cut uphill toward Mayflower Lane.

It was hot work, but we were making good progress in the heat and humidity.  Unfortunately, when we got up to Mayflower Lane there was a large dump of yard waste from nearby residential lawns that had been piled up in the trail.  I could repeat what was said, but this is a family blog.    There was ornamental grass, sticks, evergreen shrubs, grass clippings, and thick leaf piles that appeared to come from some of the neighboring yards, not the City Open Space.  We set about to clear out the trailhead and piled all the yard waste out on City-owed property by the road so everyone on the street could enjoy the waste piles.

The yard waste was dumped right behind the sign that said no dumping waste, and the City fine amounts.  Nice Touch.

 So the volunteers, on their Saturday, in high heat and humidity, cleaned up the mess.

And this is the view from the trailhead out to Mayflower Lane.  I can understand how some people want nicely maintained lawns, but most properties in Shelton can manage to have a compost pile somewhere on your own property, or else take the stuff to the transfer station for free.  And if you use a lawn service you are responsible for what your employees do and where they dump.  Do Not Dump Your Waste on City Property, and Do Not Dump Your Garbage in the Middle of the Trail.

We also cut back briars, raked the trail, cut brush and made it easy to see where the trail went for everyone.

So we got a lot of work done all the way down to Rt. 110 opposite Indian Well State Park.  Thanks to the Sinsabaugh folks that warned us about the bees; nobody got stung.  Enjoy your Shelton Open Spaces, and no dumping.  Lets show some community pride and Keep Shelton Clean.

Upcoming Work Party - Oak Valley Trail

A work party is scheduled for this Saturday at 9:00 on Oak Valley Trail.  We'll see if the weather cooperates or not.  Winter work parties are always fickle.

We'll meet at the powerlines on the south side of Rt. 108.  See the Events page for more information.

The trail needs brush cut back, particularly on the insides of the curves where it's growing into the treadway.  There's a lot of opportunity for loper and bow saw work.

Depending on the weather and the turn out we'll work on Oak Valley trail (white), the blue-white connector to the Paugussett Trail, and Dog Paw Path.

The Dog Paw Path is a short connector that people like to loop from the Dog Park up to the RecPath and back.  It seemed to be getting a lot of use this past weekend.

The Dog Paw Path has slightly different markings from our other trail blazes, but you don't need to have a puppy to enjoy it.

Volunteers

 On the second and fourth Saturday of every month, weather permitting, the Shelton Trails Committee organizes a work party to maintain existing trails and sometimes hack out a new path in  the Shelton wilderness. There are over fourteen miles of trails of various lengths and conditions in town that require some degree of upkeep, and much of the work is dependent upon the assistance of  volunteers. They rarely get the credit that they deserve, so here is a glimpse at the labor force, volunteers and Trail Committee members, that tackled our last project...clearing a wildly overgrown section of the Paugussett Trail off Constitution Blvd (north).

Click on photos to enlarge

Richard and Jim, Committee members, haul tools and a brush mower to the work site on the Committee's workhorse, a John Deere Gator

Volunteer Ralph muscles his way through the wild stuff

Bill has volunteered for the last few work parties

 Dan is back once again to help out

Correctly wearing the safety gear for the task, weed-whacking the heaviest weeds, Committee member Terry hides behind a protective face shield

Committee member Lynn wields a rake, not an easy task with those heavy, wet weeds

Sandie, also a Committee member, uses one our most useful tools, gas-powered hedge clippers, to trim overhanging weeds and thorny briers

 Trail work can be challenging at times, but it provides a good excuse to get out of the house and spend a Saturday morning getting some healthy exercise and meeting other folks with the same interests. It's also a matter of pride in realizing that you've contributed to beautifying and creating a clear and safe path on the trails that you have enjoyed. You may also find trails that you had not known existed before sharing in their maintenance. 
Be a trail-hugger and join in on the fun at one of our work parties!

Stop Growing D#%*$t!

Before

A lot of work & attention has been going into the recent Shelton Lakes Recreation Path construction lately and getting the RecPath in shape for the recent National Trails Day hike. This means that a lot of other trails have not gotten needed maintenance, which combined with record rainfalls means that things have gotten way, Way, WAY out of hand.

Here's a portion of the Paugussett Trail near Dyer Straits (between Independence Drive and Wellington Court). It was impassible to anything short of tigers or ticks. So Jim & Rich fired up the DR Field Mower and swung into action on June 15th.

After

The DR Mower is towed behind our Gator & allows us to keep up with brush. The Paugussett Trail along the powerlines has some of our most aggressive plant growth and it's hard to keep up with it with just hand tools.

Before

This is another section of the Paugussett Trail north of Rt. 108. This stretch is popular with mountain bikers, residents of surrounding streets, and the High School Cross Country Team.

After

It was hot work but Rich & Jim got a lot done for just two guys. Unfortunately it's been two weeks since the mowing was done & the Paugussett needs a new haircut.

If you like using the trails come out for a work party some time. Many hands makes for light work as Bill likes to say, and these trails don't keep themselves clear.

Paint the Barn Red

The Red Barn Before ....

This Saturday, we're repainting the Red Barn at Shelton Lakes. The Barn is located on the corner of Nells Rock Road and Rt. 108. We keep a few odd items; such as rusty shovels, fence rails, and pipes in the Barn for easy access during work parties. We fixed up the Barn last year, but now that the Dog Park will be moving in next door we thought the place needed a little sprucing up.

Chuck the Power Washer from Hydro Works Inc. in Shelton volunteered to help clean off some of the peeling paint. Their firm specializes in power washing, printing and restoration. Chuck was awesome and his efforts saved us a lot of preparation time. It's always great when a local business helps out with Trails and Open Space projects. If you need something powerwashed please call Chuck at (203) 929-3121 and he'll help make your project a success.

After Chuck got done with it .....

And here's all Chuck's gear.

So on Saturday morning, if you have a little time, put on your painting clothes and bring your brush. We're going to spiff up The Barn. We may need a little help because this doesn't involve moving rocks or cutting briars. You too can join the Trails Committee in action at our Paint Party....

Fixin' Stuff

Everybody always likes the fun jobs of building something new; a trail, a bridge, a kiosk. But the fact of the matter is that there are maintenance jobs that have to get done and somebody has to do them. I think most trail users assume that it's City staff, or maybe "the little people" who come out in the middle of the night to take care of this stuff, but in reality it's just volunteers.

Teresa Gallagher reblazed the Turkey Trot Trail recently. The old blazes were faded, and they get bigger as the trees grow. Terry scraped the bark, blacked out the old paint, and then came back and re-painted the white blazes on the trees. This has to be done every couple of years. This year she has reblazed Turkey Trot, Oak Valley, and Nells Loop Trails, along with most of the Blue Dot trail. That's a lot of work so people can find their way in the woods.

Rich Skudlarek recently replaced a couple of broken fence rails along the RecPath on top of the old dams at Silent Waters. We generally lose a couple of rails a year due to trees falling down in a storm. The fence is there so no one accidentally walks off the dam, and needs to be kept up, however it may take a little while for volunteers to fit it into their schedule sometimes. Nice job Rich.

In addition to mending fences, Rich also just finished fixing the Plexiglas in the Turkey Trot Kiosk. Apparently some joker though it would be fun to smash out the glass. We try to keep the trail entrances clear and in good shape. Unfortunately the time spent fixing this vandalism takes time away from other things.

We've had to fix a lot of vandalism this year; fire rings were recently removed on both Nells Loop Trail and the RecPath, the Lane St. Kiosk was repaired, the Harriett Wilber Memorial Bench was removed from the Land Trust Meadow on Lane St. due to vandalism, a lot of trash that was thoughlessly dumped was picked up, and major ATV damage at Birchbank Mtn. is being corrected.

People like to show up for a ribbon cutting, but getting folks out to fix erosion or vandalism is more of a challenge. Anything people can do to assist us with this stuff is greatly appreciated.
Consider coming to a work party this Fall. As Bill says "many hands makes light work."

Summer Brushing

Southern Connecticut get more that 45" of rain per year (which is more than Seattle), when, combined with recent warm weather and lots of sunshine leads to, you guessed it, plants growing out of control along Shelton's Trails. Since we were working on the Paugussett Trail all Spring the brush has exploded elsewhere. Today we struck back.

OK, maybe it wasn't killer Day of the Triffids 1960's horror film bad, but the plants were definitely getting uppity.

This little girl had to walk down the RecPath with her head cocked sideways in order to pass the shrubs. So before we had to call Indiana Jones out to clear the way the Trails Committee swung into action.

Jim & Rich did some aggressive pruning along the RecPath behind Pine Lake. They cleared out a lot of the brush growing into the Path.

The Wheeler St. entrance to the RecPath is across the street from the Shelton Senior Center and the Police Department. This was the area that a lot of work was done to make the RecPath easier to use for a wide range of users.

Bill Dyer & Lynn Reid tackled the Turkey Trot Trail along the powerlines. Lynn came in off Injured Reserve with 2 week old broken ribs to work on the trails. We think her doctor just told her to "suck it up and walk it off" (Lynn probably went with the cheaper physician).

We also took some millings on the Gator and filled out a wash-out behind Pine Lake from one of this Spring's storms. We tried to cover it with pine needles and stone so it looked the same as the rest of the RecPath. Can you find the repair.

We also cleared out brush to make the RecPath safer and easier to see around curves. It was nice to say hi to all the folks out enjoying the trails and open spaces today; either mountain biking, walking dogs, jogging, fishing, or just strolling about enjoying summer. It was great to see so many people out using the Shelton Lakes Greenway.

We're glad everybody was out enjoying the trails today, but remember that they have to be maintained by volunteers. Consider helping out sometime when you have the chance. All it takes is an email into Shelton Trails and Lynn will put you on our e-mail list for future work parties. Whatever you can do will be greatly appreciated.