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!

Summer Mowing

Summer is the time for mowing. One of the great things about Shelton is that we're created miles of interesting trails for walking, hiking, and biking. Unfortunately, the brush & hay keeps growing and all those miles of trail need maintaining. Particularly those trails along the powerlines north of Rt. 108 and the new sections of the Blue Dot Trail. And while we don't have a scythe like Homer Winslow's "Veteran in a New Field" above. We do have Rich & Jim who were out on August 5th with the Gator and the DR Field Mower.

The guys tracked their path using GPS and plotted it on an air photo. You may want to click on the picture to enlarge it and get a better view. They got a lot done for 2 guys in one day. Technology is wonderful. Maybe Homer would've painted a different picture if he was still working today. Happy trails.

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.