Repairin' Ruts on the RecPath

We had some heavy storms in late summer that caused flooding, clogged culverts, and eroded portions of the RecPath.   The ruts were a tripping and biking hazard so they needed to be repaired.  

Recently the Shelton Highways and Bridges Department was able to get a couple of truckloads of processed stone and drop them at various locations along the RecPath for our use.  Some of the stone was a little larger than we typically use for topping the RecPath, but it was good for the repairs.

It was a beautiful Fall Saturday for moving and raking stone.  

One crew loaded crushed stone into the Gator.

Another crew was preparing the washed out areas and spreading the stone when it arrived.  The hydraulic bed on the Gator was a big backsaver.  They also cleaned out the drainage ditches and clogged culverts along the way.  The storms blocked some of those up with debris, which caused the runoff to wash out the gravel surface of the RecPath.  Gotta maintain drainage.

Various spots along the RecPath were exposed down to the filter fabric.  We used up the pile down by the Dog Park & Red Barn parking lot fixing the worst problems.  We'll probably have to come back with material from some of the other piles.

Various spots were filled in out thru the mountain laurels along the powerlines.

We had a great crew of experienced trailkeepers and new volunteers.  Thanks to Ellen, Zach, Jahneil, Mil, Eli, Mark, Graham, Bob, Bill & Terry.  A lot of help makes it easier to move a lot of crushed stone.  There's more to do; probably in 2 weeks down at the Lane Street end of the RecPath, but this was a good start.  Check the Trails Events Page for more information.

Sycamore Dr Access - Storm Clean Up

There are a number of neighborhood access trails to Shelton's trail system.  Sometimes these smaller trails don't get as much love and attention as they should because we're focusing on keeping the main trails in good shape; particularly after the nor'easters this spring.

We got a call from a good friend and volunteer that there were 3 blowdowns on the Sycamore Drive Access Trail, and we were able to schedule a mini-work party to clean up the blow downs.

A mini-work party is when more than 1 person shows up.  In this case it was Jim Taradine and Mark Vollaro.  I moved some light branches and offered helpful encouragement like "It looks like you've got that Jim".   Teamwork stuff like that.

Here's Mark and Jim at the end of the second blow down.  The three trees varied in size and difficulty.  The last was a good-sized red oak top that was across the trail. 

Here the guys are after finishing the third blow down. 

The trail is all cleared out and open to the public.  The Sycamore Access trail runs from the dead end of Sycamore Drive to the Recreation Path at Waymarker Post #8.  The Post is on The RecPath near the Hawley Meadow on Lane Street.  It makes a nice loop for people walking around their neighborhood, with open woodlands and gentle grades.

One off-shoot of the trail leads down to a beaver dam on the Far Mill River.  If you're quiet you may see some wildlife or fish rising to the surface.  It makes for a nice walk early in the morning.

Blowdowns, Deadfalls, & Widowmakers, Oh My!

Rich & I spent the better part of yesterday clearing blow-downs from Hurricane Irene. The storm that knocked out power to half of Connecticut made a shambles of the woods along the trail system.


Rich had spent a good part of the week cleaning up things where he could, but there was only so much one person could do. Here he is clearing up portions of a triple domino blow-down at Lizard Head Rock on the RecPath. The guys from Pruzinsky & Sons were really helpful with their excavators knocking down some dangerous trees that were hung up.

This is the after image of the same section near Scotch Pine Drive.

There were trees and branches down on every section of the RecPath. Here's a big leaner behind Pine Lake that was hung up in the tree. The dangerous part of this is cutting the branches gradually so we could get it down out of there without it crashing down on us.

This is the "after" picture & we had this nice couple come walking along right after we finished. There were a lot of people out enjoying the trails & it worked out well having two of us clearing the deadfalls.

These doggies had no problem getting under the fallen trees.

Once the trees were down it was much easier, but we had to shift the trunks to avoid pinching the saws. The Gator was really helpful because we were able to carry all the gear with us.

A lot of the trees were crisscrossed and hung up - like these ones behind the High School. That made the clearing interesting. We would drop the easiest ones so they could be bucked up, but we had to be careful of trees and branches that would spring back and move when cut.

The multiple blowdowns were definitely sporty. The trees could behave unpredictably at times as the pressure was released. It was good that many of the trail users were able to give us some room while we worked.

And here's the "after" picture with Rich getting ready to do his famous chainsaw juggling act.

It seems like Hurricane Irene didn't enjoy the good news about the City finally buying the Great Ledge open space at the end of Oak Valley Road. She dropped a big oak tree across the access gate.
But here is the "after" picture. The gate has been "antiqued" with that "broken in" look, but it still works. This section links to the newly constructed RecPath at the powerlines. We inaugurated the first run of the entire RecPath route with the Gator. This will definitely make trail maintenance easier in the future.

There still are 3 big maples down across the RecPath near the Land Trust Meadow off Lane St. These will have to be their own work party next week, but at least you can walk around these and they're not a hazard.

We even met two nice ladies who where farming caterpillars in the milkweed plants in the meadow. Who knew we had butterfly farmers in Shelton?

After a brief respite at the Huntington Street Cafe we resumed our journeys around the trail system. We clearing this large oak that was hung up across the Eklund Garden access on Oak Valley Road. We used wedges to avoid getting the saws pinched. There's still more of the tree that's hung up, but at least it's not an immediate hazard to hikers or mountain bikers.

We went on a little excursion with the Gator, saw more blow downs, and got back to the Barn. We were drenched by the end of the day, but we got everything cleared except for Lane Street.

We owe a Big THANK YOU to all the trail Samaritans who started clearing the trails earlier. It made our job a lot easier. Anybody who wants to clear up some wood please be our guest. Stay tuned for upcoming work parties - there will be a lot of them.

Storm Damage Repairs

Well the storm that blew through on Monday created some downed trees to be cleaned up. A scratch work party of crack volunteers will be going out Saturday if anyone wants to join in.

Here's that picture showing a broken tree that's hung up over the RecPath. We're going to meet at 9:00 Sat. 1/29/10 on Constitution Boulevard North at the Canoe Launch sign opposite the Intermediate School. Maybe the cold front blowing through tonight will do our work for us and drop the tree.