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.

Spring Cleaning at Riverview Park

The Bluff Walk at Riverview Park needed some attention this spring.  There were a thick layer of oak leaves on sections of the trail and some storm damage.  Overall though the trail had held up OK through the winter.

The north end of The Bluff Walk is at the Kids Playground.  The south end is by the southern baseball field.

The oak leaves were very thick on portions of the trail, and brush was encroaching in a number of places.

We attacked the trail with a variety of rakes, leaf blowers, chainsaws, hazel hoes, loppers, brushcutters, and other assorted tools.

We also removed some trash and cut out Japanese Knotweed behind the baseball field.  We had to leave early due to impending heavy rain storms.

The Bluff Walk is one of Shelton's Historic Trails with scenic views of the Housatonic River.  It's well worth exploring the next time you're near Riverview Park.

We managed to finish up just has the rain was hitting about 10:30.  Thanks to Jimmy, Jim, Bob, Bill, Mark, Mike, and Terry.  Enjoy The Bluff Walk the next time you're downtown.

 

Along the "New" Poet Path

The new, easier climb up from Princess Wenonah Drive

Take a stroll along the new and improved Poet Path, a section of the Paugussett Trail. This section of trail was once so bad that at least one hiker said it would have been better to just walk down the road.

Trail benching!

Nothing can be done about the fact that the open space corridor is pretty narrow and that you're never far from houses, but hey, this IS Fairfield County. You've got to expect some of that along a 13-mile trail.

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What we could do was improve the footing and markings and clean up the place. A lot of people, including a couple crews of high school students, benched the trail into the side of the hill. And the steep trail going up the hill from Princess Wenonah was redesigned with some switchbacks and stairs so the hillside is much easier to going up and down.

A  poet station

And then to give the Poet Path a bit more interest, we installed painted slates with quotes from five poets who have nearby streets named after them.

There are painted rocks near the slates that relate to the poet's quote.

Robert Frost's famous quote

The blue blazes of the Paugussett Trail connect a series of local parks and trail systems, starting with Shelton Lakes to the south, then Indian Well, Birchbank, Webb Mountain, and the Boys Halfway River corridor in Monroe. Until now, the Poet Path section was the part hikers had to just slog through if they wanted to get from Birchbank to Webb Mtn, or if they wanted to hike the entire Paugussett. With the recent improvements, we're hoping that people who live in the neighborhood will start walking and enjoying the path.

Follow the blue blazes

And we hope this encourages more people to hike from Indian Well or Birchbank Mountain through to Webb Mountain Park. Our 2018 Trails Day Hike will be doing just that.

Words of wisdom

Basil Brook Bypass Blowdown BuckUp and Brushcut

Last month's Nor'easters left many trails around the state a mess.  On Saturday, a number of volunteers, including several high school students, helped out to make the trails more passable and safe.

We had 19 volunteers out at Wesley Drive on Saturday to clear the Basil Brook Bypass with four blowdowns, and trim the brush along the RecPath near the Huntington Woods neighborhood.  A number of high school students were trying to finish out their Community Service Hours for the year and were helping out with trail clearing.

We split up into teams and Jim & Mark went ahead with chainsaws to tackle the bigger blow downs across the trail.  We separate the chainsawing from the non-chainsawing crews for safety's sake.  All the high school students were equipped with a variety of hand tools.

There were a lot of folks out enjoying the RecPath as we worked.  Gaggles of runners, dog walkers, strollers, or bike riders passed us by.

Here's Mike Flament with some of the students cutting small saplings along the Basil Brook Bypass while others raked the storm debris from the trails.

Teams of students worked along the Bypass trail paralleling Basil Brook.

And Basil Brook looked good this morning following the rain the night before.  It was starting to feel like Spring finally.

Mark and Jim cleared the lower blow downs at this location so you can scootch under the tree.  The larger tree was left for another day.  If you're an avid mountain biker you may need to get off your bike to get under this one.

The delicate yellow flowers of the Spice Bush were just blooming along the wetlands and streams.  A sure sign of Spring at last.

Some people had to leave after we finished up the Basil Brook Bypass, but the rest continued to work their way down the RecPath toward Lane Street.  A number of neighbors, including possible this future trails volunteer (gotta start them early), were being pushed along the RecPath from the Land Trust Meadow.

Mark was challenged by one beech tree that still warrented cutting, and even though some perfectly good chainsaws were back at the vehicles, decided to take things into his own hand saw hands.

After a while it was time for a tag-out.

 

Now it's a challenge and everybody wants to add a little elbow grease.

 

Eventually the team got it and everyone had a good time dragging it off the RecPath.  This has got to be a lot more fun than a stairmaster for exercise.

There were a lot of pretty flowers along the RecPath near Lane Street just starting to come out.  It's a sign of a good Spring ahead and the start of mowing season.

The Basil Brook Bypass signs were added on Sunday to help people find their way.  Let's hope they last awhile.  In the meantime thanks to all the volunteers that helped out.   So whether you like to hike, run, bike, or take your dog for a walk enjoy the effort it takes to keep the trails clear.

Updates to the Trails Email List

Gmail says we're Spam! That's right, and they've blocked our emails announcing upcoming events and work parties. So we're in the process of migrating over to Google Groups. If you are a member of the old email list and received announcement previously, but do not receive any with the next few weeks, there is something wrong. You may need to check your Spam folder and whitelist the Google Group. Or for some reason Google Groups may have rejected the entry (there were a few). Click this link HERE to request your email address be added.  Also click that link if you're never been on the email list but want to add your name now. Happy Trails!

Poetry on the Poet Path

Quote by Thoreau near Thoreau Drive

To get from Birchbank Mountain to Webb Mountain, the north-bound hiker on the Paugussett Trail comes to a Land Trust property sandwiched between two short road walks. This section of trail is nick-named the Poet Path because many of the nearby roads are named after poets. You're never far from the roads and houses in here.

A lot of work was done over the past week digging the trail into the side of the hill for easier walking (see previous posts). That work is 90% complete. We wanted to give the Poet Path a bit more character, though. So we decorated the trail with some simple lines from Thoreau, Frost, Dickinson, Bryant, and Longfellow. These are all the names of nearby streets.

Themed rock sets, this one is about stars

The project was inspired by painted slates and rocks set out by "The Kindness Rocks Project," in particular a painted slate set out along the Rec Path near the Dog Park.  There's a slate dedicated to each poet, with some painted rocks below that are related to the chosen line from that poet. For example, for the line, "It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see," the rocks below the slate sign are of small things you might see when outdoors, easily missed if going too fast.

"It's not what you look at that matters, it's what you see" - Thoreau

All the rock was painted by Emma Gallagher, and placed by Terry and Teresa Gallagher, the Paugussett Trail Managers for this section of trail.

Hanging the signs

Rocks turn out to be pretty heavy to carry down the trail. Multiple trips were required. But worth it.

This picture would be better with a sunset background

People who are into painting rocks are invited to add to the collection at any of the five stations. Please be sure to stick with the themes, though, so the quote about "sunset in a cup" would have rocks painted with that theme.

Birchbank Mountain Gets Cleared

Volunteers cleared winter storm damage from three miles of trails at Birchbank Mountain. We have a great turnout, with lots of high school students in need of community service hours. Unfortunately, we don't have any pictures of the kids working because all the photographers were busy using a chainsaw. The kids went up and down the trails picking up sticks and branches and cutting overgrowth.

Jim and Luis work on an ash

We also had three people with gas powered chainsaws and one with a battery-powered saw. The saws were going non-stop for hours at the park. Hope no one was trying to get a nice peaceful walk in.

 A few Dutchman's Breeches are starting to form buds

We have the annual wildflower hike coming up, but the wildflowers are just starting to emerge from the earth. They normally are going strong around opening fishing day, but not this year. It's been a cold spring. The Dutchman's Breeches are up, but other like Trillium haven't even emerged from the ground yet.

Mark tackled a huge oak. Wow.

There were trees down all over. Maybe twenty or so across the trail. Our volunteers are not professional sawyers, and they don't lug the biggest saws down the trail, so a big log can be a real project.

On the Blue-White Connector ("before")

One blow-down mess on the Blue/White Connector trail actually fell a few years ago, although a big new tree was added to the pile over the winter. The original blowdown included some so-called "widow makers" and the Trails Committee members decided they weren't paid enough to die clearing that booby trap. Hikers have had to simply make their way around it. Last year the booby trap collapsed and became safer to cut. It was still a challenge with some smaller trees and logs under tension, meaning they could spring when cut. But the guys got it done.

Terry and Bob got this one cleared. 

Teresa stuck a tiny battery-powered chainsaw in her backpack and wandered south along the rugged Paugussett Trail to the Indian Well border. Fortunately there was nothing needing the gas-powered saws because that's the most difficult section of trail in all of Shelton.  The battery-powered saw is a new addition to the trail clearing arsenal, and it's been working great for small diameter or rotting logs. It takes a lot longer to cut a log, but the saw much easier to carry down the trail.

Battery-powered saw cut through this log (slowly)

To reach the Indian Well border from Birchbank, you have to scramble over some large boulders using your hands, so the ability to put the chainsaw in a pack is important.

The tools about to get thrown in a pack to scramble over "The Boulders"

The weirdest find of the day may have been the site of a carnivore's meal at the top of a root ball next to a blowdown that was cut. It was up high and covered with feathers and some other stuff that used to be inside the bird.

Someone had dinner here.

But mostly the day was cutting logs like the one below. Over and over. That was a tough winter!

There was of a lot of this kind of thing