Date of Activity: Saturday, October 16th, 2010
Condition of Trails: Somewhat wet
Location: Pequonnock Valley State Forest
Trail Ambassador Name: Rich C
Our plans to finish up the new trail we built last month were thwarted when the usual TTC members who had chainsaws didn't show up. Bummer! ...but we made most of it and instead, fixed up the perpetual mudhole (some could say small lake!) on the main White Trail in the Serengeti.
Draining and Armoring
At the mudhole, we dig a fairly deep trench for water run-off. Fortunately the ground was soft from recent rain and the digging was easy. Water immediately rushed down the trench and the still standing puddle was quickly drained.
We then armored the dry, higher side of the trail with flat rocks and filled in the lower wet side of the trail with rounded and jagged rocks to "encourage" riders to keep the trail tight and flowy. There are a couple of other flat spots in the area that get wet but this spot is always the worst. Time permitting - at some point in the future, we'll revisit /upgrade the other spots as well.
Restoring "Single Track"
After finishing up at the mudhole, we moved over to the rooty trail and spent sometime "narrowing" it. Parts of this trail have gotten ridiculously wide at a few spots and in the spring, many of the braids and widened barren swaths turn into a muddy mess.
Deadfall, leaves and a few choke stones dug in here and there was all it took to return the trail to a narrow flowing single track. Some of the armoring needs to be beefed up in the future but the spots that get real muddy are now eradicated. We heard an immense crash while working and concluded another massive tree had fallen somewhere west of us. Sadly, water-saturated soil and high winds are the perfect recipe for falling trees.
Due to lousy morning weather, the Park was nearly empty but we did met a few bikers at various times who all complimented us on our work. To make the session complete, we capped it off with a couple of cold beers before heading home!
Trail Ambassador Email: mtnbikerdad[at]yahoo[dot]com
Town: Trumbull
How did you use the trail?: Trail Maintainence
What was the time of day? 9 AM - Noon
Duration (Hours): 3 Hours
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