West Rock Ridge SP

Date: July 3, 2012

Report Type: TM Report:
Trail Name: West Rock Ridge SP
Town: Hamden
Trail Conditions: Mostly dry and firm
Observations/Information: I reblazed portions of the White Trail between Lake Wintergreen, and the Purple Trail. I reblazed all of the Red Trail between the Purple Trail and Lake Wintergreen. I did pruning, as needed, along both trails. The blazing of the White and Red Trails in this area does not always follow the common practice of being able to see one blaze from another. I did fewer blazes because the Red Trail is a 15 foot wide woods road with a ditch on one side and a stream on the other. There's absolutely no way someone can get lost on this trail. Parts of the White Trail are straight and wide, as well.

I did not reblaze portions of the White Trail that I plan to relocate further up the slope. The relocation is essential because these portions are a muddy mess too many months out of the year. I walked one section of the slope to examine a possible relocation. I need to return when there has been a heavy rainfall to see how dry this area remains.
One of the photos shows the mess that trail users can cause when they are trying to get away from a slippery trail. The rock slope to the left is actually the relocation of the White Trail (about 1/3 mile north of Lake Wintergreen) that has steadily eroded and can be very slippery after a rainfall, between the mud and the slick rock. The trail to the right is a user-generated relocation that only further compounds the problem. The original trail (not visible in this picture) is always muddy in this location, and was muddy today, at a time when most of the trail was dry, even those portions that are often wet.
Another photo shows a combination of armoring and rock waterbar that I created in 2008 on the White Trail about 1/4 mile north of Lake Wintergreen. As the photo shows, the left side of the trail (when heading north) is muddy, even after a dry spell. The water runs off the slope and collects in this area. The rock waterbar is designed to channel the water off the trail, while the armoring keeps people on firm footing. Someone had rolled one of the rocks out of the waterbar, which meant that water could flow down the trail, further eroding it. I rolled it back. Even a novice biker could easily roll over this waterbar, so I am not sure why someone disturbed it.

  

The last photo shows a fresh white blaze on the trail. The older blaze from 5 years ago was weathered and cracked, so this is much more visible.
My next project will involve blazing the rest of the White Trail from the Purple Trail up to its junction with the Red Trail near Mountain Road., and blazing the Red Trail from Mountain Road back to the Purple Trail. I will leave the existing blazes on the White Trail in those areas that need a relocation, and only reblaze the White Trail where I am maintaining the existing trail.
Trail Ambassador Name: Tom Ebersold

TM Report: Collis P Huntington SP

Date: 9/5'11
Report Type: TM Report:
Trail Name: Collis P Huntington SP
Town: Redding
Trail Conditions: Storm damage
Observations/Information: I continued to work on the blowdown situation at Huntington. I had reports of 3 blowdowns on the Rock and Roll. I cut one two days ago. Well, I got to the second one today. It was big and difficult to cut. It was between two of the three boardwalks. People were already making braids. I also cut several other small things falling into the trail. I had heard that the last one was just a bunch of brush. Well, that was an understatement. Two or three trees fell on top of each other and the trail. The picture just shows the brush, but there are 30 inch trees in there. There is no good way to do a reroute because of a wet area below and a very steep area too near the carriage roads above. There is about 50-60 feet of trail obstructed. I notified the land manager, and he will send his crew as soon as he can. Needless to say, his crew is quite busy right now. There are also trees down on the South Pond and Twister.
Trail Ambassador Name: Paula Burton

TM Report: Wilton Woods

   

   

Date: 5/6/2011
Report Type: TM Report
Trail Name: Wilton Woods
Town: Wilton
Trail Conditions: Dry
Observations/Information: WCC changed their mind on a trail closure reacting to complaints from hikers, so I re-open a section of the back red trail and reblazed it orange. Then I tackled the trail re-route on the blue trail, continuing the full-benching of a couple hundred feet of trail. I have about 100 feet left to complete the project, I then plan on scheduling a full work detail to blaze the new trail and close the old trail. I also hike back out to the car and grab the chain saw and hiked back in to prep logs that will be used in building crib walls for the trail closure.
Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort

TM Report: West Rock Ridge State Park

Date of Activity: Dec. 23, 2010

Location: West Rock Ridge State Park

Condition of Trails(s): Icy patches, but mostly dry, with some heavily eroded sections

Trail Ambassador Name: Tom Ebersold

Observations:  I advise against parking your vehicle at the parking area for the West Rock Nature Center, or at the main entrance. There were two piles of broken window glass at the nature center parking lot by the Rt. 15 overpass. I have cleaned up piles of broken window glass by the main entrance and the state reported a couple of smash and grabs in that area this summer. The best place to park is the Lake Wintergreen parking area where I have never seen broken glass and the state did not report any problems this summer.

This was my first trail maintenance session on the Red Trail south of the main entrance in 2010. The section of trail is showing definite signs of erosion in the past year. The trail is well-designed and engineered, but some of those features are failing, as both drainage ditches and culverts are filling with leaves and dirt, and water is flowing down the trail, instead of being captured by the ditches and then fed under the trail to the other side. The state did a project this year to replace two culverts and dug a drainage ditch about 200 feet long, so that area was drier. The long-term need is to clean out all the culverts, and dig a drainage ditch on the high side of the trail to collect the water.  The other project would be to create drainage channels across the trail where there are no culverts to channel water across the trail, instead of down it.

TM Report: Wilton Woods

Date of Activity: 12/20/10
Condition of Trails(s): Frozen
Observations: Parked at Boas Lane lot and hike to Red Trail to tackle drainage issue. A small stream has began running again since the last hard rain and it crosses the trail in 5 locations, 3 of which I had previously armored and is holding up nice. I raked out the 100 of stream allowing the water to flow and added rock armoring is the last 2 locations.
Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort

TM Report:Trumbull-Pequonnock

Date of Activity: Saturday,December 18th, 2010
Condition of Trails: Frozen and crunchy, Lots of Ice
Today we worked in three different spots, all in the southern part of the park. We met at the Daneils Farm parking lot. A reporter from the local online newspaper joined us. The Trumbull Patch [ http://trumbull.patch.com/ ] had heard about our activities through the Town and wanted to do a story...



Knickwork - First Rocky Ascent on the White Trail
Although the soil was frozen, we were able to dig out a couple of strategically-placed knicks using pick axes, rogue hoes and shovels. These should help divert some of the run off at a higher level and keep the bottom of the hill from getting muddy.

Fallen Trees on the Blue 
Nick and Steve had split off first thing and went down by the river and cleared some massive trees that had fallen on the Blue Trail from last week's storms.

Ice, Ice, Everywhere

We then moved on down to the abandoned lake basin. On the way there, Larry headed off to join Steve and Nick. Apparently a lot a rain fell last week - the lake basin had now turned into a small frozen lake! The trail was a complete iced-over mess. The ground was frozen solid and the ice was a few inches thick making it impossible to do anything in this area.
PIC > icepond1.jpg

New Alternative Side Trail

We gingerly moved on just a few hundred feet further north. A long stretch of the main trail along here is always a deep puddle. To steer traffic to drier higher ground, we extended--for another 90 feet or so northward--the raised alternate route off on the side, connecting it with another offshoot trail on the north side of the huge ice patches.

12-18-10 Trail Crew
Robert, Steve, Tom and Robbie (not pictured Nick and Larry)

Post TM Ride

After we finished our trailwork, Steve and I took a "crunchy" ride through the park. Frost heaves everywhere made it a strange and unusually noisy ride. Once we got to the North End, Steve showed me the work the Town Crew had done at the eroded spot where the North Bridge entrance connects with the Rail Trail. It is shored up quite nicely as the photos indicate.

We also noticed during our ride, the Town Crew has been in the park and cleaned up a few spots here and there, removing fallen trees and some of the log up and overs that have sprung up this year. We recently were notified by the Town that, during the week, they will be working in the park thru the winter months. Expect more changes from the Town Crew in the months ahead...
Trail Ambassadors: Rich C, Nick Hage, Tom Ebersold

TM Report: Wilton Woods

Date of Activity:11/24/10
Condition of Trails(s): Dry, Leafy
Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort
Observations: Completed Blue Trail Re-route which included closing down the old section, again, as someone decided that the trail should remain open, even with signs from WCC that I posted. I closed the section again and also hiked out and began the process of closing all the yellow trails, which included dragging in brush and logs for the first 20 feet or so of each trail head and then posting the WCC signing indicating the trail is under restoration and is closed. I will be going back this Sunday to check on the status of the trail closures.

TM Report: Wilton Woods

Date of Activity: 11/22/10
Condition of Trails(s): Dry

Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort
Observations: Completely the blue trail re-route and posted up signs at each end, also closed the old trail section with leaves and brush. Will need to get in and unblaze old trail and blaze new section.

TM Report: Trout Brook Valley

Date of Activity: 11/20/10
Condition of Trails(s): Dry, Leafy

Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort, Ed Perten
Trail Ambassador Email: dfrancefort@excite.com
Town: Weston
Location: Trout Brook Valley

          

How did you use the trail?: Trail Maintenance
What was the time of day?: 9AM
Duration (Hours): 3

Observations:  Our second official TM Session. Today we worked on a planned blue trail re-route, up off of the Elm Drive entrance.   Today's crew was 2 CTNEMBA reps, one mountain biker and 3 TVA trail stewarts.  We re-routed about 100 feet of trail along the hillside, which required a full bench cut the whole way.  After I went through the process and showed a diagram, we tackled the work swiftly.   We ended up completely the benching in a little over 2 hours and then focused out attention to a small wood bridge across a muddy area and we opted to remvoe it and go with a rock bridge.   This took 4 of us with my rock crib to move 2 very large rocks over and between the 4 of us came up with an awesome solution. 

TM Report: Wilton Woods

Date of Activity: 11/19/10
Condition of Trails(s): Dry

Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort

Observations: Received approval from WCC to reroute a short section of the blue trail that is heavily eroded because of fall-line.   I had previously flagged it and was approved this week.  I had to do full benching in a few sections which slowed progress.  I am about 75% done and need only about an hour to finish up.  I will be posting signs on the closed section next week after I receive them from WCC.

TM Report: George C Waldo SP

Date of Activity:  11/5,11/6,11/13

Location:  Waldo

Condition of Trail(s):  Good

Observations:  

[11/5] I got out early Sat. morning to continue painting blazes on Where's Waldo. I got quite a bit done, even though the hands were getting cold. After painting for a couple of hours, I walked the rest of the trail and found an unauthorized trail  connecting to Where's Waldo. I blocked about 100 yards, but it was time to go. I came back later for ride, and saw that someone had unblocked the unauthorized trail and blocked part of Where's Waldo. I removed the brush on Where's Waldo, and spent some time obliterating the first part of the unauthorized trail. 

[11/6]  I came back the next morning, rake in hand. I followed the entire trail covering it up- it wasn't much of trail yet , just someone wandering randomly through the woods with a gas powered leaf blower . This took 4 hours. I could have spent that 4 hours finishing Where's Waldo, applying for new trails, scouting out a new trail etc. The unauthorized trail went under culverts, up fall lines,and was in a stream  bed for about 30 feet. Whomever did this hasn't walked through the area in the spring.  

[11/13]  I went back the next weekend to work on benching the extension some more, which I did, removed a blow down, and to check the unauthorized trail.  It was still blocked, and spent some time blocking it some more. It is sad that people feel compelled to build unauthorized trails, when it is possible to get permission to build trails.

Quartz Mine

Trail Ambassador Name:Paula Burton

TM Report: West Rock

Trail Ambassador Name: Tom Ebersold
Observations: Except for some low spots, the trails at West Rock are dry and solid for riding. I saw a group of three mountain bikers, a solo mountain biker on his first trip to the park, and a father with his 10-year old son on bikes. All thanked me for doing trail work as they rode by, and the solo biker stopped to chat for a minute. He was a Yalie relocated from upstate New York and heard about West Rock from a local bike shop. I gave directions to a family on foot looking to walk up to Baldwin Drive, but unsure of the way to go. I also saw a couple of people with dogs.

Work Performed: In the morning, I helped the West Rock Ridge Association crew with its annual maintenance of the Blue-blazed Regicides Trail, which is always closed to mountain bikes. To help with the message, I put up a Connecticut Forest and Parks-supplied blue triangle at the South Overlook where the trail starts (see picture), and at Judges Cave where it comes out. The sign makes it clear that the Blue Trail is closed to bikes. After the crew finished with brush clearing and blazing, I headed down to the White Trail and donned my orange Trail Ambassador jersey. Using my handtruck and two buckets, I hauled 10 loads of gravel to the intersection of the White and Purple Trails. Along the sides of the seasonal watercourse, the trail can get quite muddy in the spring and the gravel will help to create a solid surface for travel. I moved about half of the pile the state left me. I will return on a future trip to fill in a permanent muddy low spot on the Red Trail about 1/3 mile south of the Purple Trail, plus adding some additional gravel to the White Trail near the seasonal watercourse.

TM Report: Trout Brook

Date of Activity: 11/9/10
Condition of Trails(s): Dry, Leafy
Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort
Trail Ambassador Email: dfrancefort@excite.com
Town: Weston
Location: Trout Brook

Observations: Hiked in to take pictures and determine exact trail re-route on blue trail off of Elm Street entrance. The current trail is eroding do to being a fall line trail section. The re-route will require about 75 feet of full benching along the steep hillside. I also hike down to inspect the work we did at the first TM session a couple of months ago and it was nice to see that all the work has held up and has not been touched by anyone! We will be holding a TM session on November 20th at 9AM Elm Street Lot to do this work.

TM Report: Cockaponset SF / Weber Woods

Date of Activity: November 2, 2010
Location: Cockaponset SF / Weber Woods
Condition of Trail(s): Leaf covered and dry
Observations: I wanted to continue the re-blazing of trails so I drove over to the east lot; when I got there I noticed the map box was already empty from the weekend so I filled it again; there were two women there with horses readying for a ride, one woman starting to trail run, and one older hunter entering the lot carrying a shotgun with a dog dangling a cow bell around its neck- not sure what he expected to shoot with that kind of warning; continued on and scraped/re-painted the blazes in both directions of the northern orange section; for some reason my orange paint was much thinner than my can of yellow so I know these blazes will require a second coat; returned to the car as the darkness began to hit, and as I was backing out, noticed the two horse riders coming down the trail; nice, chilly afternoon spent in the woods.
Trail Ambassador Name: Don Hazuka

TM Report: Wilton Woods

Date of Activity: 11/2/2010
Condition of Trails(s): Dry
Trail Ambassador Name: David Francefort
Observations: Raked out the entire black diamond trail and reblazed it red (per WCC request); original red trail is to be decommissioned, along with all the yellow trails at the north end of the park and the one purple trail. They want to get back to more of an open space park

TA Report: Upper Paugussett State Forest

A little tree blocking the Jeep trail

Date: 2010-10-31
Condition of the trail: Crunchy

Observations: The Upper Gussy trail at Upper Paugussett State Forest is barely discernable with all the leaves down. I have been meaning to blaze the trail but just haven't gotten around to it but now that it's an official state trail, well it's always been official but it now shows up on the official State map, I think I better get work on that.  On the way in I came across a small tree blocking the Jeep Road and thought that it might make a good deterrent should an ATV get into this side of the forest so I piled up more branches and opened it up on the side.  See how long it lasts. 

Further up the trail I found that someone moved the log that Paula cut so you don't have to do the log as an up and over and rather you can ride around it.  That's really no big deal because eventually I am going to move the logs and make skinnies out of them.  I also enhanced a minor up-and-over with a new rock that now rolls much sweeter, now.

But here is something that I don't understand.  Someone moved one of the logs at this up-and-over.  It was moved into a spot that forms a choke point that then sets you up perfectly to roll the obstacle but who ever did this, I don't think it was their intention.  I think they were trying to make the up-and-over easier.  This appears to be the first case of dumbing down the trail that I have seen.  I enhanced the choke point a little more which lines you up perfectly for the up-and-over.  I will have to keep an eye an out for any additional dumbing down along the trail.

TM Report: Cockaponset SF / Weber Woods

Date of Activity:  October 31, 2010

Location:  Cockaponset SF / Weber Woods

Condition of Trail(s):  Leaf covered and dry

Observations: I received permission from the LM to re-blaze all the trails in Weber Woods because most are very faded and several poorly placed; contacted Paula Burton and Alex Sokolow for guidance on painting blazes and also found a great guide on line; I parked in the east lot with one other truck, filled the map box, and headed out on the green trail with my tools to the upper yellow; I have never done this before, so I wanted to start small and get a feel for proper technique before I tackled the other trails; took one camera shot before my batteries died, then used my phone for the after; I learned that careful spot prep is key, that my lexan stencil was really only good for drawing a nice outline and not for the actual painting, and that I needed a larger carrier to better organize my stuff; completed the work in both directions, and hiked back enjoying the weather and scenery; a gorgeous Halloween day. 

Trail Ambassador Name:  Don Hazuka

TM Report: Cockaponset SF / Weber Woods

Date of Activity:  October 24th & 25th, 2010

Location:  Cockaponset SF / Weber Woods

Condition of Trail(s):  Great shape and loads of color

Observations:  I was contacted by a member of the Lower CT River Valley Horse Club (LCRVHC) about some downed trees blocking trails that needed to be cleaned up for their annual Hunter Pace event next weekend; I scouted out the two areas (off the Quinimay and yellow) on Sunday (lots of hikers with dogs), filled the map box, and got an idea of the tools required; actually competed the tasks on Monday where substantial chainsaw work was necessary and was spread out over a pretty good distance; trails are now cleared and look great; I hope they have good weather and a successful event; CT NEMBA TA’s are always here to serve.

CT NEMBA & REI West Hartford Trail Maintenance Day at Penwood State Park

We came, we re-routed, and we benched!  CT NEMBA and REI joined up to do trail work at Penwood State Park on crisp, cool, windy fall Saturday.  The entire CT NEMBA board was present along with volunteers from REI's West Hartford store employees and even some customers came out.  We set out to do two projects:  (1) a re-route on the Yellow trail (map above) and (2) rock armoring on an unmarked trail in the back of park.  Paula led the rerouting efforts which most of the volunteers helped out with, while Ryan and Art led the armoring project.

Ryan explains the Circle of Death

Paula briefs everyone on the projects

Cleanup was pretty fast - only one tool was lost.  If anyone comes across a grading rake, let me know

Lunch was donated by the Flatbread Company of Avon