WMRR Trail Work Status Report
Updated: November 15th, 2007

Bridge Projects

The most important project completed this fall was the replacement of 4 bridges near the Pond of Safety on Corridor 11.  These bridges were located close together but they were in a hard to reach location.

The original bridges used wooden beams that have reached their end of life so all of these bridges needed new support beams.  The longest bridges used four 25’ to 35’ long steel I-beams weighing in at 1,200lbs each.  The shortest bridge used seven 6” x 6” wooden beams. 

Due to the remote location of these bridges, it has been a challenge to get the materials to the bridge site.  Materials must be trucked 8 miles along a gravel access road and then transported a mile into the forest via a primitive fire road using ATV's and small trailers.  The steel beams were moved in and set using an excavator.

Fall rainstorms made the job more difficult by turning the trail into a sea of mud.  But over several weekends, the dedicated group of club members prevailed and now all of the bridges are complete. 

Check the pictures below provided by John Higgins of the Paris Road Sno-Stompers, who came with fellow club members to help out the White Mountain Ridge Runners with this project:

Pictures from Weekend of October 27

Loading up bridge decking.

Two ATV's were hooked together to tow in the bridge decking.

35' bridge in foreground yet to be done (note temporary planks to span hole in river bank).
30' completed steel bridge can be seen in background.

16' wood beam bridge set on steel base.  Note beams have been sistered
with 2" x 8" planks for additional support.  Bridge deck was installed on an angle
so it would line up with trail (note plank on left side being used as a guide).
Also note nail gun which made fast work of fastening the decking.
 

Pictures from Weekend of November 10

Bridge decking for the last two bridges was loaded onto a steel "sled" and towed into the bridge site using a bulldozer.

Volunteers hook up the nail gun and compressor to the generator which were all brought in using a trailer towed by an ATV.

Thirty-five foot long steel beams are installed and ready for decking after cross bracing has been welded in.

Bridge decking is complete on the thirty-five foot bridge.

Bridge decking is complete on a twenty-five foot bridge also set on steel beams.  The 15' bridge set on wood beams completed during October can be seen in the background.

Materials are loaded up for the ride back out of the woods.  Note welding trailer that has Arc welder and gas welding tanks and is pulled behind an ATV.

The bulldozer smooths up the trail on its way back out.  In another year, the trail will be back to normal.

Sign Project

In addition to the bridge projects, the WMRR Club has purchased 100 new 4” x 4” posts for signage in their trail system.  The State of NH provided another 60 posts for trails in the Jericho State Park. 

The goal for this year was to have all intersections marked and to post maps at most major intersections.  This project was even more important in Jericho Lake State Park, since the Trails Bureau has added many new ATV trails that intersect with the snowmobile trails.  These new ATV junctions along with the changes due to logging would confuse even the most experienced riders. 

Many thanks to Jim Morton who loaned his tractor and auger to the club for the past month.  Also thanks to the volunteers: Dan, John, Mike, Rene, Eric, Anne and Jim who worked along with Larry to get over 130 posts installed on the trail system.

Most of the trails within Jericho State Park have posts installed, but the more outlying trails towards Milan and Gorham did not get done.  The club plans to install temporary grade stakes on these outlying trails for this year and continue the post installation next year.

Work still needs to be done on the club grooming equipment and drags, which has been delayed this year due to the bridge projects.  Now that the bridge projects are complete, we hope the club welders can start to work on the club drags.

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