WMRR
Junction Signs Are Down for the Season
Pictures by Roger Richard
Story By Larry Gomes
March 21, 2011
With bare spots showing up and trail bases thinning, it was finally time to face reality and declare the 2010-2011 season over.
Roger and Larry strapped on the home-made jig for transporting the trail signs to one of the club drags and mapped out a route to efficiently visit all of the trail junctions in the WMRR system.
At each junction, the groomer would be pulled up to the sign post and the blade positioned so it could be used as a makeshift "ladder" to lift the signs off the top of the post. Then temporary red "Trail Information" signs are put up so riders still can figure out where they are going.
Once the wooden signs have been removed, they are secured to the upright posts on the drag with sheet rock screws so they are not rubbing against each other on the trip back to the clubhouse.
Even though the sign removal process took two days to accomplish, the majority of time was spent grooming back and forth to the junctions. As an example, it normally takes 7 hours to groom 19 north up to Newell Brook, over Mud Pond Trail and back. Doing that same run plus removing the wooden signs from 10 junctions only added two hours to the trip.
Here are some pictures of the signs being readied for their ride home for the summer:
The groomer has been positioned so blade can be used as a ladder to remove wooden
signs.
Note the temporary red signs that were installed at the junction after wooden
signs were removed.
The signs have been fastened to the upright 4" x 4" posts that are attached to a frame secured to the drag with ratchet straps. Each sign is held in place with two sheet rock screws to keep it from sliding down and rubbing on the drag or other signs.
Framed by Spruce and Pine trees, Mt. Washington can be seen clearly in the distance from the Junction of PT117 and Alternate 19 in Dummer.