As Summer Days Wind Down, Trail Work Is Set to Ramp Up
August 12, 2010
As the last days of summer click by, progress by our excavator operator Matt grinds on. Matt has spent just about every free evening this summer out on our trail system. At first he is able to hike into his equipment, but once those hikes get to be 30 minutes or more, he brings his ATV to get in and out of the woods.
Earlier this week he was just wrapping up his work when a fierce thunderstorm came through with high winds and lots of hail. Matt locked up his excavator and headed back on his ATV only to find a massive tree down across the trail. He abandoned his ATV and hiked back in the pouring rain over 2 miles of trail and 5 more downed trees. The next day he had to cut his way back in. And you thought your commute to work was bad! Many thanks to Matt for his dedication and determination. In spite of all odds, he will get the job done.
Over the summer as the excavator work proceeded, our volunteers have pre-positioned bridge materials for 19 bridges. There are another 10 bridges of material yet to be brought in. That is a massive backlog of bridge work even for our club which has built or rebuilt over 50 bridges in the past 3 years.
Starting on the weekend of September 11th and for every weekend after that, it will be "all hands on deck" to start the bridge building process. We also have 100 new sign posts to install along with corner bridge markers for all of those bridges. In addition, it looks like we will be opening up a new 7-mile long trail to Nay Pond this year. There is no doubt that we will be doing trail work well into December this year.
For those of you who ride our area, please consider coming up for one weekend this fall to help out. We will have FREE accommodations for anyone coming in from out of town. We will provide transportation into the woods. We will arrange for a foot massage after your long day in the woods. Anything to keep our volunteers happy!
We can guarantee three things: 1) you will have a great time 2) you will get some much needed exercise and 3) you will meet some great people.
Please send email to larry@twolakeslodge.com or call Larry at 508-366-1172 to schedule your work weekend now.