Return to Race Brook

The rains of Tuesday forced a one day delay in our planned return to our bridge rebuild work along Race Brook to Wednesday when Richard and I headed back up the hill.  Race Brook was running full tilt making the 2 crossings without bridges a bit dicey, but we made it across without getting wet.  Once at the site we set to work getting our snagged hemlock down.  With help of a come-a-long we tried pulling it sideways off the oak holding it up, no joy.  Plan B, rotating it off the oak gave the same result, no joy.  But Plan C, worked like a charm.  A hinge made 5' up from the butt cut folded nicely with the come-a-long pulling and delivered the trunk just where we needed it!

 

Above you see the stringer cut from the trunk enroute to the work area.

 



The come-a-long was a huge help in not only felling the snag, but in moving the log to the work area, indeed it could not have been done otherwise with just the 2 of us.  Further it was much easier and safer than 4 of us using log carriers as we had done with the first stringer log.  Below is another picture showing how we pulled the 2nd stringer into the work area with Richard working the come-a-long.

When all was said and done we had both stringers and both sill logs in the work area.  Matt had finished debarking the first stringer and sill and the second stringer and sill are now ready for debarking. 

It was a tired but happy crew that descended the hill satisfied with the results of the days efforts.

 

 

Tool Shed Maintenance

September 15, 2012

Tool Shed Maintenance

As the end of the season draws near, Jim, Steve, Sim, Cosmo and Jack met on a somewhat cool and blustery morning to clean the summer's accumulation of trash, mouse droppings and damaged or broken tools out of the shed.  Jack sharpened some of our axes and gave a couple of impromptu lessons on the finer points of ax design and maintenance.  Jack's primary haunt is the Blue Hills Reservation near Boston, but he occasionally is able to get out to the Berkshires and give us a hand.

How many AT volunteers does it take to....

We also managed to get a fresh coat of stain on the tool shed--the west and south sides were getting pretty bare after more than 20 years out in the weather.  In addition, we trimmed back some small tree branches that were starting to scrape on the roof.

Jim gets the high points

We were assisted by some delicious fresh-baked treats from Julie.  We made a pretty good dent in the supply, but we couldn't quite finish them off.

Volunteer Fuel

Lunchtime

Sim trims out the windows

Jack finishes up the east side

The Tool Shed is an important resource for the AT Committee.  Built by AT volunteers and located on DCR property near the Mt Greylock Visitor's Center, it's a good central repository for tools and equipment that are accessible to trail volunteers 24/7.  Without a place to store and maintain this stuff, we'd be operating out of people's basements and garages.  Volunteers can pick up a wide variety of specialized trail tools such as McLeods, pulaskis, pick-mattocks and hazel hoes--specialized tools for digging in root-filled and rocky soil, not usually found in your local home and garden center.  We are also able to store power equipment such as field mowers and the power wheelbarrow (used in the installation of the bear box at Crystal Mountain Campsite, detailed in an earlier posting).  Next to the tool shed we have outdoor storage for raw materials for bog bridges and other trail structures.   Photos for this page by Cosmo, Jim and Steve.

As our season draws to a close, we hope you've enjoyed this look at what AT volunteers do.  You can do it too!  Our remaining projects are to complete the bog bridges near Shays on Sept 29th and finish the footbridge near Race Brook Falls campsite.  Then, on "AT Day" October 6th, we'll lead 8 hikes on the best AT sections in Massachusetts--followed by a free cookout at Pleasant Valley.  Finally, we'll end the season by closing Upper Goose Pond Cabin for the season on October 21.  To join us for any of these activities, or just to get more info contact us here: <at@amcberkshire.org>  and we'll get right back to you.

Thanks for reading!

Cosmo

Race Brook Bridge Repair

Tuesday 4 intrepid souls, Dave Koerber, Don Fairbanks, Richard Wanderman and I made the long climb up the Race Brook trail to the site of a decayed bridge upstream of the upper falls.  For those who might not have seen this bridge, below you see it in better days with Loren Kahn and Dave McCullough making good use of it:

Below is the bridge as we found it on Tuesday.  Removal of the remains was pretty straight forward and rebuilding the abutments took most of the time.  We used rock to build up the abutments so that the new sills will rest only on rock, not soil, which should lengthen the life of the new bridge.

While Dave and Don worked on this end of the business, Richard and I worked to fell the first tree we had selected for the new bridge.  It was a nice straight hemlock, about 13" diameter at the butt and an easy felling job.  The existing bridge was made from much smaller timbers contributing to it's short life. 

Once down we limbed it up and started the debarking effort.  It sure is easier to debark in the spring when the sap is flowing well.  It was slow tedious going.

To fell the second tree we had selected we needed to move the first log harvested out of the felling area.  It took all 4 of us on the log carriers moving about a foot at a time to slowly manuver it out of the way and towards it's ultimate destination. 

With this log out of the way we set to felling our second tree.  This did not go as smoothly as the first tree and fell in an awkward direction and hung up on a nearby tree.  All hands were safe as we had taken precautions for this possibility and I believe we can safely get this tree down with a bit of effort and some additional tools.  This will be our first order of business when we return to resume work. 

As we were getting a bit tired from our efforts and the 4 o'clock whistle was about to sound we gathered our tools up and headed back down the hill, satisfied with a good days work.

The Hobbit Bridge

Saturday September 8, 2012

Bridge and bog bridges south of Shays Rebellion.

On Saturday morning (leading into a very rainy afternoon) Don, Dave and Cosmo met to start replacing and re-building bog bridges in the "Mosquito Coast" area of the Housatonic Valley.  We were joined at lunchtime by Jim and Christine in from other events in the area.  Christine is the maintainer for this section of the AT.

This long, flat section of the AT links the Riga Plateau and Jug End in the southern Taconics to East Mountain and the southern end of the Berkshires that the AT rides north to Vermont.

The AT crosses the valley on land purchased for the Trail by the National Park Service in the 1980's as part of the effort to get the AT off of roads and onto permanently protected lands.   Some of the land here is in active agriculture, while other sections are more marginal--you could call it a swamp.  To get hikers through these low, wet areas, a network of bog bridges, board walks and bridges stitches the trail together between farm land, low hills and abandoned fields.

The wet, swampy land is a perfect habitat for winged insects, always on the lookout for fresh mammalian blood to provide a shot of protein to produce their next generation.  This can come as a bit of a shock to hikers used to the breezy ridges of the surrounding mountains.

We set this project on the schedule near the end of the summer, hoping to miss the worst of the swarms.  This year's minor drought helped keep the population down as well.

Hubbard Brook Bridge

When the AT first went off of the local roads, one of the major obstacles was crossing Hubbard Brook and it's associated wetlands.  The AT Committee built a major span and extensive boardwalk over the brook when the land was first acquired, and as the Trail continued south into the woods, installed approximately 30 sections of bog bridge over low spots and minor drainages between the brook and Rt 41 (Undermountain Rd). 

Now, some 20 years later, some rehabilitation and fix up is needed.  At the time, the Committee used a new material, 'plastic lumber'.  In those days before Trex became common on decks and patios, this material looked like a good choice for installation in areas where native timbers would quickly rot and require frequent replacement.  This material has survived well, but is slippery when wet and so flexible that it sags considerably between supports. 

The Hobbit Bridge (note path worn by hikers alongside it)

Our mission today was to shore up some of the most saggy parts, install some new sections where muddy areas persist and (regretfully) replace the "Hobbit Bridge", a construction that makes excellent use of the floppy qualities of the planks, but is so slippery that hikers bypass it in favor of the muddy stream bank.  We've replaced it with a considerably less charming 12ft long box bridge made from pressure treated 2x10's. It will last a long time in the shady swamp and be a bit less challenging to cross. 

Christine and Don complete the framing on the replacement bridge

The completed (boring) bridge

There is no intent to make the AT completely safe.  That would be impossible--and depends a lot on what one considered 'safe' to be.  Statistically, hikers (and volunteers)  are in more danger driving to the worksite or trailhead than they are working or hiking.  However, when hikers 'vote with their feet' and bypass a trail structure in such a way that damages the surrounding environment or widens the footpath, trail clubs must take measures to prevent or reduce impacts from trail visitors--hence, sadly, the demise of the Hobbit Bridge.

Don (invisible in his dark raingear) and Dave relocate an existing bog bridge

Rot-resistant Tamarack for new bog bridges awaits

In other work this rainy afternoon, we carried in the remaining bog bridge materials and began work on rehabilitating the sagging existing ones.  We'll have another visit to the area on Sept 29th to finish this project.

Race Brook Hemlocks

Earlier this week I took a hike up the Race Brook Trail to scout the repair to the log bridge over the brook and check in at the campsite.  Shortly after leaving the trailhead on Rt 41, I was in the stately hemlocks along this trail and noticed that there was more sunlight reaching the forest floor than I had remembered from a couple of years ago.  My concerns were soon confirmed when I turned some low hemlock twigs over and found the white specs of wooly adelgids.  The US Forest Service says:

 Native to Asia, the hemlock woolly adelgid (Adelges tsugae) is a small, aphidlike insect that threatens the health and sustainability of eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis) and Carolina hemlock (Tsuga caroliniana) in the Eastern United States. Hemlock woolly adelgid was first reported in the Eastern United States in 1951 near Richmond, Virginia. By 2005, it was established in portions of 16 States from Maine to Georgia, where infestations covered about half of the range of hemlock. Areas of extensive tree mortality and decline are found throughout the infested region, but the impact has been most severe in some areas of Virginia, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut.
 

Here's a picture of what I found (sorry it's a little fuzzy, the best my camera could muster):

 I suspect the infestation started some years ago unnoticed and perhaps has come to light with the additional stressor of the drought we've experienced this year.  Some trees are already near skeleton trees:

We have alerted our partners at ATC and NPS of this situation.  As this infestation spreads and kills the large hemlocks in the area it will undoubtedly have impacts on the vegetation in the area.  This is the first sign of this pest on AT lands in Massachusetts that I am aware of.