Turnpiking north of Pittsfield Rd

Today was another great day to have fun in the woods, and that's just what we did!  We being: Jim, Dave, Josh and Aaron, Sim, Pete and Don, plus our 2 DCR Ridgerunners, Melissa and Dennis!  It was a good thing we had a big crew as there was plenty of gravel to move: 

The day was dedicated to turnpiking the AT northbound from Pittsfield Rd in some really muddy spots.  Fortunately, the mud had dried out from our earlier rains and Sim, Jim, Josh and Aaron were able to get to work laying out the turnpikes and digging out some of the dried muck while Dave and Pete harvested some small trees for the turnpike boxes.  The rest of the crew set to work moving gravel into the woods. 

We were able to use both the power wheelbarrow and the old fashioned manual one, but the Honda gave us a hard time and would only do it's job with the air filter removed and in first gear, pretty slow going.  Still, it did move alot of gravel!

In a couple of spots we got some rock work in as we needed to leave a gap for water to cut across the trail (look behind and to the left of Dean below)



When all was said and done we had turnpiked the major muck spots between Pittsfield Rd and the first set of bog bridges and there was precious little gravel left along side the road.  We'll come back after a rain or 2 and use the rest of the gravel to touch up spots once we see where the water wants to go.  We had a dirty, tired crew at days end, but a well satisfied one with a job well done and a much better trail for hikers to use in wet conditions!