Saturday, June 16. A New Roof for Nopel Shelter 

 Last fall, volunteers from the Appalachian Long Distance Hikers Association (ALDHA) helped to carry up 18 sheets of metal roofing to the shelter.

Prior to that,  Boy Scout Troop 3 on an Eagle scout project helped to remove the old roofing and install a temporary layer of roll roofing to get us through the winter.  Also, during that project, they re-built the earthen platform in front of the shelter, trimmed out overhanging trees and carried in a bear box.










Last week, we had 5 volunteers at the shelter to install the metal panels on the roof to complete the project

Jim and Kevin worked on installing panels on the front roof.

Don and Steve started cutting roof boards where the skylight panels would go.











After lunch, the remaining metal panels and skylight panels were installed on the rear roof and the ridge cap was attached to finish the project.

The skylight panels are a weak spot in the roof, a falling branch or tree could puncture or shatter the plastic.  We feel that the benefit to hikers of more light in the back and loft of the shelter is an acceptable tradeoff.   It also makes shelters easier to keep clean. Skylight panels can be replaced individually as needed.

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!

Brush Clearing near Gore Pond

Tuesday June 12th

We had an excellent crew out on the Trail yesterday!  A combination of new and old volunteers and Ridgerunners from DCR (Mass Department of Conservation and Recreation) met at 9am yesterday at the Ashuwillticook Rail Trail in Cheshire.

The Team Assembles

It's a jungle out there

We were out to clear a section of trail where the brush had overwhelmed the footpath.  Back in December of 2009, we had a pretty nasty ice storm here in the Berkshires.  At elevations between 1800 and 2000 feet, many trees were damaged.  This also happens to be at an elevation were Beech trees predominate--particularly in northern and central parts of Berkshire County.  The ice snapped off the tops of the trees, giving the underbrush in the area a large increase in sunlight.  In these sections of the Trail we now have a veritable garden of blackberries and beech sprouts that need to be clipped back often.  Other areas such as Becket and Walling Mountain and Finerty Pond, face a similar challenge.  We'll be getting to those areas later in the summer.


After a mile and a half hike from Furnace Hill Road to the work site, we formed two teams, each with a brush cutter and two swampers to clear the cut branches and stems off of the footpath and to clip any higher branches.

All in all, we cleared about a mile of trail Now that the worst of it is cut back, the maintainer for this section will be able to keep up with the seasonal growth with just a few visits per season.

A cleared section

From the photo above, it looks like we may have been a bit over-aggressive in clearing such a wide swath.  The standard approach is to clear a 4ft wide by 8ft tall clear space centered on the footpath.  This keeps things pretty much clear, even when the vegetation is wet.  In the locations were we are working however, the stuff grows back very quickly--raspberries can grow a foot in a week.  Don't worry, there will still be plenty of fruit within easy reach of hikers come mid-July.

Installing new Trail Kiosk in Dalton

On May 5th we installed the previously fabricated kiosk in Dalton where the AT enters the south side of town.  A combined force of AT Committee members joined by teachers and students from the Craneville Elementary School got the project off to a great start.  Photos by Deborah Araujo.

The post and beam frame was assembled

 Holes for the posts were dug four feet deep

The assembled frame was raised up and slid into the holes.  Cleverly, these holes were the correct distance apart, and the bottoms deep enough to hold the frame level from side to side.

Dirt was packed in around the posts to keep things upright.  Ready for the next hurricane...

Now for the roof rafters.  Interestingly, when combined with the post, they look like the "AT" icon.  Coincidence?

Roof planks installed (32 of them)









Finally, the signature red roof to finish it off.

  

The plywood display panel was added the following week.  The raw timbers will get a coat of stain next year, after they have had a chance to weather. 

Welcoming northbound hikers to town, the Kiosk will display a map of the AT through Dalton, the location of places of interest to hikers (restaurants, laundry, groceries, hostels), as well as information about Dalton and the surrounding countryside.  Students from Craneville Elementary will provide content for the display and maintain the kiosk and its surroundings.  Projects like this help to connect town residents with the Trail and make hikers even more welcome in this iconic Trail town.

Repairs at Upper Goose Pond Cabin

Today's Project, involved several work items at Upper Goose Pond.  Actually, the project started yesterday with Pete and me canoeing in the permanent roof material for the picnic table pavilion, 2 hefty bags of sawdust for privy duff and tools.  We returned today in the rain and decided chimney felling should be first on the list.  After setting up the come-a-long to pull with and determining escape routes the pulling began.





It didn't take long or much pulling before a crack was heard, and shortly the whole shebang came down!  Most surprising there were very few large pieces and most of the chimney fell, the last of it being very easy to break apart.  I think it was a very good thing to fell this beast!

Well after this excitement lugging the roofing and bags of sawdust up the hill was rather mundane, but we soon had the job done and anxious to see how the roofing was going to go on we placed the roofing on one side of the pavilion roof and everything lined up just so on the first try.  With the pieces clamped in position we took a lunch break as did the rain.  The rain continued it's break after lunch, but Pete and I got to work screwing the panels down.  Then it was the other sides turn and soon we were working on the ridge cap with precious little juice left in our battery drill.  We managed to get enough screws in the ridge cap to hold it in place, but this will need to be finished on another day. 

Before departing we chatted with 2 hikers in from the wet drying out on the porch.  We also talked to another couple tenting on one of the platforms.  And so ended another great day at UGP.  Cabin opening will be soon, May 19th, so mark your calendars!

April 7th--Natural Heritage Monitoring Workshop

7 Trail volunteers met at ATC's Kellogg Conservation Center and after a morning of instruction by botanist Ted Elliman, headed out into the woods to train as Natural Heritage Monitors for the Appalachian Trail. 

Ted led the volunteers through some basic plant identification techniques and how to use the National Park Service reporting forms.  In the field, volunteers visited a number of rare plant communities and learned the best way to measure the occurrence of each plant--whether by counting individual stems, measuring the area covered by a group of plants, or gridding  the area and taking several population samples.

Typically, a Natural Heritage Monitor covers one or more locations in NPS Appalachian Trail lands, usually once a year.  Reports are submitted to the Park Service where the data are compiled and analyzed.

National Parks (of which the AT is one) are required to inventory and report on the status of all RTE (Rare, Threatened and Endangered) species within the park.  In keeping with the strong volunteer tradition of the Appalachian Trail, NPS welcomes citizen participation in this effort by AT volunteers.  To provide usable data, and keep the location of the populations confidential, Natural Heritage volunteers must participate in the type of training workshop that was held last week.  If you are interested in finding out more about being a Natural Heritage Monitor, contact us at at@amcberkshire.org

Sorry, no photos of this workshop are available.

Thanks for tuning in,

Cosmo

  

Dalton Kiosk Fabrication

Today (April 10th) was a great day to do some post and beam work to fabricate a new kiosk that will be located at the south end of Dalton on Depot St. Extension. A hearty crew of Pete (in whose drive way we convened for the work), Jim, Sim, Richard, Gene and Joel were soon at work cutting rafters, posts and beams. Pete schooled us in the use of a slick (basically a hand plane with only a blade and offset handle), laying out angles, curves and the mysteries of an antique boring machine for cutting the mortises.

Above, Richard puts the finishing touches on a tenon. Below, Pete shows the intracies of the use of the boring machine. This was quite a contraption and required some practice to get the hole bored precisely where it was wanted. Also used some arm work to drive the bit into the wood.

A good time was had by all and the promised afternoon showers never arrived. Thanks to all who participated and especially to Pete for getting the materials, the use of his driveway and of some pretty neat tools!