MBM Trail Work Day

Saturday, September 8th we set out to repair the Middle Narrows trail which had become all but unrideable due to two collapsed bridge structures and the usual plant growth. This section of trail is on the upcoming Teaberry race (part of the Michaux Endurance Series) which is next week.

I stopped by the DCNR office Friday and they kindly agreed to give us access to Wayne's Highway so that we could drive in rather than carry tools and supplies for over a mile. We had Martin's pickup truck lined up for the work day; however, due to a miscommunication the truck went into the shop early Saturday morning. So we loaded the bridges and tools into our VW wagon and headed out to Mont Alto.

Martin, Michele, Thomas, Henry and I met up with Larry and his son Oliver at the Mont Alto State Park. We drove up Staley and then across Wayne's to the dog house. Here we discovered that while both wagons were all-wheel drive, Larry's Subaru had tons more clearance. We transferred all the materials into and onto his wagon and then continued to the grassy field/former orchard where we unloaded and prepared to hike into the work area.

The old bridge had collapsed, creating a rather effective dam, which channeled the water onto the trail tread turning it into a gooey pit of mud.

After removing the collapsed bridge it wasn't particularly pretty - unless you are a frog. This water exists despite very little recent rainfall.So we set to work: lopping, digging, rock-picking, cutting, shoveling, raking, and finally setting the bridge into place.We then spent some time leveling it, stabilizing it, and surrounding it with stone.

We lined the trail tread with flat stones then built it back up with dirt and pea gravel.

It looks great and I can't wait to ride it. On the way out we lopped the trail open, removed downfall, loose rocks, etc. from the trail.

Oh yeah, and we fixed that other broken bridge area too.

The one that the horses smashed up and everyone has just been riding the bank. Well it was taking a pretty good hammering and wasn't going to withstand much more abuse without turning into another mud pit. So Martin and I rebuilt the old collapsed bridge from the previous site, grabbed some large stone and went after it.

It turned out really well. After about six hours of trail work we were all bushed. So it was back to the cars, down the mountain, to Cokes and pizza at Frank's in Mont Alto.

See you next time.