Sunday, September 25, 2011

9-25-2011 RJ

Date of work: 9-25-2011
number of workers : 2 Jim de Friess, and Ken Crump
time spent : 22 hours includes commutes
Work done:  We clipped from Mossy falls (where we got to last Tuesday) all the way past Tee shirt point and into the back of the next canyon.  We clipped thoroughly that section.  4 hours or so of clipping.  At about 2pm, we continued heading north, clipping less and moving faster.  We through hiked RJ all the way to old Conley.  We took our time on the one brief section in Blue Jay where the growth was so thick at the top of the loose rocks.

The southern 1.5 miles is in good shape, the northern 1.5 miles is in good shape.  Its a little thin in the middle but its followable.

All our work was clipping, we do know where some trees are across the trail though.  There is a big one between Zen creek and split rock.  We were beat though, and decided to save it for another day.  The truck at the north end looked good.  It was a great day Ken

My pictures are at

https://picasaweb.google.com/110028009052849072738/September252011

Tuesday, September 20, 2011

south RJ 9-20-2011

Date of work:  9-20-2011
number of workers: 4  Ken C, William F, Karen B, and Jim d
Time spent: 11 hours travel, 26 hours on the trail - total
Work done:  We clipped growth and chopped a few trees from the ridge where RJ turns north from the south entrance all the way to mossy falls.

We met at Pinch In, William did some side exploring, and surveyed upper Pinch In.  There are some trees across it.  Then he joined the other three of us on RJ, and we worked through the back of Mossy Canyon and around to Mossy Falls.  Ken and William went further and I know they made it to tee- shirt point, we saw Williams shirt.  Very appropriate name.  One of them will have to comment on the amount of clipping they did beyond the falls.  The falls by the way was running, very slowly, but enough we filled water bottles.

The work was mostly clipping back the summer growth, there was one maple on the south side of Mossy that would be real awkward to cross so we took the time to remove it.  There was also some new dead fall across the part of the trail down the first hill from the road we cleared on the way in.

There is a good crop of Poison Ivy just on the north side of the back of the canyon at the trail for those with that allergy.  I clipped it back as best I could, so its out of the trail for now.

Couldn't ask for a better group of workers.  They made sure of their footing first, then clipped accordingly.  It was a great day in the woods, the leaves were mostly green, but definitely already some color

Thanks.

Monday, September 5, 2011

link to Sept 5 pics

The original one isn't working

https://picasaweb.google.com/110028009052849072738/September52011RJ

9-5-2011 Southern RJ

Date of work: 9-5-2011
Time spent: 8 hours includes commute
number of workers: 1 - Jim de Friess
Work accomplished:- in a nutshell clipping along the trail, some waterbars cleaned others made, removed or worked around major obstacles.

Well after much hem hawing I decided to go out and do some trail work, sorry Billy- didn't tell him.  I watched the rain and decided it would be light until sometime in the afternoon.  So I proceeded out to the south end of RJ and picked up where Ken and Michael left off last week.  It was misty with limited visibility all the way up Kistler and lightly raining when I parked, so I decided to clip my way down the hill to the cliffs, and actually got down the ridge to where it turns off the ridge.  I clipped slowly and thoroughly, and stopped a couple times to pull out the pulaski to chop trees that were in the way.  The first of the trees was the pine that has been hanging a while, and most people are going under, I helped it to go ahead and fall, and trimmed the end up so people could easily get around. 

A while later a tree was more than knee high across the trail so the pulaski had to come out again for it. Also on the way down I used trunks at angles across the trail to start waterbars.  I would finish them on the way out.  A log someone steps over is a great way to protect a waterbar.

Nearing the bottom there was two trees blocking the trail, a Pine and a hardwood.  I chopped the pine to separate it from its stump, which made it lower.  The hardwood can be stepped over.  At this point there was no "clearing the trail" but a route around the blockage was easy enough and in the trail corridor. 

The rain was off and on, and the camera was tucked inside a plastic bag in my pack.  After a couple hours it was probably the only dry thing I had.  I even removed my glasses very early on since they fogged up and I could see better without them. I did get some pictures near the bottom when the rain stopped and the fog cleared briefly.  The fog rolled in and out at that point and the rain was anywhere from none to heavy.  I didn't care, an open ended day of trail fun is a rarity for me, all I had to do was get out by dark.

In one part of the trail it looked like a dead pine was hanging over the trail being propped up by a dead rhodo.  It appeared that when it fell it would fall along the trail.  So I cut the rhodo, and the pine didn't fall, it was still hanging on - but now it was even more likely it would fall, so I cut the pine down.  It proceeded to arch across the trail.  At that point I cut the top of it off, and then I really had a blockage arched very low across the trail.  Well the third cut on the pine got it on the ground finally- whew.

Further down there was a hole in the ground on the uphill side of the trail.  I looked in and didn't see anything while it was raining.  On the way out I looked again, and saw the gold and black yellowjackets looking back.  I actually think they were relieved to see me rather than the bear that dug the hole.

Well I cut through the locust down the ridge to finish, but it wasn't that bad.   I think the trail is discernible, beyond where I stopped, but it needs some clipping too. On the way back out I cleaned out waterbars, and moved some dirt to help finish making the ones I started on the way down.  It was a great day in the woods, and the weather was perfect for trail fun.

Photos at:

https://picasaweb.google.com/110028009052849072738/September52011RJ#