Day Seven

Today was the start to my final full week of Senior Project. I had a hard time waking up this morning and felt pretty tired today after working on the trail all day yesterday. Although I was tired I was able to finish the trail up until the last rocky pitch. This is about three quarters or more of the way to Balancing Rock. Once up this section, which happens to be the hardest, the trail travels along rock slabs. There is not really any work to be done on these as there are no trees in the way or anything on the ground. In other-words this section is easy to build. I will most likely make several cairns to guide hikers in the right direction.

I did try marking some of the trees for the blazes and found that the paint I chose to use does not show. It is water based and absorbs quickly. I found it surprising that paint is the most ecologically friendly way to blaze a trail. I would have used something else, but after my research paint seemed to be the way to go. I got some different paint to try which is much thicker and should not get wicked in and absorbed by the bark.

I am planning to get a lot of sleep tonight and try to finish the trail by wednesday. Once the path is completed I can go through and trim back any branches that I might have missed and blaze the trail with the new paint. I also talked to Greg and will be making signs this week in wood-shop. I plan to have one on either end of the trail and maybe three of four along the trail. I have talked to a couple of people that have hiked the trail recently. They mostly have good things to say although I have heard that one section might be a little slippery especially when wet. I am thinking of rerouting this but I am not quite sure what I am going to do yet. I am planning to hike up with a few of my friends some time at the end of the week. I will see what they think and use their feedback to make final alterations.

Sixth Day

Today was a great day for me to get work done as I do not have sports on Sunday. I needed to do some chain sawing so I asked my father to come up for safety reasons. I figured it was not smart to chain saw a couple miles up in the woods by myself. He came up for the remainder of the morning while I cut all of the big stuff. After lunch he headed down while I stayed clearing the next section of trail. Now I am probably three quarters of the way done. I am sort of pumped because I thought that the latest section might go slower than it did. Now I should be able to finish within this week. I also recalculated my hours today after coming down. In total I have spent 37 hours up there; 9 of them hiking and 28 working on the trail. I will make my minimum hour limit by a long shot at this rate.

On the way up today I saw a white tailed deer and two groups of wild turkeys. I could not get my camera out to take a picture of the deer although I would have liked to. I did however take some pictures up top of the views as well as some after shots of making the trail. I don't think the photos will really show how thick the woods are but people will still get the idea. I am planning to show some of these pictures on my lap top for the presentations. Great weather today which brought out the requisite black flies. So far the weather has cooperated nicely and I have had few rain or thunderstorm delays.

Reflection (Week 1)

This past week was pretty much a solid work week for me. For the most part I planned the new trail and then worked on a specific section of the route each day. I am really happy with how the first part of the trail turned out. There was a little bit of a surprise when I first arrived at the Bulkhead at the start of this week. I found more wind blown trees than I have ever seen up there. Luckily most of them had either dried out or rotted. This made them lighter and easier to pick up and move. I was surprised with how fast the first section of the trail work went. As the week went on I noticed that my progress was slowing due to the increasing thickness of the forest. I finally did break through to a clearing yesterday. My progress from here on should be faster as there are not as many trees in the way. This is good news as I am just under half way finished with the trail. I should have enough time to complete the trail next week.

Over the weekend and during the last week I watched some videos that Josh had lent me regarding proper trail building techniques and designs. Most of the trails discussed were on a larger scale but all of the information was applicable to small trails as well. I kept many of the techniques and suggestions in mind as I was planning the trail. This is the primary reason why I changed parts of it. The grade was too severe in certain areas. When hiked or cleared the sections of the trail with the steep pitch would have eroded. The first half of the trail is mostly under the grade limit and any sections over the limit are short. I am not sure if I will be able to adhere strictly to the pitch limitations for the last half of the trail as the terrain is tough and there is a steep ascent up to Balancing Rock. I spent almost four hours trying to find better routes on Friday. The easiest route seemed to be the preexisting marked passageway. If properly cleared, this route would have less of an impact than any of the alternatives I plotted. I brought up a GPS and plotted the marked trail and made several passes ranging up to a quarter of a mile on either side of it. All of the alternatives ended with a short cliff or were ultimately a harder route. This is the primary reason that any new route was not practical. I was surprised by how rocky the land was up there.

My plan going forward is to complete all of the trail work including blazing and marking by Friday of next week. I might be able to finish sooner but it is hard to predict my progress as I am going into a different type of forest and there are some large trees blocking the path. The last area I cleared was thick and the lower vegetation had died due to lack of sunlight. The area I am entering is thinner and almost all of the trees are still living. I am planning to work all day tomorrow, Sunday, to get a large chunk of work done and out of the way. This will allow me get a jump-start on the week. I am planning to complete the trail with blazes and signage consistent with the existing signs that indicate the "Bulkhead" or "Balancing Rock" on nearby trails. The trail is turning out to be better than I had anticipated and I believe that many people will enjoy it for years. I was a little worried going into the project as initially the plan was for two people to do the trail work. So far the progress is great, I am on schedule and less anxious about completing the project on time.

I am pleased with the ability to take the trail design and construction techniques that I have learned and apply them throughout each day. It is interesting to see the various types of woodlands within a relatively small area. I have imagined the possibility that this area was logged in the late 1800’s or early 1900’s. It must have been a very difficult area to log given the topography and the changing terrain. The time alone in the forest has also been interesting as I have had time to reflect. It seems as though the time passes fairly quickly as my mind wanders from thought to thought. It seems fitting to be completing my senior year at Proctor, alone in the woods (except for my dog) with the opportunity to think about the past four years. The work is hard, the days are long, and yet there is an incredible sense of accomplishment and satisfaction.

Day Five

I reached the bulkhead today slightly earlier than normal. To my surprise the weather was quite nice up top. Looking down from above there was clouds coming down the valleys almost resembling rivers. It was killing me as this was the first day I did not bring my camera.

I set off hiking the remainder of the new trail to see where I was headed. I needed one more section, which I completed later that day, to come out to a clearing. From this clearing I tried at least five or six different ways of going up above the exiting route or below it. To my surprise the route that was flagged was the best possible route that I could find for the last part of the trail. I spent almost two and a half hours hiking before I decided to stick primarily with the existing route. So far the parts that I have finished are easier than the existing flagged path and meet my second goal; to reduce the environmental impact. I am happy with my progress I made this past week and plan to work all day Sunday to get a head start on next week. Also planning on having my camera so that I don't miss those key moments.

Fourth Day

Today felt like a long day. This was not just because I worked longer than normal but the forest was also thicker. This section is probably the densest section that I have gone through. In about four hours I completed about 300 yards. It should be easier from this point on but spending so much time in one place made me feel like I was unproductive. I am glad however that I am at a point where I can plan the rest of the trail. There a many options from this point forward as the terrain varies so much. I am debating going higher and dropping down or sticking with the preliminary idea of dropping down and then cutting up. I should know by tomorrow what my plan will be for the completion of the trail.

I had a unexpected greeting on the way down from a bear that was quite big. My dog had been acting strange and ran down the trail growling. This was unusual for him as he is normally calm. I called him back but to my surprise he was chasing a bear back up the trail. I yelled to scare off the bear and it ran into the woods passing me only 25 feet away. It happened so fast I did not really even move. It was actually pretty cool although I am not quite sure I would want to meet the bear again. Hoping my dog will learn to chase bears in another direction! That was pretty much the excitement for my day.

Third Day

My day was slightly different than the last two. I had a cycling race at Newfound Lake and the bus left at 1:00 this afternoon. By the time I hiked up I only had about two hours to work before I needed to head down. The race went pretty well and Proctor seemed to succeed overall as boys C took first as a team for the season.

Prior to the race I spent time hiking between the bulkhead and balancing rock to see if there were alternative routes that looked more appealing than the rough existing route. I noticed a huge difference in the forest as I went along the trail and into other parts of the woods. The trees are considerably thiner and there is a lot more vegetation on the ground due to the increased sunlight. The landscape becomes rocky and the difficulty of the trail increases quite a bit as you get closer to balancing rock. My dog accompanied me again and he did not like some of the steeper trail sections; a good indicator of difficulty. Although I am not sure if these areas will be avoidable in the final trail layout, I will try to limit the pitch of the trail for hikers safety and environmental concerns.

One thing that I noticed while hiking in is that the existing trail that I use to get to the bulkhead is eroding. Although it is a great trail many of its steep pitches are long with no break. As the water goes down it picks up more speed and carries more of the soils downhill. This caught my eye and reminded me of some of the issues outlined in the DVD's that Josh lent me. The DVD's demonstrate different methods to limit the environmental impact of a woodland trail. The most direct route for constructing a trail is not best for the environment. Seeing the problems with an existing trail was helpful. I kept most of these issues in mind when building the first part of the new trail and tried to use natural land contours to help with runoff. Progress has been good so far and I look forward to finishing the trail next week.

Second Day

Today was my second day up on the mountain. Like yesterday I brought my dog with me. This is great for him as he gets lots of exercise and is free to run while I work. It is sort of nice to have him up there as there is no one to talk to. The quiet gives me time to think about Proctor and my upcoming gap year. The last few terms I have just constantly been going and have not had really any time to think. It is nice to be able to reflect.

I did not just think today but I also got quite a lot of work done. I set off going over what I had built yesterday. The trail seemed to need additional pruning and cutting so I polished up the section I had been working on yesterday. Coming to the end of the previous day’s work, I followed the old trail markings and made some adjustments to the direction of the trail that helped blend it into the contour of the land. I went up ahead and took some visual sightings to optimize the use of the natural topography and set my goals for the day. Then it was back to work with the machete, loppers and rakes; gradually working my way down the ravine to the small stream. I cleared, backtracked and cleared some more; keeping the concepts of environmentally correct trail design and construction in my thinking. I made good progress over the next several hours and located a good area for a stream crossing.

On the opposite side of the ravine the old trail markings headed uphill into an area that was filled with wind fall; some pretty heavy timber that could not be handled with the tools I had. I decided to bring a hand saw tomorrow to get through some of the fallen trees. Gradually I worked my way to the top of the ridgeline. I headed back to the bulkhead for a quick lunch and a chance to admire the view again. A few black flies had begun to appear but the cool temperatures and slight breeze were keeping them at bay. Fifteen minutes later I was again scouting out the direction of the trail and located a new section that would eliminate some of the severe trail pitch and reduce the impact to the area. The work, the focus and the opportunity to reflect on my life at Proctor all felt good. Five hours later I began to pack up and headed back to campus feeling as though I had accomplished quite a bit. It was a good day in the forest.