Hole dug, form made.

Today the dig was completed and the basic footer form installed.  The addition of rebar and the building of the mix platform is next along with moving of the premix bags (cement) onto the platform.
Do note, we plan to have a "footer mixer party" planned for Friday morning.  

This crew takes precision work very, very seriously :-).

 

Now rebar needs to be added.

Ya, looking good guys.

Abutment hole II

Today a crew was back to the middle bridge with a tractor rented from Abe Supply to help move dirt.   With the help of this tool, we were able to move the excavated dirt back from the site and with just three guys, dug a hole to near completion in just 5 hours.   That's just dig, not equipment shuffle time.

To start, we loaded some sand into the trailer
to see how much we can move down to the site.
Was nice to have Ken R. back helping us again :-).

With that done, we jumped into dirt work.

Here we push dirt that was previously excavated.

Who says Mark's dainty digger can't move rocks!!

We found and moved lots of nonesuch shale today.

After three scoops, it's loaded.

Ken backs up to dump another away from the site.

Gromit inspects our work.

 

The compact tractor was a real back saver.

   

Done!

The hole needs to be squared and leveled,
but the gravel and shale mix we found will be an
excellent base to pour a footer on.

Bridgefest Parade

Bridgefest started on Friday and KNSC participated in the parade.
More photos can be seen on the trail mutts blog.

We lined up in Hancock.

Kathy approves!

 

Finally, it was time to hit the road.

Even trail mutts made an appearance.

 

The kids handed out candy.

Ski Tigers honed their technical skills on the bridge grating.

Hey! Where's your candy buckets?

Both the marchers and the crowd enjoyed the beautiful evening.

Downtown Hancock and Houghton (seen here) were packed.

We love a parade! Do join us in January for the Heikenpaiva Parade.

Special thanks to the Ski Tiger's and parents who rolled along with us.   

Many people commented on them.

One buried and another dug.

One really was buried but the city side abutment hole was excavated just enough as a test.   We wanted to see what was down there.

Mark's "digger" is returning the dirt.

  

The digger moves over the new footer towards the old bridge.

These two photos will give you an idea why we love to work down here.

We're also keeping this trail open.

 

We were told that someone was watching over this project.

A trail Gnome?

Done!

The view from the tool trailer.

This is our test hole on the city side of the bridge.  
Nonesuch shale was found and that's what we need to anchor a footer to.

Abutment kicked out!

Today we got the forms off the abutment and rain started in as soon as that was done, thus ending our work day.

We were quite happy with how it looked.

Back filling to begin on Thursday morning..

Abutment #1 done!

With a super efficient crew we had helping today, they mixed 75 bags of premix which weighted 80 lbs each in just 1 hour 35 minutes.
No kidding, they did it that fast.

It's tumbling in, in record time.

Andre adds water.  He's helped at each mix-n-pour work B.

Mike knows just how to add another bag.  Jeff and Mike mastered this mixer.

 

Danielle was the mistress of the fiber additive.

Adam throws another bag in.

  

Don tips over this one.

  

What a tumbling mix looks like.

 

Mark was interviewed by Aleah from TV6.
Here's the story.

Just about done! So Mark the pour boss, smooths it off.

Sawyer and Candi, the two best cooks found anywhere.
Certainly in the gorge :-)

Everyone was hungry!

A good meal was had by all.

 

Rich and a few other hearty volunteers stayed on.
Rich has also helped at each pour.

They stayed on to move premix bags and break work platforms down.

Done!   We've now recorded over
250 hours on this project so far.