Dam hill improvements made.

Today, a volunteer from the Heavy Coalition organization came out with his brand spanking new YTM compact tractor and implements to help us begin the recovery from the Father's Day flood.   The Dam hill was greatly eroded from the water traveling down it.   Bill filled the deep ruts, then graded it to reduce the water coming down it again.  It's not completely done but still much, much improved.

This is just a start at reopening a portion of the gorge trails.  Would you like to help??  Please donate to the tractor fund.  We need one!

Bill trailered the equipment from Grand Rapids just to help out after the flood.

Unloading the box blade.

Where are we going?

Note the ravine down the trail.

Getting the surface smoothed up again.

Material washed to the bottom was scooped up to fill the ruts.

Getting there!

More ruts seen along the way

Filled in!

Here the lip from the edge is being pulled into the low spot, making the trail level again.

The previously bowl shaped tread is now level and slightly out sloped,
to shed water over the edge.

Last was water bars made that should have been added years ago.
They will direct water over the edge, and off of the tread.

Bill digging yet another. 

Now the water will be diverted over the side, before it can cause more ruts.

Lots was accomplished today, but there's still much, much more work to do.

Thanks so much, Bill, for your generous donation!
He also wants to come back in August or September and do more.

Pedestrian bridge back in.

This morning, a crew of 3 retrieved a lost ramp from the dam meadow and got it installed.

All in all, the pedestrian bridge is pretty good, for being put back as a temporary solution.

Here is the ramp, being towed up Dam hill after dragging it by hand, out of the meadow.

 

We are now in Tomasi RD ditch.  Almost there!

Made it.

Here Sandy is adding rock and gravel, to help hold it in and moderate the grade up it.
Cribbing had tons or rock added to them as well.

Done!  Both ramps had much gravel added to them.
Jim M really was here helping this morning but we didn't get a shot of him.

Well, it's not REALLY done, as it still needs to be 2ft higher and mounted on posts.
Some mutts tested it out...it passed their inspection.

BIG thanks goes to Jim M and Sandy A for all their help.  Oh and the trail mutts too!

This is the old dam that was blown out.
We'll clear this area so we can keep the trail open from
Dam Hill to Sidewinder.
We could use help next week to start clearing the debris and save lumber.
Just contact us at arlyn.aronson@gmail.com 370-2911

Pedestrian bridge rehab

Today the pedestrian bridge near Tomasi pit road in the gorge was winched back to its original position.  On Saturday we hope to compete its installation.

Do note, this bridge was not replaced, but just set into a usable position. This is a temporary fix, to allow pedestrians to access the gorge via the Pine Loop (trail 2) and cross the creek safely, while staying off of the gravel pit haul road. In the future, this bridge will need to be placed on posts high enough to keep it safely above high water.

Winching the bridge out of the creek

Once the bridge cribbing was removed, winching it over was a snap.

Winching the cribbing back to where it belongs.

One ramp was nearby. The other is down in the meadow.

Rehabilitating the cribbing.

Once the bridge was lifted, we could get it back onto the cribbing.

The land owner came by looking for his long lost water pump that went missing during
 the flood.  And Jim found it!

Some trail mutts came by to check the progress.

Paul spent the rest of the afternoon lending a hand.

Placing the cribbing.

Squirrel hunting was great!

Lifting the bridge back on top of the cribbing.
Nice to have Paul helping with trails today.

Done! And trail mutt tested, and approved.

The ramp for this side needs to be recovered from the dam meadow.

That first step is a doozy!

We'll finish this project on Saturday morning. Stop by if you can help!

City side trail conditions

Today, a few of us walked the city side trails in search of storm damage and see what can be done in the short term..

This is the pedestrian bridge in Swedetown creek gorge.
He need to get this back in place so people don't have to use
Tomasi pit road to access the gorge again.

Not that hard of a job to do and the bridge looks to be in fine shape.

This was dirt before the flood.  Now its a rock garden.
We hope to put it back, near where it was before but on 6x6
posts and higher than it was.

This is the Pine loop decent that goes to the Ped bridge.
We need to get this gated because the atv people are now using it and
that will cause it to erode away.

Some erosion was found on the Pine loop.

This is behind the Old Apostolic church on trail 2.  This culvert is plugged.

Still behind the Old Apostolic church on trail 2 in Hodges ditch.
Corduroy remains and gravel was washed in here.

On trail 2 heading back to Tomasi RD.  No major washouts were found.

 To discuss the work that needs to be done and get some trails back, a meeting is planned tonight at 7:00, at Hancock's Porvoo Park pavilion, on the waterfront.   Dogs, kids, everyone is welcome! 
Feel free to bring your favorite colored beverage. 

Churning Rapids conditions.

To help organize and discuss the work that needs to be done, a trail recovery group is meeting on Thursday evening at 7:00, at Hancock's Porvoo Park pavilion, on the waterfront.   

Here is damage seen in Churning Rapids.

At the triangle in CR. Lots and lots of water.

The bike bridge over spring creek, just narrowly survived!

Spring Creek corridor has several washouts which has made the trail too narrow
for the grooming equipment to pass.
An excavator or tractor with a backhoe would easily fix this.

 

More washouts on the Spring creek corridor.

This bridge was raised up and staked down a few summers ago.
It didn't budge! Just need to replace the gravel ramps to make it functional again.

Hope we see you at the pavilion on Thursday evening Porvoo Park pavilion!