in Blue Mound (Moderator: Walt Hougas)

HUGE tree down the near end of holy shist before the first gravel road crossing.  kinda near the spot where the trail turns to smooth and fast with no rocks.

Hi Wade,

Thanks for the down tree report.

I cut it yesterday in the AM. The down tree was enormous and part of the crown landed on the trail. Very difficult to get around on bicycle. It took a while to cut the crown section away.

But wait, there's more! There was a second section to the trunk still hanging over the trail. It was leaning against a standing (mostly) dead tree. I was fairly sure the second part of the down tree was going to hang up on the dead tree as it dropped, so I went through the process of setting up to drop the dead tree safely: notch it facing the direction you want it to fall, then plunge cut it completely through the trunk, then make a release cut in back.

I noticed that the impact of the huge tree had split the trunk of the dead tree. This apparently allowed the dead tree flex enough to trap my chain saw as I completed the plunge cut. I hiked back to the Gator, went back to the park garage and took one of the park's chain saws. On the way out a guy in a DNR shirt asked me when I was going to be done with the Gator, because he needed it to do something with the prairie plants in Pleasure Valley. I promised to bring it back for him ASAP.

Back at the tree, I cut my saw out, then hiked back out to the Gator, drove back to the garage, dropped it and the saw off and drove back to the end of the camping area, parked in an empty camp site, and hiked back out to the down tree again. I got my saw going again, and finished dropping the dead tree. It hung up on yet another tree and required two "widowmaker" cuts to make it fall to the ground.

I felled the second part of the trunk on the down tree, and cut it into sections small enough to flip off the trail. I got back to the garage about noon. Total time: 3 hours.

The gator was where I left it.

Walt

I've come to the end of my 2 week trail work session at Blue Mound.

The reroute for Serpentine Climb that Gary and I started last fall is complete, including an insloped switchback. I aimed for beginner difficulty level in making the new trail. The reroute ties into the old bailouts which have had no significant improvements. Please exercise the usual caution while riding at Blue Mound!

At this point the old Serpentine Climb trail is still open. It hasn't had any maintenance work such as weed cutting. It does not appear that anyone is using it, so I will close the old trail soon.

The reroute for the boundary adjustment on Holy Schist is still mostly in roughed-in condition. I built two insloped switchback turns on the reroute. They ride OK but the berms are soft. I think it will take some rain to make them compress and harden up correctly. I hope to get some additional tread improvement done on the reroute this fall

Hope to see you out on the trails!

Walt

Thank you!

Thanks for all of your work Walt!

Update on the boundary adjustment reroute:

Gary and I worked on cutting/filling tread today. We got up to the first switchback, my guess is this is approximately the half way point of the reroute.

I'm not sure we will finish everything this fall, but I'm pleased with the quality of the work so far. We've making a nice bench cut in an area with good soil (lots of rocks and roots, but good soil) and good side slope. We're using the spoil to make lots of rollers, it will shed water very well. I'll be P.O.ed if this trail isn't solid and trouble free for a long long time.

I'm itching to ride it because I think the rollers are going to be a blast to ride.

Bummed about the short riding season this year, but I'm dealing with my distress by putting in lots of hours making new trail.

I'm eager to finish the boundary adjustment so we're free to concentrate on fixing the drainage issues on the beginner section next spring. Good progress today.

Walt