Cleaning up Trail Entrances – FS47A to Pipe Spring – May 16, 2014
Four years of storms and neglect were remedied last Friday when six Traildogs spent the day improving Section 5 of the Trail where it parallels and crisscrosses US Forest Service Road 47 between Crystal Springs Road and Hickory Nut Mountain Road. We worked the part of this section from the FS47A trailhead at the eastern base of Hickory Nut Mountain to Pipe Spring, where the LOViT joins the Charlton Trail leading to the Crystal Springs Campground Pavilion.
We sought to improve access and signage at each entrance and exit point along the road. We started at the intersection of FS47 and FS47A, where we installed an assurance directional sign post. The post directs users to follow FS47A 1/4 of mile north to where the Trail turns left and proceeds west to the summit of Hickory Nut Mountain. We also installed a new sign at the FS47A trailhead. We cleared all the undergrowth and removed rye grass planted after the timber harvest of two years ago that had made a weed patch of the trail.
We then began the laborious process of opening each of the entrances to the trail segments along FS47. We also installed a new direction sign post at each entrance. We then hiked and cleared these sections of trail, and they are now ready for use again.
For those of us who built these sections crisscrossing FS47, we remember it as our hardest year of construction. It was a bitter cold winter, and when it wasn’t just cold, it was cold and wet. So, we would like to see more regular use of these three nice sections and keep our riders and hikers off the road as much as possible.
The photos show the new trail directional signs we are installing along the entire length of the trail to improve assurances to all users that they are on the right track.
Our next spring maintenance day will be on Tuesday May 27th. We will be working the downed trees and trimming the trail from Crystal Springs up and over both the 2.0 mile Charlton/LOVIT section and also Section 6 across Little Bear Mountain from Crystal Springs Road to the western side of Bear Mountain. We will meet at the parking area next to the old pavilion next to the Crystal Springs Campground. Some of the work will require chainsaws, but most of the work will be with loppers.
Pack a trail lunch and join us.
Jerry
[Note: some of the online maps from such services as Google and Apple show FS47 to be labeled “Hickory Nut Mountain Road” and FS47A to be labeled “Pollard Creek Trail”. The road from US 270 up to the Vista on top of Hickory Nut Mountain is also called “Hickory Nut Mountain Road”, and it is also known as “FS50”. This can be confusing at best!]