Bear Mountain Construction – Jan. 19, 2012 – Grand View
Moderating weather and bright sunshine created a great environment for the Traildog volunteers today. We had eight volunteers today as we departed the dock for the mile long ride across the Crystal Bay. The mild wind created a slight ripple on the water that the bright morning sun turned into a pool of sparkling gems as we quietly motored into Little Bear Creek.
Two of our party hiked to the start of the new section, one, Dan, to GPS the 1.7 miles of completed trail, and the other, Robert, to apply the white blazes used to identify the trail’s route to new users. The balance of our pack hiked the 1.1 miles up the south slope to tool cache on the southern slope of Big Bear Mountain.
[Click on this link – MotionX GPS Track – to view the track so far from the beginning of Segment 7 to where construction started Jan. 19.]
The USFS team made great progress yesterday, completing 6/10’s of a mile of new tread. They were able to take advantage of a long forgotten old road that reduced the amount of excavating required to develop new tread. The views from our work site are a panorama of a wide section of Lake Ouachita dotted with many favorite islands, including the now famous Bird Island, where thousands of birds roost every day. In the distance we can see the shining tin roof of the old Buckville Church nestled just off the north shoreline across the lake.
We are stunned to find good rich soil on this northern slope of the mountain, as our expectation when starting this section was we would be fighting boulders, rock ridges, and fields of loose stones. Instead we are working in some of the easiest soil we have encountered since we began the trail some seven years ago.
We will be back on the trail tomorrow but at a slightly earlier hour 8:30 am instead of 9:00 am. We will again rally at the Crystal Springs Café parking area and will depart the dock sharply at 8:30 am. The lunch views are unequaled so pack a lunch and join on the trail tomorrow promises to be great day weather wise.
Thanks,
Jerry