Blakely Mountain Dam Vista – April 1, 2014
Spring and pollen are back as we began our descent of Blakely Mountain from the switchbacks leading down from the Blakely Mountain Dam vista site.
Without the Trail, very few people have ever seen the view from this vista that overlooks the Dam and the bay leading up to the face of the dam. It is an area of large boulders that nature has taken time to paint with grey lichens and emerald moss.
A group of eager Ouachita Mountain Hikers came through our work site this morning, checking out the new trail from the security gate on Rick’s Road over to the Brady Mountain Road Trailhead. We could also see fresh mountain bike tread marks in the freshly turned soil on the trail. Seems everyone is ready to enjoy this new section!
We had another crew of experienced trail groomers today, and we pushed the finished tread about halfway down the south face of Blakely Mountain through a steep, rocky grade requiring a lot of work to remove the loose rock from the steep angle of repose. At times, as you look down the trail at the Traildogs working an area like this one, we look like elves bending over looking for nuggets as we spend hours throwing rocks off the down slope to keep them off the new tread. Tomorrow will be another workday as we continue working the downslope of Blakely Mountain, which, due to yesterday’s short but heavy rainstorm, is a bit on the sticky side, but workable.
We will meet tomorrow, April 2, at 9:00 am at the intersection of Rick’s Road and Blakely Mountain Road, where you will see a security gate and a parking area just to the right of the gate.
Thank,
Jerry