Cabin Fever Cure – Feb. 13, 2014
Some of the northern states’ misplaced weather has finally passed, and our currently moderate weather is allowing all the Traildogs down with cabin fever to hit the Trail again.
Nine Traildogs gathered at the Spillway Recreation Area trail crossing to begin our tenth year of constructing the LOViT trail. It was 25 degrees and sunny as we broke into two teams, one three man team of sawyers to clear the Forest Service Road of storm damage, and a six man team to join the Progressive Trail Design (PTD) dig team on the west end to begin the finish work on this new section. The sawyers team cleared approximately 3/4 of mile of the FS Road, and the finish trail team completed 700 feet of finish work. The PTD machine team is about a 1/3 of mile ahead of the finish team.
We welcome two new Traildog volunteers today – John Nichols and Jay Marsh – along with the return of Doug Pence and Loren Impson.
Jeff Smith, our loyal correspondent from the Hot Springs Sentinel Record, was there to record our first day crew, just as he has done every first day since we started the trail. The recent snow and ice storms had left the old FS road littered with downed trees and limbs which the sawyer team cleared with a hard days work. This old FS road will serve as a short section of the trail being constructed this year.
The construction from the west end of the new LOViT Section 8 began in earnest on Tuesday, Feb. 11, when the three-man PTD machine team broke ground on the side of Brady Mountain Road near the newly constructed Trailhead parking. Since this new parking area is still incomplete, the Traildog volunteers and PTD team members had to find parking a various places along the edge of Brady Mt. Road.
The day warmed quickly and by quitting time was a welcoming 58 degrees. Early spring birds were busy in the area, with a flock of migrating robins and the always welcome eastern bluebirds flitting about our work site. Great day to be out on the trail.
Tomorrow we will divert from the construction to attempt to clear storm damage from the Bear Mountain section in support of the upcoming 100K race on the 22nd of this month (see http://runlovit.com).
All the certified sawyers will meet at the Crystal Springs Rd trailhead parking area at 9:00 am.
Our next planned days of construction will be Tuesday 2/18 and Wednesday 2/19. We will meet both days at the Brady Mountain Road Trailhead parking area, four miles north of US 270, at 9:00 am.
Thanks,
Jerry