Shane Scott, Matt Williams, Ron Mayfield, and Robert Cavanaugh put up a new directional trail sign at the second boulder crossing east of Crystal Springs Road this morning. We came back toward Shangri-La Road and removed the three fallen trees from the LOVIT between Sunset Vista and Homestead. Lots of carrying tools, concrete, chainsaws etc. We enjoyed a nice morning on the trail with good friends. We finished up with pie at Shangri-La. (Article stolen from Robert’s Facebook page!)
Traildogs Ron Mayfield and Robert Cavanaugh put up 13 trail signs where the trail comes down Hickory Nut Mountain and along the intersections of the LOVIT and FS 47. Six of the signs were placed on Hickory Nut Mountain. Four of these were on two posts where the trail comes down to Hickory Nut Mountain Road (FS Road 50) from the trailhead, and two were placed on a post near the kiosk/trailhead. Another was placed at the intersection of FS 47A and FS 47. Four went on bare posts previously placed along FS 47, and one replaced an arrow that was missing. We put one more near the old pavilion near Crystal Springs. This should help hikers and bikers stay on the trail. Robert and Ron also cut 10 or 11 trees off of the short section between the Gap Creek Bridge and Hwy 270. This area had not been …Click to read the full article
Today, a number of Traildogs installed a new bench along the Trail’s 5th section between USFS Road 47A and Pipe Spring. The bench, sponsored by Mike Hardage to honor Wanda Hardage, sits about 30 yards off the trail and overlooks a beautiful beach along Walnut Creek a bit south of where it dumps into the cove occupied by the Crystal Springs Marina.
Apologies for the late notice, but we’ve just been informed by Forestry that there will be a controlled burn from the area along Walnut Creek near the Charleton Campground back toward the Crystal Springs area. The burn is expected to be set at around 3 pm today, March 6, 2016. If you were planning to be on the LOViT in the area from Forest Service Road 47A to Crystal Springs Road today or in the next couple of days, you will want to be aware of this activity. The Forest Service will be placing signs in the area today to make folks aware of this upcoming controlled burn.
On a very hot Tuesday in June, Traildogs Al, Robert, and Dan took to the woods to clear any downed trees on Little Bear and Bear Mountains following the month of May’s severe storms and continuous rain. What we found was a trail that was in reasonably good shape but that was quite overgrown with vegetation in areas where the canopy is thin. In all, there were only about 10 trees that needed to be cut off the trail. However, there are areas where the briars are getting a good foothold and needed to be trimmed back. We were fortunate to have with us a pair of Stihl weed eaters with scythe attachments that made short work of clearing weeds in several areas. All in all, it was another great day to be on the Trail, despite the hard work and hot weather!
Oct. 15 was a beautiful fall day for completing some work on the Trail prior to the planned October 28 at 1:00 pm Dedication Ceremony. We had six Traildog volunteers today – myself, Robert, Dan, Chuck, John, and Jeremy – all helping install the new Trailhead sign at the Joplin Trailhead parking area. We also cleared brush and weeds around the parking area and also the section of the Trail heading east where we utilize the old road. We also cleared the weeds from the Trail where it crosses Mountain Harbor Road. Finally, we checked out the ADA Trail for downed limbs and debris. It was a good day to be out on the Trail, and it was nice to have Chris Ham and Tom Ledbetter from the USFS join us at the trailhead. Yesterday, Oct. 14, Traildogs Robert and Dan covered Section 7 of the LOViT from Brady Mountain …Click to read the full article
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 …Click to read the full article
The prescribed burn took place on Monday, March 31, on very short notice. We did get a note out via Facebook, but we didn’t get notified in time to get a website update out ahead of the event. The USFS was very careful with respect to placing notices at the trailheads, and they covered the length of the Trail to make sure nobody was on Little Bear or Bear Mountains at the time of the burn. The United States Forest Service (USFS) is planning a prescribed burn on both Bear Mountain and Little Bear Mountain in early April, 2014. The burn will cover some 5500+ acres from Crystal Springs to Brady Mountain. The Forest Service will post signs warning potential hikers of the event, and it is most important that you do not enter this area prior to the prescribed burn event. The prescribed burn will take place on a …Click to read the full article
Today we marshaled a six-man sawyers team to attempt to clear the snow and ice damage to the ten miles of trail from Crystal Springs Road to Brady Mountain. Road. We departed Crystal Springs at 9:00 am and emerged nine hours later at Brady Mountain Road. The snow and ice had caused significant damage to this section. We removed 35-40 trees that had fallen across the trail, taken down by a combination of the ice, snow and wind. We had to tackle five large trees that had collapsed with their root balls completely obliterating the trail tread, leaving gapping holes where trail once had been found. We spent hours hauling rocks and dirt to fill these holes to create a passable tread again. We also spent a great deal of time removing innumerable branches and bushes brought down on the trail by snow and ice. We trimmed all the overhanging …Click to read the full article
Trail Cleanup Traildogs are a hardy bunch, even when it is cold. Today, five of the Traildogs cleared 25 downed trees between Crystal Springs Road and Brady Mountain Road. The recent snow and ice storms had taken their toll, and they always either fall across the trail or on the trail. Most of the downed tress were on the north face of Big Bear Mountain. It was a balmy 25 degrees as we set on this ten mile stretch of mountainous trail. Patches of ice and a little snow were still evident on Little Bear Mountain, but big Bear Mountain was another story. As we reached the summit on the north side of the mountain, the trees and shrubs were completely covered in sparkling diamonds. The bright sunlight shining through a forest of ice was a sight to savor. The Trail itself was coated in leaves snow and ice but …Click to read the full article