Section 8 Construction Status – Mar. 3, 2014
Saturday, March 1, we had eleven volunteers, including six enthusiastic volunteers from Little Rock Air Force Base in Jacksonville. Our work is along the northern slope of Brady Mountain, where we are enjoying nice views of the lake in and around the Echo Canyon Resort.
We worked through an extremely rocky section just below the large rock formations at the summit of Brady Mountain. In places, there was little or no soil to create a smooth tread. However, with a great deal of hand grooming, we were able to develop a reasonably smooth surface through this very beautiful but rocky stretch. A special thanks to the Airmen for their long trip down to assist us through a difficult section of the new trail.
We completed 4/10 of a mile of finish work on the trail, right up to the machine crew’s trailing excavator. The Sutter Trail Machine, which is the lead machine, is 4/10’s of mile ahead of the two mini-excavators and east of the tornado blowdown area. A bucket on one of the excavators had to be removed Friday for repair, and the crew advised us they would return to the trail on Tuesday, March 4. Since the crew works out of the Fayetteville area, it seems unlikely they will be able to return on Tuesday due to the winter storm that blanketed much of northern Arkansas.
We are not planning any volunteer work this week to allow the machine crew an opportunity to complete their work and progress ahead of our volunteer crew. Our next planned workday is tentatively set for Monday, March 10, starting at 9:00 am. We will meet at the same parking area where Forest Service WO04 intersects Brady Mt. Rd five miles north of the turnoff on US 270.
Thanks,
Jerry