Traildogs Plan Maintenance and Construction for Fall/Winter
The simmering summer days seem to be behind us as we move into early fall. We have a number of activities planned in the coming weeks which we hope many of you can help support.
Monday, October 1st. at 8:00 am we will meet at the ADA Trailhead to complete the installation of the gravel pavers in and around the six exercise stations. The tools needed will be rakes, flat shovels, and hammers to drive the large spikes. I will bring the tractor with front loader to assist in moving the gravel into place. Once the gravel pavers are in place, all that will remain to complete the installation of the exercise equipment will be to install field stone around the boarder. We will be seeking a source of these stones and will schedule a work day for installation.
Our planned fall dig to complete the seventh section on Big Bear Mountain has been pushed from early October to late October by our contractor, Progressive Trail Design. I spoke with the owner, Woody Woodruff, regarding this schedule, and his plan is to have two dig teams working in parallel, one on the LOViT, and one at Degray Lake, where they are constructing a new hiking and bike trail along the lakes shores. It is still our intention to have the balance of section seven completed by the first week of December.
We have also been in contact with the National Recreational Trail Grant administrator at the Arkansas Highway & Transportation Department regarding the status of our grant application for funds to complete the final eighth section of the trail to the Blakely Mountain Dam. Our plan was to have the Progressive Trail Design contractor lead the construction of this final section using the NRT grant funds starting in mid January2013, but it appears this will delayed due to the long timeline for grant approval being set for the spring of 2013. We are hopeful our grant will be approved and made available before the digging season ends in late spring, but at this point we have no idea when we will know for sure if we have been approved or when the funds will be available.
We plan to have some fall maintenance hikes beginning in October to remove debris and downed trees for the upcoming peak fall and winter season of hiking and biking on the LOViT. In addition, we are constructing a new trailhead information sign to be installed at the intersection of the LOViT & Charlton Trails just off USFS Rd 50 near the piped spring.
We are looking at the construction of a parking area on Crystal springs Road where the trail crosses the road. This crossing has been the scene of several near misses of cars and users who try to park in this area to hike the sixth and seventh sections of the trail.
We are also planning to construct a short high water spur about 25 feet south of the trail midway of the second section of the trail where the current trail dips down to lake level and is frequently impassable due to high lake levels. This much need spur will also require construction of a short bridge across the steep drainage at the site.
I will keep you posted on our upcoming schedules.
Jerry