March 15th 2014 Workday

Wow, you guys got a lot done. Where's the black top? :D

Got a lot done on Dutch John. All of the tail ditches are cleaned out. We blocked off the bypasses we saw as well. We went in from the Wolf Den side and worked our way down the trail up to the big hill climb. The pictures are kind of in that order. Please forgive the crappy cell phone pics.

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We probably spent most of our time re-working the rock stream crossings. The idea was to create a narrow channel for the water to go through instead of creating a wide section of rocks. It seems as though the rocks were creating a dam, resulting in a ponding effect that created more problems than doing good.
So far, I like the net effect of this plan. The 'trout ponds' on the upstream side of our rock crossings were reduced significantly. No before shots, but here are some after shots of our progress.
The last few pics are of the biggest water crossing. It was amazing how much rock we moved into it on the previous work days. Just had to get the water level down far enough to see it. It was incredible to see how much water drained out once we revised the crossing.
Oh, and we picked up all the trash and moved any downed timber. The trail is ready for opening day. Did anyone get to dropping hay bales along Dutch John today? We didn't see anyone.

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Very nice there. See what we did on our creek crossing up in my pics ? Reused some of the wood we had left there.
 
I saw that. Might be an option. So far, the other 2 wood crossings are holding up pretty well and doing a good job. I'd love to see culverts to put these areas to bed for good. These rocky crossings are going to require a lot of maintenance.

Oh, and @snappy - Sharon isn't happy with me at all right now. Beans, beans :D
 
Great turnout and great weather today! Thanks to everyone who came out to help and BIG thanks to @snappy for the great food!
 
We had a very good workday today. I have to give a big thank you to George. He was our MVP on Daniel trail today. We would not have got done what we did without him running the equipment CTB rented with the help of Snappy. Also policed call the entire Daniel trail, very clean. Big thanks to all who came out and worked there nuts off today. Today was very successful, great food, great people and good times. The workdays have really turned into to something great. Here are some pics, I didn't get the after on the first ledge or the before for the second ledge but lets just say they are a lot SAFER.
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Hopefully somebody will post some more pics of the front side.
 
I got after pics of the first ledge and before pics on the second. I'll post them tomorrow.
 
This was only my second work day so I don't have much history to compare to, but I'll agree 100% with "Redneck" on his comment about the days being "something great" - hats off to all of the folks who coordinate the efforts (including the chefs!) and thanks to everyone for being so welcoming to us newbies! Here's a picture of the initial gathering at Hunt Camp, it was a great turn out!

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My small crew paired up with the guys from the Triad Jeep Club and a member of the Carolina Trail Blazers to do trash pickup - my only regret was not taking some pictures of the actual amount of trash we ended up with, between the group of eight I have to guess it was in the neighborhood of a dozen 50 gallon bags along with broken camp chairs, gas grill parts and various exhaust pieces. We had a good system of leap frogging along Rocky Mtn. Loop, Slab Pile and Falls Dam in small groups, then back up the Dutch John service road... all of which look much better now! I personally spent most of the time on the back of Nicole's bumper scouting for stray bottles and cans (which *did* lend itself to a couple amusing incidents!):

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We crossed paths with some other work teams along the way... a hay bail crew at Poser Rock:

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And a drainage crew at the junction of Wolf Den and Slab Pile:

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Here's a glamour shot of the Triad Jeep Club:

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And last but not least, chef Snappy and team... great grub is always a nice way to end the day!

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Thanks again to everyone, looking forward to next month already!

Shaggy
 
Here are a few photos of the Daniel progress:

Here's George just about finished on the first ledge.
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Bucket brigade to transport rocks from the side of the hill back up to the trail. Thanks to Sherwin Williams for the buckets.
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Bottom ledge all cleaned up.
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Requisite bucket photo:
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Had to winch the excavator up past the first ledge:
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Here's the second ledge from the top side. There has been a mudslide on the right side of the picture.

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Second ledge from the bottom before George got started.
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Picture of JC taking a picture. George was about halfway done on the 2nd ledge when this was taken.
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I appreciate you guys out there working to keep our trails open, but this makes me sad! No matter though, a couple months and hopefully it will erode to its former beauty! :D

The second ledge was sketchy though, I am glad to see that filled in
 
T4R said:
I appreciate you guys out there working to keep our trails open, but this makes me sad! No matter though, a couple months and hopefully it will erode to its former beauty! :D

The second ledge was sketchy though, I am glad to see that filled in
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There is plenty of rock on the main hill climb above to have a good time.
 
T4R said:
I appreciate you guys out there working to keep our trails open, but this makes me sad! No matter though, a couple months and hopefully it will erode to its former beauty! :D

The second ledge was sketchy though, I am glad to see that filled in
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That's the mentality that gets public areas closed. We have to try and minimize erosion and our impact as much as possible.
 
I am very proud of the whole effort this year. Snappy, you have been crucial in illustrating the workdays this year as a voice of multiple clubs with the forest service and an exellent comunicator to all the volunteers, and we are all a little fatter enjoying your awesome food, I thank you my friend!

Big thanks to NC4x4 for sponsoring out at the workdays this year, you guys are some of the best Deb and I have had the pleasure to wheel with.

George, I hear you can make dirt out of thin air, Thank You!

I am very greatfull to BF Goodrich for the outstanding trail award and that we , the Carollina Trail Blazers, have been able to implement the moneys into much needed repairs and equipment rental. Thanks to Chris Keziah for stepping up to lead the club on Daniel when I wasnt able to be there yesterday, proud of ya bud!

To each and every volunteer, I thank you, I ride a lot of different places from NC to the west coast, but Uhwharrie will allways be a second home to me as it is too many people. We definatly have ongoing work to do, It is truly amazing how much we have gotten done so far this year, I think this shows what can be done when all differnt clubs and offroaders of all kinds come together for a common goal, to sustain and protect what we have.
 
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06redwagon said:
That's the mentality that gets public areas closed. We have to try and minimize erosion and our impact as much as possible.
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OK? All you have done back filled some loose sediment, water is still going to run down it and all that soil that you put in place will go back into the streams. Or you could have left the exposed rock in place that doesn't erode. Also paving the trail as such will increase traffic, thus increasing erosion. Take your pick.

You can live in a false reality in assuming that this will prevent erosion, but that is not the case, as we have seen year in and year out the back filled material is gone in months. That is tons of dirt quickly washed away.

I am all for trail maintenance, and that second ledge needed work, which means the first ledge needs filled in for equipment; I get it. But don't fool yourself.
 
T4R said:
OK? All you have done back filled some loose sediment, water is still going to run down it and all that soil that you put in place will go back into the streams. Or you could have left the exposed rock in place that doesn't erode. Also paving the trail as such will increase traffic, thus increasing erosion. Take your pick.

You can live in a false reality in assuming that this will prevent erosion, but that is not the case, as we have seen year in and year out the back filled material is gone in months. That is tons of dirt quickly washed away.

I am all for trail maintenance, and that second ledge needed work, which means the first ledge needs filled in for equipment; I get it. But don't fool yourself.
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There are a series of new water bars that will keep most of the water from running down the trail and eroding the ledges.

That's also not rock. It's rocky. But it's not solid rock.
 
Thank you for saying that. I wish more people would come out to these workdays to understand why we are going what we are doing. Thanks to all that take time out of your busy schedule to come out and help keep our trails open for the next generation. And Chris. Cruiser says thanks for the bones. And that food was awesome as usual.

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I'm trying to do an inventory of trails, trailheads and service roads that crews picked up trash on this past Saturday. Below is what I've come up with so far, if anyone has any input - i.e: additional spots that were scoured, spots that could use a dedicated sweep, etc. - I'd appreciate hearing from you (post back or message me). Thanks!

Trails:
Dickey Bell
Dutch John
Falls Dam
Rocky Mt. Loop (from Dutch John Road to Slab Pile)
Slab Pile
Wolfden (from Slab Pile to Falls Dam)
Trailheads:
Wolfden
Dutch John
Falls Dam (including Art Lilley Campground)
Flatwoods
Service Roads:
Dutch John (from Dutch John TH to Flatwoods TH)
 
Daniel was cleaned top to bottom and the trailhead parking lot looked pretty clean as well.
 
snappy said:
Double parking lot needs sone love. Look around the outside of the rails about a throws length out.
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We cleaned the double parking lot before we left on Saturday. Picked up three bags full. But we didn't go into the woods more than 10ft or so beyond the guardrail. There might be a few bottles out past there.
 
Wolf Den was walked completely by one of our guys so it should be good.
 
Yes the entire Daniel trail was covered by part of the group that was with me after lunch. The trail was very clean didn't get but maybe a bag full of trash.
 
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