Today's Millrace Singletrack Trail Maintenance

[Michael Dickens]

I spent a couple hours working on the Millrace singletrack, starting at the entry right by the Rieth Interpretive Center. I managed to clear out the initial section down to the swamp area, even moved a few rocks out of the path & cut off a big limb that had fallen awkwardly across the path at chest level (ouch!). I left the next upper section that loops back (by the Red Bridge), since it's not majorly overgrown -- it will need work sooner or later. Then I started again at the top of the hill going back towards the 2nd lower area -- the path that parallels the actual Millrace (and path) heading towards the Waverly bridge. I had cleared the initial section about 2 weeks ago, and it needed re-clearing already. I also cleared out 3 other sections 2 weeks ago (S-P woods, South Classified Forest, North Classified Forest), and they're still doing OK -- all of those 2 week old areas really need a good golf-style weed wacker taken to them!

I then cleared out the section by the fallen sycamore tree so that those of us daring enough can bike over it (yes, I can), and another maybe 100 feet beyond. That last 100 feet was pretty hard work, since both sides were quite overgrown, and it still leaves another maybe 300 feet of hard work. I did clear off the bridge crossing just South-East of there as well as the worst of the thorns in the loopback trail on the other side of the ravine.

Then, I biked up and back excepting that ~300 feet of path mentioned before that's really overgrown. The path is passable and fun, muddy and slippery here and there, and with a few fun logs too. The Shoup-Parson's woods and swamp area are still pretty clear, excepting the fallen tree near the S-P trail which will require a chainsaw. The other trees are either built over or will be built over.

For any of y'all out biking on the singletrack, I hope you have fun and please do a little maintenance when possible -- it'll help keep the path clear of the worst briars and such, and give all of us more hours of enjoyment. Oh, and right now is the -best- time to be doing maintenance because there are no mosquitos to speak of.

So, I'll be out again probably tomorrow mid-day to see if I can clear out the remaining ~300 feet as well as the loopback on the other side of the ravine area. Those will require a lot of work, but once they're clear I think they'll be easy to re-clear during the summertime. That's my goal: Get the whole trail cleaned this week while the weather is reasonable & there are no bugs, then do smaller maintenance during the summer as necessary. Once fall hits & the bugs have gone away, do another solid week to get the trail cleared for winter.

Bike on! - MLD