Sat. Hike

[McCreery, Edward P.]

Well I went for a nice walk with Foxy on Sat.  Perfect fall weather!  I parked behind R.E. II in the nice little lot [strewn with litter unfortunately] to check out the new Lane Street entrance to the rec. path.  Its coming along very nicely.   I was wondering if there are any plans to continue the crushed stone over the remaining section of meadow up to the boardwalk?   The bench along the meadow is still holding up well notwithstanding a lot of teenage graffiti written on it.  Foxy liked it.  We continued up the path and as it starts to ascend the hill, I noticed a lot of erosion coming off the hillside that has carried away the crushed stone.  If the trails committee schedules a day to try and repair that I would like to volunteer.   Probably needs a swale to divert the water off the path.   As we continued up through the woods we came across this tree that was blocking the path that looked like it had been cut down but I realized that it was probably put there intentionally to hinder the dirt bikers who appear to have created a ramp over the obstruction.  As we continued down the fire lane and across the entrance to Huntington Woods, I saw what people are talking about how the homeowner has made the entrance look like part of his lawn.  But for the trampled green grass, you would not know the trail continued across the street to what are some spectacular views as you get back into the woods overlooking the valley and the stream.  I really think we need to distinguish the trail head there with a sign or split rail fence.  We crossed the "Tate Bridges" which are holding up fine and headed home to resume painting.    Passed several people on the trail, with children, with dogs, and just hiking alone.  

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From: McCreery, Edward P.
Sent: Monday, November 09, 2009 9:21 AM
To: McCreery, Edward P.
Subject: IMG00137.jpg

[Teresa Gallagher]

Nice to see people getting out on the trails.  These are all issues the Trails Committee has been discussing, except for that fallen tree, which is recent. The gravel section of the path they are working on now will go all the way to the boardwalk.  Work is going slowly because the contractor is doing it by himself as a filler job (hence the very low price).

 

I was on the Housatonic Rail Trail in Trumbull yesterday, starting at Old Mine Park, and the trail was MOBBED.  Lots of bikes and walkers, strollers, and dogs. Even two Segways.  We went about 5 miles round trip and easily passed over 100 people on the trail.  Nice trail at that spot with some curves along the Pequonnock River, part asphalt, part stone dust.  Much nicer than the Farmington Canal Trail in my opinion.

 

By the way, I started up a Facebook page for Shelton Trails and Conservation after seeing Jones Farm acquire 5000 Facebook “fans.”  We’ll see what happens. There is a way to list events and for fans to select whether they intend on coming to the event or not. When someone becomes a fan, they will see anything you post when they get on Facebook as a news feed, such as an upcoming hike, or news about an open space property.

 

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[Bill Dyer]

Ed, sounds like you had a great walk and, like me, anything to get away from painting! Thanks for the photos; Foxy looks great.

 

Our contract with Barry Micci is to spread and compact process material all the way to the boardwalk. Hopefully they will finish this week, although I stopped by earlier and no action.

 

We are also concerned about the washout at the top of the meadow. Ideally we will have some material from our contract with Brennan not required for the current project that we can use at the top of the meadow. But first we will need to install a water bar to divert the water to the side and trench out a channel for the water to flow to avoid the trail. We will schedule that after we know about material, before the ground freezes.

[Tom Harbinson - Personal]

I was too busy this weekend to hike, though I'm grateful for warm weather in other ways.  Was prepping for a big pour occuring today at my factory.  See attached traffic jam in Derby.