Today I led another trail work day for the Friends of Webster Trails. This time it was at Whiting Road Nature Preserve. In the spring, the Blue trail typically has water problems because it is very flat with no elevation changes to the sides. So for this trail the solution is typically to add material to make it higher that its surroundings. There are similar conditions across the street on the connecting trail into Webster Park.
So most of our 20 volunteers worked on shoveling, wheelbarrowing, and raking stone to fill puddles and muddy spots. We had a few nearby stone piles from similar efforts in the past, and the town also provided a new pile for today's work. I'm not sure the stone is the best material, but it's what the town and FWT has been using. I might try to see if we can get plain old dirt in the future. I'll have to read up on the pros and cons.
The recent rain made it easy to seem the problem areas. The crew worked hard and within a few hours the stone was gone and you could now walk the trail without worrying about water or mud. It's always cool to walk a section of trail at the end of the work day to see how dramatically it changed.
As we were working, a hiker with white sneakers walked through. If she had been there a few hours earlier I don't think she'd have made it a minute into the trail before turning back. I bet there will be hundreds of trail users who'll walk over our fixes without even knowing how muddy they would have gotten.
I also worked on grading a section of trail that tends to hold water. I'm hoping I fixed this spot once and for all. A few others worked on cutting back encroaching vegetation from the trail and improving sight-lines.
We did good work today.
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