ATV damage not so pretty

August, 2009. Photo of the newly constructed Charlotte Lane trail, after ATV use.

high water

Its been a tough year for our riverside trails. High water has been a constant issue and the Presumpscot and Stroudwater trails have suffered from it. sections of soggy, muddy trails demand our attention and dislocated bridges seem to mock us at every turn.

The other day we received a report that one of our Stroudwater bridges was out and “hanging by a wire”. So i set out the next morning with a come-a-long, some rope and a large iron pry bar.

When i arrived at the bridge i breathed a sigh of relief, just one eight foot section of the 32 foot bridge had shifted a few feet our of place. Shouldn’t take much to shift it back.

but then i remembered... this is “The Bridge”. Three years ago the Patriots Day storm lifted the bridge and its steel pier posts and thrashed it into a twisted, silt covered train wreck of a mess. To put it back in place we had to uncouple all the sections, reset the piers and haul it, section by section, back into place with the come-a-long. We then fashioned a new joiner that would prevent the whole thing from coming apart the same way again.

Apparently we succeeded because just one section had floated this time. I soon realized however that it wasn’t going back into place with out a lot of help. some how the opening where the offending bridge section should go was to small. I called Jaime and when he arrived we set about uncoupling the bridge again. This time so we could inch each section a few inches upstream and drop the offending section back into place.

Six hours later the bridge was back together for one last time. The next time it goes off the rails I swear we will install a new bridge of a less troublesome design.

Connections

Last week I took a trail walk with some students from Falmouth Middle School. I got an email from an 8th grade girl who had volunteered to research Portland Trails and get in touch with someone who might advise them on how to fix up an informal trail through the woods out behind the ball field. Their teacher Chuck Barnard had an idea that this type of project might intruigue this particular group of kids and their high school counterparts.

Stopping in the classroom first i was able to talk a bit about Portland Trails and what we do, but mostly i listened to them razz each other, and try to settle down, and worry about taking notes, and whether it might be raining out...and maybe we should just call the thing off...

But they led me out there and, as always I'm seeing all this great potential; connections to make throughout the campus, and out to the surrounding neighborhoods, landscaping to be done, view spots for a bench....but i let them lead, they're on a mission. As we started down the hill into the woods, the kids got that walk going, where they're excited to be out of their element, and they're following slightly different rules, and noticing things they hadn't before. Or not, but it's not the classroom!

So they showed me some erosion spots, and some real rooty sections, and then two old snowmobile bridges, both 90% beyond function. We made it over the first one; a bog bridge 8 inches off the ground, but the next was a 30 foot span 4 feet over the east branch of the Piscataqua - not suitable for this class, or really even a trails manager (maybe "off-duty" some day?...)

The bog bridge is no big deal, and probably a perfect project for this class, but the bridge over the river will take some doing. But that's where the gears start to spin; this class could follow this project all the way through high school. Get the permissions, write the letters, get the town on board, raise $$, get some lumber donations,....what a project! And the end result would be a real contribution to the community.

But for now, they had a community service project for the year, and they seemed pretty excited about it too; asking all kinds of questions and offering suggestions for types of materials that might be used to fill the ruts and harden the trail. They had obviously put some thought into this! We decided that these first three things were achievable by next spring: harden the trail down the hill and install some water bars, cut out the biggest roots and fill in around the rest to smooth the lower section, and build a 35 or 40 foot bog bridge, with all Maine materials, for under $1000. Totally do-able.

I left that day wishing them well and knowing they would get at least some of this done. But now I'm thinking about the bigger picture: how does this tie in to The System?! There's a lot of land back there; and I can sort of picture where i am, but Falmouth is really just a vast mystery to me. Without a doubt, Google Earth was in my immediate future. Later I zoom in; and this isn't some loop trail to nowhere in the backyard as so many schools do (better than nothing) but a real piece of infrastructure. This trail could connect disparate neighborhoods, municipal buildings and sports fields, commerce, history and resources. River Pointe Park sits just over that bridge, the site of native american settlements, and hundreds of years of farming since. Now the building and fields there are being used to graze goats by Sudanese American children and a local non-profit. There's a canoe put in. You can access Portland trails Presumpscot River Trail, or the #4 METRO bus. Four different neighborhoods back up onto this trail system. In the other direction is Casco Bay, granted its a ways off, but there's nothing but woods in between!

Always, there's potential. Connections can be made; people will meet, things will get built, and others will decay, but regardless, it's out there to explore. We'll do our best to keep it open.

Speaking of exploring...I'm going up to the Camp this weekend!! Five of the original Six will be there, plus 7 kids and a gaggle of other visitors. We hope to do a little trail work on PT West, in addition to some other woody projects. Have a great long weekend everyone, winter's comin' !!

Cheers,

Jaime

the machine takes a licking...

Hi all,

From Charlies tone this morning I could tell something was wrong...when he said that he must have had the day wrong for his volunteer project on the Eastern Prom - because there was noone there, I breathed a sigh of relief....oh well.... But he was just easing me in. Or else he wanted me to know that there weren't 20 people there to witness the real reason he was calling....apparently he had just watched our skid-steer trail machine do a somersault down the steep grassy hill below the trail on Eastern Prom. Luckily he stepped off the machine as it was beginning its descent, or else it might have been an entirely different type of phone call...shudder to think. I'll let Charlie fill in the details on the event, and our subsequent recovery effort, but suffice it to say I'm glad it's something I can blog about, rather than something you'd read in the newspaper tomorrow morning!

Would it surprise you to know that this is not the first time we've flipped the machine over? No, I didn't think so. And I'm sure Charlie was glad that he wasn't the first to abuse our small, but very expensive machine in this manner. That honor belongs to me. At Fort Allen park this spring I managed to get just a little too far down the hill, and then a little too tilted sideways...and watched in horror as this very heavy machine tilted over and fell towards the precipice below the trail. In my minds eye I saw it continue its momentous trajectory towards the edge of the cliff, and continue over, a silent few seconds of agony followed by a gut-wrenching crunch and (please no...) a continued roll towards the heavily populated Eastern Prom Trail - again headlines would have ensued. But no; this dense little beast just thudded to the ground, and lie there, still running, seemingly waiting for its next hydraulically enabled task.

Hooking up a cable and putting the truck in 4-wheel drive I thought; "this will never work!" But sure enough, with a little pull she stood right up like nothing ever happened! And just like todays' adventure; not a bit of damage was done. Just another exciting day on the trail.

Ahhh September!

Hi everyone,

So we're starting a trail blog - as you can see - and we hope you'll enjoy the occasional glimpse of daily life at Portland Trails. Occasional because I know we won't be posting every day, but we will try to keep reasonably current. I mean really; how much do you want to know?! Will people find it interesting that Charlie used his favorite yellow rock-bar to shimmy that bench into place at Fort Allen? Yes, we did get the new (old) truck stuck to the axles in mud loading stones in Hollis...what of it? The minutiae of trail building may not be the most exciting stuff on the internet ('you had to sit through how many meetings just to be able to lay a little gravel?!') but occasionally we do have some tales to tell and some news to report, and of course help to beg; so do keep in touch!

Last week, for example, we installed a new picnic table (seats coming soon) and a bench near the community garden on North Street. The picnic table is a big old slab o' granite that we FOUND, several years ago while re-opening the Jack Path. There was this little corner of granite sticking out of the dirt in the woods near the trail, and lo and behold, it's this beautiful 3x5 foot by 7-inch thick, smoothed piece, discarded who-knows-when and laying in the dirt for years. We'd been wanting to retrieve it and put it to use, but hadn't had a machine big enough to move it until the recent work at East End Community School put a skid steer within striking distance. So now it sits on a grassy knoll overlooking Bayside and the Back Cove, waiting for some benches. I think it looks pretty cool sitting out there....very stonehengey!! The bench on the other end of the garden was a score too actually... a neighbor was sick of tripping over that particular 11-foot slab of granite, and asked if i could take it away....but of course! And that sat too, awaiting it's current purpose. We hope you like them ('cause they're REALLY heavy, and will likely be sitting where they are for many years to come!)

Well...hope to see you all out on the trails!

Cheers,

Jaime

Upcoming Volunteer Trail Days

If you've been looking to pitch in on some Portland Trails work, the next couple of weeks will be a good time. The sun's still out and things have cooled off a bit--what a great time to be outside!
On Friday, September 11, we'll be participating in a national Day of Service to remember 9/11. From 1-5, we'll be doing trailwork in Portland's East End, exact location TBA. To sign up, email info@trails.org or call (207) 775-2411.
And on Saturday, September 18, we'll be out on the trails at Ocean Ave Recreation Area. Meet at the Charlotte Drive trailhead (which is off Ledgewood Avenue in Portland's North Deering neighborhood). For more information, just drop us a line.
Look forward to seeing you out there ... in work gloves!

Volunteer Work Day

Volunteer Work Day
Wednesday July 29, 3-6 p.m.

Have a free afternoon? Portland Trails wants to put you to work! Help us improve trails on the Fore River Sanctuary and enjoy some time in this beautiful corner of Portland. Meet at corner of Frost and Congress Streets

Sign up by calling (207) 775-2411 or emailing info@trails.org

Trail Manager's Blog