This past Sunday (Oct 27, 2013) we had 17 hikers working on a new trail from Schribner Rd to the top of the hill across the valley.

The Climbers started at the mid-point and move up the hill.  As you can see in Char’s picture to the left, it was a gray day, but a good temperature for working outdoors. This picture shows a road between a red pine forest on the right and a larch forest on the left.  The larch trees were still mostly green, but they will be losing their needles soon.  You can tell there are many hard wood trees which have already lost their leaves – here it is mostly poplars and some black locust trees that were planted 50 years ago, but have never done very well.

After passing through the larches, we got to the hardwood forest.  Our first obstacle was a field of downed trees dating back to the ice storm of 1991.  These were moved out of the way to create a trail.  Fortunately for Mac, we had a willing porter to carry him over these logs.

The hard wood forest is on a steep hill.  Apparently, it has never been cleared, so the hill is covered with moguls from trees blowing over a pulling dirt out with their roots.  The climb is probably too steep but the view at the top was worth the climb.

The other half of the group started at Schribner Rd and followed the bank above the creek. Ralph used a leaf blower to clear the trail the entire way, while others stopped to build a stone bridge across the creek. With most leaves gone, we had a good view from above of the creek and could see all of its meanders.  This part of the trail passes through a white pine forest with several large trees with many branches going in different directions. The younger trees have grown within a forest and are much straighter.

Afterwards, the Tony and Patty grilled hot dogs and sausage while the table was set with chili, salads, and cakes, cookies and donuts.  Everyone ate well and went home satisfied.  It was definitely a job well done.