Trail Clearing

Last weekend, in addition to riding with our friends, we finally got out and cleared the 1st section of the abandoned railroad line trail. We have not used that section for about a year now because a big tree fell right at the entrance point. Since we had two more sections of the railroad line as trails, we were in no hurry to tackle that project. But with the new property owners blocking off our access to the last section of the trail, we figured it was time to open the 1st section up.

It was a job!! That tree was huge, and our chain saw is small. So John had to cut it up in sections, and then we had to drag the large branches away. It was not easy.....it was really muddy in that spot, and there was a LOT of poison ivy growing all around. To make matters worse, some poor little critter died right near where we were working and the smell was just horrible.

We found we could not cut the trunk to get it completely off the trail -- we had to cut the smaller top branches and make a path to go around the trunk. Whatever works! And this will work....we will be able to get down this part of the trail now. We had to then go down the entire length of that section (a mile, easily, probably more) and cut back all the growth that has happened since we last maintained this section of the trail. It wasn't as bad as we thought it would be, which was nice.

We haven't had a chance to ride it yet. We went to the Dunes to ride yesterday (I am going to do a post on our day there yesterday), and this weekend we will be in Wisconsin. My family is having a good-bye party for my nephew who is being sent to Guantanamo Bay! Not as a detainee -- he is in the Navy....

Will have the Dunes post ready soon!!!