making a trail

Spent a couple of hours this morning helping to make a new section of trail through a managed forest. There were about ten of us, trimming saplings off the path, and using the resulting brush and branches to help block the entrance to an old trail suffering from erosion. We were also putting in two or three new water bars using recycled pieces of railroad siding. These needed to be dug in, and then fixed in place. The trail around a couple of older water bars had experienced some erosion, so we broke up the ground on the eroded side, and sloped it up against the bar, also clearing a channel through leaf and fallen branch debris for water to flow away. All in all a very satisfying morning, especially since we achieved everything the forestry people had hoped we could do… and we were finished just in time, because it is now snowing here!

working on the new section of trail
view from the new trail down to the creek