One Down, Seven To Go
Well, the first week of my eight-week-long YCC duty went pretty well, all in all; nobody got hurt and nobody got strangled. (This was only the first week, though, so there'll be plenty of opportunity for that later, I'm sure.) Since we've been slated to help high-line the remains of the big slab on Homan's Path out of the way -- and since it's not quite ready for such things yet -- we've been assigned a number of other projects and worksites to help out on while we get our season underway.
One such project was to go up on the daunting Precipice Trail and clear out some blowdowns (or, rather, knockdowns) in preparation for beginning work on the earthquake damage to that trail. These are my kids lugging the chainsaw and attendant gear across the somewhat delapidated little bridge that got hammered by boulders back in October. In addition to the bridge taking a beating, check out the railing between Zach -- in the lead -- and the stairs on the right-hand side of the frame. (Click image to enlarge) That will, of course, have to be dealt with before the trail is reopened.
And here we go heading down that little ledge section where, as you can see, the bottom just falls right off. Until the beat-up railing gets put back to rights, you just have to lean toward the mountain. By the way, this trail is still closed to hikers until all these repairs are done, just so you know. Can't have folks falling off the mountain unsupervised.
Add to that that some of the steps on this section are almost leg-high on a normal-sized person, I can only imagine what's going on in Felicia's 4'10"-high head right about now. (That's her in the foreground.) She did well, though, and made it all the way to the downed tree area -- and even the "Dead Zone" where the trail got wiped away -- without even so much as a whimper. I was much impressed.
But I don't want to give you the impression that the entire week was filled with nerve-wracking episodes of derring-do. Aside from the trecherous hour-long ride to Brewer to get safety boots on Tuesday (hey, don't laugh -- the brakes went out on my truck about halfway there; I fixed them, though) and the gastronomical dangers always inherent in the annual Park Picnic on Thursday (okay, you can laugh now), we did manage to slide into Friday and relax by doing a little gardening. The revegetation crew here at Acadia is in the process of replanting certain areas of Blackwoods Campground that have been renovated lately, and we got to help them out by doing some of the planting. Here are my kids -- Zach, Felicia, and Alex -- toward the end of the project, when backs are beginning to give out. They did a great job and in record time, much impressing the reveg crew. Keep up the good work, guys!
One such project was to go up on the daunting Precipice Trail and clear out some blowdowns (or, rather, knockdowns) in preparation for beginning work on the earthquake damage to that trail. These are my kids lugging the chainsaw and attendant gear across the somewhat delapidated little bridge that got hammered by boulders back in October. In addition to the bridge taking a beating, check out the railing between Zach -- in the lead -- and the stairs on the right-hand side of the frame. (Click image to enlarge) That will, of course, have to be dealt with before the trail is reopened.
And here we go heading down that little ledge section where, as you can see, the bottom just falls right off. Until the beat-up railing gets put back to rights, you just have to lean toward the mountain. By the way, this trail is still closed to hikers until all these repairs are done, just so you know. Can't have folks falling off the mountain unsupervised.
Add to that that some of the steps on this section are almost leg-high on a normal-sized person, I can only imagine what's going on in Felicia's 4'10"-high head right about now. (That's her in the foreground.) She did well, though, and made it all the way to the downed tree area -- and even the "Dead Zone" where the trail got wiped away -- without even so much as a whimper. I was much impressed.
But I don't want to give you the impression that the entire week was filled with nerve-wracking episodes of derring-do. Aside from the trecherous hour-long ride to Brewer to get safety boots on Tuesday (hey, don't laugh -- the brakes went out on my truck about halfway there; I fixed them, though) and the gastronomical dangers always inherent in the annual Park Picnic on Thursday (okay, you can laugh now), we did manage to slide into Friday and relax by doing a little gardening. The revegetation crew here at Acadia is in the process of replanting certain areas of Blackwoods Campground that have been renovated lately, and we got to help them out by doing some of the planting. Here are my kids -- Zach, Felicia, and Alex -- toward the end of the project, when backs are beginning to give out. They did a great job and in record time, much impressing the reveg crew. Keep up the good work, guys!
posted by Highroad at 6:15 AM
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