Crow’s Nest: Horse-Shoe Trail improvements completed

By Daniel Barringer, Preserve Manager.

Photo: Daniel Barringer

Last weekend volunteers organized by the Horse-Shoe Trail Club finished moving tons of gravel to refresh the surface and extend the length of the improved surface of the trail where it leaves the old railroad bed coming from St. Peter’s Village on its way through Crow’s Nest Preserve. A motorized wheelbarrow helped with moving the stone but volunteers also used shovels, rakes and wheelbarrows to resurface the trail, which was then compacted with a motorized tamper. Above, Don Newcomer operates the motorized wheelbarrow. Below, the finished trail, an elevated “turnpike” of packed gravel embedded in webbing over a layer of geotextile fabric.

Photo: Daniel Barringer

As you may recall this project began June and November 2018. (You can see the process from start to finish, as well as the mud that was the trail before we began, in the latter two links.) The trail was greatly improved but there was still gravel left to move, and over time some of the webbing that underlies the stone was beginning to show. The fresh gravel covered that up and makes the surface firm over hundreds of yards of trail. We hope you enjoy the improved experience this trail now offers! We are grateful to the Horse-Shoe Trail Conservancy for making this project possible.