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Crow’s Nest Trail Update – 11/11/11

November 11, 2011

You know I just wanted to write today’s date.

As of this afternoon the Fox Hill Trail has been cleared, so most of our forested trails are open, also including the Creek Trail, Deep Woods Trail, and Hopewell Trail. Some of our service roads are still blocked, and there are about a dozen large trees down in farm fields yet. The list of places we need to take the chipper grows as more branches fall and we discover more damage. We’ll be into December before everything is cleaned up—and we might leave a couple trees down in the farm fields for the kids to play on at our Nature Clubs, at least until the end of winter.

I cut down a lot of spring poles, trees with snags, and other widowmakers this week. There are only a couple of right ways—but many wrong ways—to go about releasing the pressure that builds up when a large tree or branch pins down a smaller tree. The training we all received in the Game of Logging has paid off.

The new Fox Hill trail is open and follows the same course as it was designed to, but it does look different than it did a couple weeks ago. We tried to clear things so that hikers won’t feel like they’re walking through a hallway lined with firewood. But the original plan did not include cutting down so many trails to make a space for the trail. Many beech trees were snapped off or bent over into the trail, so they needed to be removed. The rest of the woods look the same, and you can see this from the trail.

Now that I’ve spent a lot of time on this Eagle Scout Project trail I am really liking it more and more. It weaves naturally though the woods and imperceptibly climbs the ridge, crossing at a subtle saddle so that suddenly you realize the peak of the ridge is on your right instead of your left.

I hope you’ll visit and make a point of exploring these wooded trails on both sides of Northside Road.