Blue Hill Section Trail Work Reports – 2023
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Date | Name | Trail | Hours | Work | Volunteers | Remaining Work | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023-01-04 | Charlie Crosby | Accord Path | 1 | Cut and cleared 3 blow downs between Racoon Hollow path and 5-Corners Path. | |||
| 2023-01-04 | Charlie Crosby | Puddle Path | 0.5 | Cut and cleared a waist high blowdown near marker #1085/Walcott that was impeding trail use. | |||
| 2023-01-18 | Charlie Crosby | Base Path | 1 | Cut and removed a mid-sized blow down at the intersection with the Jefferies trail at marker #1182. | |||
| 2023-01-18 | Charlie Crosby | Houghton Trail | 1 | Cut and removed a mid-sized blow down | |||
| 2023-01-22 | Bob Flagg | Skyline Trail South | 2.5 | Walked trail removing branches from trail and picked up a small amount of trash. Boot-cleaned some of the drainage structures. | Need to perform maintenance on the whole trail to reestablish some of the drainage structures that have become clogged, | Need to replace the footbridge near the connection with the Wildcat Notch Path. | |
| 2023-02-05 | Tim Finocchio | Jeffries Trail | 1 | Trail is clear, would love to get a chainsaw up there to clear deadfall. | Chainsaw to clear deadwood and dead trees for new growth | ||
| 2023-03-12 | Bob Flagg | Border Path | 4 | Worked on area at 1165 where side trail from Eustis Trail connects to Border Path. Added stone retaining wall to right side to hold back side slope that is sluffing onto trial. Added stone to trail to capture side flow of water and carry it to the side ditch along Border Path. | Michael Pratt | Need to add second retaining wall on opposite side. Also need to try to capture additional water flowing down side trail to direct it to side ditch. | Michael is the Adopter for trail. |
| 2023-03-27 | Dexter Robinson | Skyline Trail West | 2 | Spring cleanup: removed compacted leaves, loose leaves, and other debris from the trail. Cleaned out water bars. Collected two discarded dog poop bags. Work was done on the trail section from Rt. 138 to 3/4 the way up the hill. | Complete cleanup of the rest of the trail to Eliot Tower | ||
| 2023-04-11 | Dexter Robinson | Skyline Trail South | 0.1 | No work completed. Just noting work that needs to be done | There is a large dead tree about 15" diameter trunk across the trail near where the Five Corners Path crosses. Hikers have created another path around it. Requires a chainsaw | ||
| 2023-04-11 | Dexter Robinson | Accord Path | 0.1 | No work completed. Just noting work that needs to be done | There are two blowdowns across the trail about half way between 1062 and 1003 One can be cut by hand. The other may require a chain saw It is dead, about 8" trunk diameter. | ||
| 2023-04-17 | Michael Pratt | Border Path | 1 | Broke up dam created by a person on the main brook that crosses under the trail closest to Uquity road. The man made dam caused re-direction of water flow during heavy rain and eroded part of the trial about 100 yards downstream of the crossing. | Need to conduct some additional maintenance on the trail at the crossing. Team event coming up on Saturday. | ||
| 2023-01-25 | Bob Vogel | Five Corners Path | 0.5 | Cleared trail of sticks Blue Hill River Road to 1141. | |||
| 2023-01-21 | Bob Vogel | Five Corners Path | 0.5 | Cleared down branches and sticks. | |||
| 2023-02-20 | Bob Vogel | Five Corners Path | 0.5 | Picked up downed sticks and branches. | |||
| 2023-02-23 | Bob Vogel | Five Corners Path | 0.5 | Picked up sticks, branches 1151 to Border Path | |||
| 2023-04-08 | Steve Murphy | Brookwood Trail | 2 | - Raked out and shored up the three water bars on the trail. - Cleared all obstructions from allowing water to drain off the trail - Removed all leaves and debris from the drain ditch at the North end of the Brookwood and the Skyline trail (marker 1083) - No Trash on the trail 🙂 - Lots of people out using the trails offering gratitude & encouragement 🙂 | |||
| 2023-04-22 | Michael Pratt | Border Path | 15 | Cleared trench uphill from 1165 and made it a bit deeper. Graded trail near trench to remove water damage. Cleared parts of 3 other trenches near culverts and dug out three water bars | Djamil Graham; Michael Jones; Christal Sadatis; Jeanne Brady | ||
| 2023-04-29 | Bob Flagg | Wildcat Notch Path | 2.25 | Performed maintenence on the whole trail clearing grade reversals and culverts. Cleaned up trailhead parking lot. Picked up small amount of trash on trail. | |||
| 2023-04-29 | Bob Flagg | Puddle Path | 1.25 | Completely rebuilt grade reversal about 200 feet from end of trail near Wolcott Path. Water was flowing over the structure leaving "V" cut in the trail. | The whole trail needs to be maintained, will perform at next work event. | ||
| 2023-05-13 | Mimi Kugler | Breakneck Ledge Path | 3 | Inspected the entire trail. Raked out all drainage structures. Removed branches from the trail. Brushing. | There is no more work needed at this time. | ||
| 2023-05-13 | Mimi Kugler | Houghton Hill Path | 1 | Limited brushing. Look for and remove or cut back any greenbriars, on side(s) of trail north of the loop junction in the trail. There are not very many on this trail so far, and it would be best to keep it that way. Use hazel hoes and/or mattocks to remove the organic material layer from the rolling dip (the second most northern drainage structure on this trail). Try to get this layer off, leaving behind the mineral soil underneath. | |||
| 2023-05-13 | Mimi Kugler | Houghton Trail | 1 | Inspected the entire trail. Raked out all drainage structures. Removed branches from the trail. | Limited brushing, especially near the north end of the trail. The dead tree that has the intersection 1151 sign on it is shedding bark and will eventually drop branches and fall into the trail. It would be a good idea to remove the standing dead tree and relocate the sign before this happens. The greenbriars are once again growing vigorously near the south end of the trail. There are enough of them that power tools will be needed to cut them back before they grow into the trail, which is just beginning to happen. This has to be done once in a while. | ||
| 2023-05-26 | Tim Finocchio | Eustis Trail | 1 | Morning - cleared some bigger branches on the Eustis Trail from deadfall. Would be good for a larger crew to get down there for the drainage areas. Also NOT related to Eustis trail, there are a significant number of dead trees along the paved access road going to the weather observatory that are falling or need to be removed. | Drainage clearing | ||
| 2023-05-20 | Bob Flagg | Wolcott Path | 12 | Cleaned side ditches near Puddle Path to improve flow & cleared culvert blockage. | Joe Greeley, Ishwar Ravi, Rezi Ravi, Leopold MacMullen | ||
| 2023-05-20 | Bob Flagg | Puddle Path | 12 | Cleaned all grade reversals from Wolcott Path to 1105. | Michelle Bisnaw, Robert Siris, Michael Bates, Grace Whouley, Beth Foley, Amir Degany, Michael Jones | ||
| 2023-05-20 | Bob Flagg | Chickadee Path (FBH) | 10 | Cleaned all grade reversals and added a few stones to last one closest to Puddle Path. | Michelle Bisnaw, Robert Siris, Michael Bates, Grace Whouley, Beth Foley, Amir Degany, Michael Jones | A grade reversal could be added near the Summit Road where culvert allows water to flow onto the trail. | |
| 2023-05-20 | Bob Flagg | Summit Trail | 8 | Dug out and reestablished grade reveresal near Summit Road to collect water from the road and direct off the trail. Dug out side ditch that runs along most of the trail, especially where exposed culvert was blocked by leaves. | Michelle Bisnaw, Robert Siris, Michael Bates, Grace Whouley, Beth Foley, Amir Degany, Michael Jones | Needs adsditional work on side ditch near where Green Dot crosses. Also clean out area between two culverts in the same area. | Water is flowing from the Summit Road on to the trail and it is starting to undermine the fill under the asphalt. This needs to be addressed by keeping the water along the road and also using some stone to get dug in to support the asphalt. |
| 2023-05-30 | Bob Quinn | Skyline Trail South | 6.75 | Cleaned rock stairway starting at # 1083; raked out leaves; shoveled out decades of accumulated dirt. This works expands the landing area of each rock step, making the climb or descent easier and safer for all. It also showcases the awesome work that went into building these rock staircases. | Skip Maysles Charles Crosby | maybe about 6 - 10 steps need to be cleaned still at top Will complete these when we return to the area to do the same work on Skyline North Trail.c | |
| 2023-06-03 | Bob Flagg | Hancock Trail | 27.5 | Improved grade reversal about 50 feet from the parking lot at the foot of the trail. Added stones to direct water flow into the woods. Added two grade reversals, one just below the spur trail and a second one about 60 feet from Hancock Hill Path near 1201. | Robert Siris, Grace Whouley, Beth Foley, Joe Nelson, Bill Nelson, Guy Pugh, Matthew Costi, Rachel Wigell, Rachel Blumberg | Would like to improve the trail from the parking lot. People walk up the wide, eroded area instead of the small trail with steps that had been created. Maybe use some curb cuts to create about eight steps from the lot to the trail. | |
| 2023-06-03 | Bob Flagg | Hemenway Hill Path | 7.5 | Reworked the grade reversals near the start of the trail to fix poor work done by another volunteer group (not FBH-related). Improved the flow of water off the trail and removed rocks from the grade reversal structure. | Joe Nelson, Bill Nelson, Guy Pugh, Matthew Costi, Rachel Wigell | ||
| 2023-06-04 | Michael Pratt | Border Path | 1.5 | cleared loose organics from various parts of the trail | |||
| 2023-05-29 | Michael Pratt | Border Path | 1.5 | cleared loose organics on length of the trail | |||
| 2023-06-10 | Dexter Robinson | Skyline Trail West | 1.75 | Clear debris off trail, re-cleaned several water bars, cleaned off stone stairs, removed dead blowdown across the trail, picked up trash, brushing - particular along Eliot Circle section. Covered entire adopted section, | None | Numerous rocks, some very big, had to be removed from the treadway | |
| 2023-06-25 | Bob Flagg | Hemenway Hill Path | 1 | Boot cleaned several grade reversals between 1178 and 1140. | Grade reversals from 1154 and 1140 need further attention to remove debris from structures. | ||
| 2023-07-07 | Dexter Robinson | Skyline Trail South | 5 | Brushed, removed debris and cleared 2 blowdowns off the trail on the section from Hillside Street to 1083. | Steve Tedeschi | Remainder of South Skyline trail to Eliot Circle trail. | Bog bridge near turnoff to Wildcat Notch trail needs replacing. Stream bed near bog bridge needs cleaning out to reduce flooding of trail. |
| 2023-07-07 | Dexter Robinson | Brookwood Trail | 1 | Removed blowdown and small trail leaning over trail. Brushed trail from South Skyline to 1062. | Steve Tedeschi | water bars need cleaning | |
| 2023-07-16 | Michael Pratt | Border Path | 2 | Removal of loose organics to keep water flowing during heavy rain. Moved fallen tree to side of trail. | Nice video of deer close up. It was pouring rain so it did not hear me approach. | ||
| 2023-07-25 | Anna MacDougall | Half Way Path | 1.5 | cut down small branches, Path is in good shape overall. | No wildlife seen | ||
| 2023-08-23 | Bob Vogel | Five Corners Path | 0.5 | Cleared sticks, and checked water bar. All set for now. (South Skyline to Border Path) | |||
| 2023-08-27 | Bob Flagg | Accord Path | 2.5 | Brushed trail from parking lot on Blue Hill River Road to Skyline Trail. Removed lots of green briar and cleaned grade reversals. | There is still a lot of green briar along the trail from 1062 to the Skyline Trail that needs to be removed. | ||
| 2023-08-31 | Dexter Robinson | Skyline Trail West | 2.25 | Cleaned several water bars, removed scree from different sections, brushed entire trail section particularly low hanging branches on the Eliot Circle trail section. Picked some litter. | There is a large 8 foot dead tree trunk across the trail near Rt. 138. Too big and heavy for one person to remove. | The lower rock steps are suffering from erosion and are being undermined. Several large stones have already come loose requiring removal from the trail bed. | |
| 2023-09-08 | Ruth Bigio | Eliot Path (FBH) | 5 | Many of dead logs down on this path, mostly on the mid to upper part of the trail. Not really big obstacles, just unsightly and untidy. We sawed them in sections and moved them to the side. Cleaned up hanging branches, picked up trash. We then continued on the red dot loop (section of Coon Hollow, between #1055-1082) and Cliff Trail. Minor clean-up only. | Charlie Crosby | Red dot loop is generally in good shape, erosion (like many trails in the reservation). | Red dots have been repainted, now easy to follow. |
| 2023-09-03 | Michael Pratt | Border Path | 2 | cleared loose organics from water drainage areas | About 1/4 mile in from Unquity road there is a large uprooted tree leaning against another over the trail. for safety it should be removed | ||
| 2023-09-17 | Michael Pratt | Border Path | 2 | cleared loose organics from trail and water drainage areas | The tree across the path about 1/4 up from Unquity needs to be cleared. It did not fall during the heavy winds of Hurricane Lee, but still a hazard as it is up high and across the trail | ||
| 2023-10-17 | Ruth Bigio | 14 | Repainting Red & Green Dot Loops for DCR | ||||
| 2023-11-10 | Mimi Kugler | Houghton Trail | 2 | Inspected the entire trail. Raked out all drainage structures and their outflow ditches. Raked some leaves and pine needles from the trail where they were thickest on steep slopes. Limited brushing. Removed a few roots from the trail to avoid tripping hazards. Litter pickup (limited this time). | *A brush cutter power tool will be needed to remove greenbriars and briar bushes, which are growing close to and into the trail, at the south end of the trail from the trailhead on Hillside Street up most of the way to the first trail crossing. | ||
| 2023-11-10 | Mimi Kugler | Houghton Hill Path | 1 | Inspected the entire trail. Raked out all drainage structures and their outflow ditches. Cut back a few greenbriars near the big rolling dip, on the opposite side of the trail. Removed some branches from the trail. | In the spring, try to dig up the greenbriars by the roots. Remove organic soil from the rolling dip's drainage ditch. | ||
| 2023-11-10 | Mimi Kugler | Breakneck Ledge Path | 1.5 | Inspected the trail from the south end at Wolcott Path to the rolling dip north of the North Skyline Trail. Raked out all drainage structures and their outflow ditches on this part of the trail including the rolling dip. Limited brushing. Litter pickup. | Return for a second fall cleanup, for the full length of the trail. | ||
| 2023-11-21 | John O'Neill | Skyline Trail North | 12.5 | Cleaned out 6-7 water bars between state police and tower Re-opened drainage channels at known ponding areas. Minor pruning. Also, for a 4th time, filled in herd path near top of Hancock. | Kevin, Rick, Fran, Les | Hancock climb behind police needs a lot of TLC. Many other areas need erosion control. | |
| 2023-11-25 | Michael Pratt | Border Path | 24 | Cleared loose organics from trench along length of trial segment from 1214 to 1135 and cleared all of the water bars. | Lily Hiynh; Elison Talabong; Emily Nasrah;Melissa Nasrah;Benjamin Day; and late arrival father and daughter from Quincy | ||
| 2023-12-08 | Mimi Kugler | Breakneck Ledge Path | 2.5 | Inspected the entire trail. Raked out all drainange structures to complete the fall cleanup begun on 11/10/2024. | |||
| 2023-12-08 | Mimi Kugler | Houghton Hill Path | 0.5 | Inspected the entire trail. Raked out all drainage structures to complete the fall cleanup begun on 11/10/2024. | |||
| 2023-12-08 | Mimi Kugler | Houghton Trail | 0.5 | Inspected the entire trail. Raked out all drainage structures to complete the fall cleanup begun on 11/10/2024. Cut back just a few greenbriars which are becoming a problem again.Litter pickup. | The greenbriars at the south end of this short trail (south of the first intersection) will need to be cut back with a power tool (ie, brush cutter) before they start growing in earnest next spring. | ||
| 2023-12-10 | Mike Prokosch | Houghton Path | 1 | Cleared water bars on trail and on nearby section of Wolcott Path. | |||
| 2023-12-10 | Mike Prokosch | Hemenway Hill Path | 1 | Cleared water bars. | |||
| 2023-12-21 | Tim Finocchio | Houghton Hill Path | 3 | Removed 4 large blowdowns along the trail using a handsaw like the colonials! I can't complete the rest of the tree removal without a chainsaw or DCR doing something. | DCR chainsaw work. | ||
| 2023-12-22 | Bob Flagg | Skyline Trail South | 2.5 | Cleaned all drainage structures from Hillside St to Wildcat Notch Trail. Removed many branches from the trail. | Clean trail from Wildcat Notch Trail (near Blue Hill River) to Big Blue summit. | ||
| 2023-12-22 | Bob Flagg | Wildcat Notch Path | 1.25 | Cleaned drainage structures from South Skyline to lower section of Accord Path. Removed many branches from trail. | Need to perform maintenance on trail from lower intersection of South Skyline to Wolcott Path. |