Houghton 2022 Reports | Friends of the Blue Hills

Houghton Section Trail Work Reports – 2022

Date	Name	Trail	Hours	Work	Volunteers	Remaining Work	Comments
2022-01-04	John Hahnfeld	Boyce Hill Trail	0.33	Inspection, mostly. Extremely minor debris clearing.
2022-01-04	John Hahnfeld	Burnt Hill Path	0.33	minor debris clearing		Fallen Tree still lies across path 100 yards uphill from 2092
2022-01-04	John Hahnfeld	Doe Hollow Path	0.33	Minor debris cleared		Perhaps a quarter mile or less from Old Rte. 128 the trail crosses a stream that drains between two hills, it's a reasonably long valley. Except in extremely dry weather, this causes flooding, minor or major, of the point where the trail intersects the stream. I would recommend a work detail deal with this. Two possible solutions that occur to me are 1. a culvert that would be inserted beneath the crossing point, or 2. digging out the intersection and placing a timber bridge over the cutout so water could run free beneath it. I'm not an expert - there may be other solutions, or some may feel we can live with it. In very wet seasons, a considerable detour around the area and across the stream at narrower points is necessary.
2022-01-13	Bob Vogel	Mattapan Trail (FBH)	5	Cut up two fallen trees. One was a multi trunk tree across the trail. The second was the top half of a tree which had broken off and fallen into the trail, and was hung up on other trees.	Chao Xie	I had done (unreported!) trailwork late last year and picked up everything that was down. Then these two trees came down in a windstorm. So all is pretty good until spring, hopefully.
2022-01-20	Judy Lehrer Jacobs	Prescott Foot Path	11	Poo-lution Solution training with Claire O'Neill.	Matt Panucci, Pamela Girouard, Paul Norris, Carina Bandle, Martha Jacobsen, Steffanie Schwam, Lennie Schmidt, Kurt Jacobsen, John Hahnfeld		Clean Parks Committee Poo-lution Solution Team volunteer training
2022-03-10	John Hahnfeld	Boyce Hill Trail	0.4	Clearing minor detritus.		A large trunk still lies across this trail near its southern terminus.
2022-03-10	John Hahnfeld	Burnt Hill Path	0.3	Clearing minor detritus.
2022-03-10	John Hahnfeld	Doe Hollow Path	0.4	Minor clearing
2022-04-03	Jennifer Mehigan	Tucker Hill Path	1.5	Checked on trail, picked up trash. 2 trees are down and need to be cleared. 1 is just after 2070, going counterclockwise. The other is before 2096.		will clear out two water bars, and one culvert. Markings need to be repainted at some point.	There are two areas of regular mud. One small area at 2112 where the trail is more narrow forces hikers to walk on dryer areas and therefore damaging the vegetation. This section would benefit from large rocks or a bog bridge. The other section, just south of 2112, is a wide section and mountain bikers have left deep, long ruts. I'll continue to watch this section, but I think it would also benefit from a bog bridge.
2022-04-10	Tim Finocchio	Forest Path	2	Reporting downed trees to DCR after my run. Entire White Triangle needs to drove with 4 wheeler and chainsaw.		DCR to cut felled trees with chainsaw
2022-04-09	Marnie Bolstad	Angle Path	2	Walked the Angle Path, which I recently adopted, with Bob Flagg. Purpose was to use Bob's expertise to assess what work should be done. As we walked, we picked up trash and dog poop bags. Generally speaking, we found most of the trail is in pretty good shape.	Bob Flagg	Work to be done: 1. Clear downed tree by Marker 2092. A chain saw is needed. (Part of the tree is rotted at one end and could be sawed by hand to create an opening for hikers.) 2. Brushing needed along most of the trail. 3. Drainage area about half way between Markers 2075 and 2092 should be cleared and raked. 4. At Marker 2100, erosion occurs on the hill where the trail meets Old 128. Drainage structure may need to be built in future. Advice from Bob was to walk the trail for 6 months to a year to determine whether drainage improvement is necessary. May be a low priority project when compared to others in the park.
2022-04-27	Ruth Bigio	Fern Spring Foot Path	1	Raking leaves out of brook to allow water to flow		This is an ongoing project. Leaves accumulate, need to be raked out regularly. I wanted to spend more time but the first biting insects of the season were too aggressive!	A few pink lady slipper leaves poked through the leaves.
2022-04-27	John Goldrosen	Forest Path	4	Cleaned blocked culvert at 2194; removed most of downed tree blocking trail between 2189 and 2190; cleared other branches from trail.		There are several downed trees on or over the trail that require more than one person or power equipment to remove: (1) The remaining main trunk of the tree mentioned above, between 2189 and 2190 (2) about 0.1M north of the intersection of Forest Path and the Skyline Trail, there is a downed tree across the trail, about 18" in diameter--mountain bikers have placed branches alongside to create a jump (3) About 0.2M north of the same intersection, there is a "widowmaker", with a broken tree across the trail at an angle--the upper end is about 15 feet from the ground, and seems to still be attached to the still-standing vertical part of the trunk. It looks stable, but I can't be sure of that.
2022-04-20	Marnie Bolstad	Angle Path	3	Sawed an opening in a blowdown across the path near Marker 2092. This made it possible for hikers and bikers to get through. I am late submitting this report. When we did the work, the remainder of tree needed the to be removed by DCR as it was blocking the path. That work has since been done; the tree has been cut and moved to the side of the path.	Ruth Bigio, Shubha Chungi
2022-05-26	Ruth Bigio	Doe Hollow Path	2	1. Dead tree on intersection of Bolton and Doe Hollow Path finally fell. We removed some smaller branches. Big trunk lies diagonally across path, needs a chainsaw. 2. 50 feet further along Doe Hollow, we removed a blow down that completely obstructed the path (where Doe Hollow curves toward Beech Hollow).	Shubha Chungi	Dead tree on intersection of Bolton and Doe Hollow needs to be removed with a chainsaw.
2022-05-27	Ruth Bigio	Fern Spring Foot Path	1	After recent fire, a scorched tree fell onto the path, close to marker #2162. I sawed off branches and moved them out of the path. Trunk is still obstructing path but it is easy to climb over or go around.		Eventually, with a bigger saw and a couple of people, the tree could be removed or an opening cut away.	Remarkable to see that only a couple of weeks after the fire, new green growth is evident. Scrub oaks already show new shoots with leaves, grasses emerging.
2022-06-07	Chris Mullin	Buck Hill Trail	0.25	Brushing
2022-06-07	Chris Mullin	Dover Trail	1	Brushing
2022-06-25	Bob Vogel	Mattapan Trail (FBH)	0.5	Brushed new growth growing into the trail. Picked up a few small sticks in the trail.		None at this time.	Trail is FINALLY getting a worn footpath and everyone seems to be staying on it from end to end, which is great. Much better than the 17-10 year ago period, when we used to have to guess where it was.
2022-06-26	Bob Flagg	Buck Hill Path	1	Boot cleaned all grade reversals, performed minor brushing and picked up small amount of trash.
2022-06-26	Bob Flagg	Fells Path	0.5	Performed minor brushing on trail and cleaned grade reversal near Massachuseuck Trail.		Sited one new grade reversal and enhancement to two others. There was a recent fire and some issues were identified to improve existing grade reversals. Will target for upcoming work event.
2022-06-26	Bob Flagg	Massachuseuck Trail	0.3	Walked trail to view trail condition. Recent fire caused some damage to the trail from the fire engines. Identified new site for grade reversal on slope up to 2162 and two grade reversals that need to be improved. Will plan for upcoming work event.
2022-06-26	Bob Flagg	Pig Rock Path	0.5	Performed minor brushing and cleaned out grade reversal at Bugbee Path.
2022-06-26	Bob Flagg	Oblique Path	0.15	Walked trail performing minor brushing. No culvert on trail so previous report was probably east of 2163.
2022-06-26	Bob Flagg	Bolton Foot Path	0.5	Visited trail to see culvert near 2132.		There are two or three culverts near 2132 that are chronically blocked. It appears the stone culvert(s) have collapsed and will need to be dug out. Suggest converting it to swale across trail to allow water to flow freely. By hardening the trail, it will be stable and won't clog. It will be easy for vehicles to pass the site.
2022-06-26	Bob Flagg	Beech Hollow Path	0.75	Cut up large tree blocking trail near 2132.
2022-06-26	Bob Flagg	Fells Path	0.5	Performed minor brushing on trail and cleaned grade reversal near Massacheuck Trail.
2022-07-01	Ruth Bigio	Andover Path	0.5	Brushing
2022-07-01	Ruth Bigio	Bolton Foot Path	0.5	Brushing
2022-07-01	Ruth Bigio	Fern Spring Foot Path	0.5	Brushing, up to marker #2154		Need to continue brushing from marker #2154 to summit of Buck Hill.	Fern Spring Foot Path was affected by fire. Amazing how new growth is happening. Brushing on the burned area up to Buck Hill will need to be cut back soon.
2022-07-01	Ruth Bigio	Fern Spring Foot Path	0.5	Brushing, up to marker #2154		Need to continue brushing from marker #2154 to summit of Buck Hill.	Fern Spring Foot Path was affected by fire. Amazing how new growth is happening. Brushing on the burned area up to Buck Hill will need to be cut back soon.
2022-07-26	Susan Doherty	Old Route 128	1	I walked down Old Route 128 to Burnt Hill Trail and followed narrow trail to intersection 2053. I noted multiple missing intersection markets, 4 culverts and a swale all in need of work.
2022-08-05	Ruth Bigio	Andover Path	0.45	Brushing entire trail		Bridge of wetland needs work. A number of boards are loose, support beams underneath are rotting. I contacted Bob Flagg to give advice on options.
2022-08-05	Ruth Bigio	Bolton Foot Path	0.45	Brushing		Trail is in good shape
2022-08-05	Ruth Bigio	Fern Spring Foot Path	1.5	Brushing entire trail.		The smaller burned white pines in the area of the fire a few months ago still need to be cut back. I plan to do this work sometime in September (hope for cooler temperatures).	Scrub oaks up on Buck Hill are brown and dry, affected by the drought.
2022-08-07	Bob Flagg	Massachuseuck Trail	2	Removed debris from outflow and inflow of culvert near 2094. Large tree fell in outflow ditch, dug out some of dirt to provide path for water. Also cleaned inflow to access the culvert pipe. There is still a rock(s) near the inflow blocking flow. Need to return to remove it.		Remove rock at inflow just inside pipe.	Temperature record set for day 97 degrees.
2022-08-07	John Hahnfeld	Boyce Hill Trail	0.33	Routine Inspection, Very minor debris cleanup
2022-08-07	John Hahnfeld	Burnt Hill Path	0.33	Routine Inspection
2022-08-07	John Hahnfeld	Doe Hollow Path	0.5	Took off a limb on a downed branch - a minor obstruction.
2022-08-11	Joanne Newton	Monatiquot Path	1	We brushed the trail for branches in the path. There are two trees across the entire path. One is on the ground and is a step over - maybe 6" in diameter. The second is very large and has to be climbed over with some difficulty. It it suspended 1.5 feet or so off the ground. Chainsaw team is needed.	John Schepis, Bill Doherty	Both trees, especially the large one, should be removed. Otherwise, people will create a walk around it, making another path.	There is also part of the fence, several feet wide, along the highway that has been opened up and peeled back.
2022-08-13	Bob Flagg	Massachuseuck Trail	49	Installed grade reversal on hill heading up to 2162 from 2183; cleaned and improved grade reversal on hill heading down toward 2152.	Jim Pericles, Russell Parkman, Patrick O'Neil, Mary Noble, Michael Pratt, Ulpiano Pena, Val Madden, Joseph Nelson, Grace Whouley, Emilie Bent, Jennifer Wanamaker, Bob Costello, Anna MacDougall	There is one grade reversal that needs to be redone on the slope down to 2152. Rocks sticking up need to be removed and reset to allow easier passage over them for wheeled vehicles. May need a second grade reversal on slope toward 2183.
2022-08-13	Bob Flagg	Skyline Trail	1	Cleaned overgrown weeds from trailhead at Rt 28, picked up bag of trash.	Emilie Bent
2022-08-13	Marnie Bolstad	Angle Path	2.5	Returned to do trail maintenance after a several month hiatus. Brushed both sides of the Angle Path from marker 2100 (Old 128) north to the intersection with a no-name Narrow Trail.		More brushing needed going northbound from the no-name path past 2092 (intersection with Burnt Hill Path) up to 2075 (intersection with Bugbee Path). Lots of white pine are starting to infringe on the trail.
2022-08-18	Marnie Bolstad	Angle Path	2.5	Brushed both sides of Angle Path from intersection with no-name black dot trail north past 2092 (intersection with Burnt Hill Path) toward 2075 (intersection with Bugbee Path). Cut back many white pines that were infringing on the trail. Since I last worked on the Angle Path 5 days ago, a large branch fell across the trail. A passing hiker helped me move it over to the side.		Finish brushing Angle Path from 2075 (intersection with Bugbee Path) south toward where I left off.
2022-08-19	Ruth Bigio	Andover Path	8	Removed three broken boards from the end of the bridge. Support beams underneath boards are mostly rotten and new boards cannot be nailed down. We placed large, flat rocks to make safer footing for hikers.	Marnie Bolstad, Charles Crosby, Yi-Ping Wang	The footbridge is not generally in bad shape. Many of the boards should be replaced, they are breaking, nails are loose. However the boards cannot be replaced because the beams underneath are rotten and nails or bolts won't can't be tightened. According to Bob Flagg, there are plans to replace some old bridges in the near future, possibly next year.
2022-08-06	Bob Vogel	Mattapan Trail (FBH)	0.5	Checked trail, cleared downed sticks.
2021-04-20	Max Gravallese	Headquarters Path	10	Picked up trash around the parking lot, beach, bench areas, information center, the path to the cookout area along with the cookout area, and in the various woods areas around those paths. Picked up about 6-7 bags (big trash bags) of trash in the total 10 hours. I used gloves and			10 hours is the total I did at Houghtons, I collected them all into this one submission since I didn’t have the exact dates, but they were all around the month of April. Thanks!
2022-09-16	John Goldrosen	Angle Path	2	Sawed and removed tree limbs that were limiting use of path.
2022-09-11	Ruth Bigio	Bolton Foot Path	0.75	Removed blowdown	Marnie Bolstad
2022-09-12	Ruth Bigio	Fern Spring Foot Path	2.5	Worked on removing smaller trees and branches on the lower section of the trail. Upper section, I cut back smaller dead white pines in the area of the fire a few months ago. Upper part (to Buck Hill), brushing.		Regular work on my trail
2022-09-25	Bob Flagg	Ayer Trail	1.5	Cleaned three grade reversals from Athol Path toward 2072 and performed light brushing.
2022-09-25	Bob Flagg	Barre Trail	1.25	Performed annual brushing on the trail including removing lots of green briar along the trail.		There are two large trees near between Chickatawbut Rd and split to Hillside Pond.
2022-09-25	Bob Flagg	Hillside Pond Trail	0.75	Walked about half the trail (either side of the dam) and found lots of green briar and some places significantly overgrown. Removed some green briar.		The whole trail around the pond should be strongly brushed and all the green briar trimmed back. May want to talk to the Town of Milton about cleaning the area around the dam which looks like it is blocked with debris that could impede draining the pond.
2022-09-25	Bob Flagg	White Pine Path (FBH)	0.5	Walked trail removing branches and rocks from trail.		There is an opportunity to add a grade reversal at the midpoint to direct water off the trail instead of having it erode the side trail down to the road.
2022-09-26	Chris Mullin	AMC Footpath	0.5	brushing		shrub oak
2022-09-26	Chris Mullin	NEMBA Trail (FBH)	0.5	brushing
2022-09-29	John Hahnfeld	Boyce Hill Trail	0.75	Minor Cleanup
2022-09-29	John Hahnfeld	Burnt Hill Path	0.33	Minor Cleanup		Two things: About 50 yards south of the intersection at 2094 there is dead tree fallen over the trail - more than I can address. Secondly, on the same trail, just before the second grade reversal, there us a MUCH LARGER dead tree fallen over the trail.
2022-09-29	John Hahnfeld	Doe Hollow Path	0.5	Minor debris.
2022-09-30	Ruth Bigio	Andover Path	1.5	Bridge over wetland continues to deteriorate. A few weeks ago, we replaced two boards on one end and place large stones to step on. Support beams are rotten and new boards cannot fixed onto them. Two more boards fell off. I placed more stepping stones, hope this fix will work for a while.		The entire bridge will need to be replaced.
2022-10-16	John Hahnfeld	Boyce Hill Trail	0.5	Sawed of a couple feet of a large branch of a fallen tree. The part protruding into the trail could have caused a biking accident.
2022-10-16	John Hahnfeld	Burnt Hill Path	0.5	Clearance of minor debris..
2022-10-16	John Hahnfeld	Doe Hollow Path	0.5	Sawed of sections of fallen dead wood that projected onto trail.
2022-10-20	Melanie Barber	Tucker Hill Path	4	Photographed both native and invasive plants through the iNaturalist app.	Joan Waldman
2022-11-03	John Hahnfeld	Burnt Hill Path	1	Sawed through some large sections of a fallen tree blocking a grade reversal within 100 feet or so of Old Rte. `128.		Grade Reversal still needs to be cleared of debris soon. I hope to get at that soon.
2022-11-11	Bob Vogel	Mattapan Trail (FBH)	0.5	Hiked trail, clearing ny downed branches, etc. There was one big tree down across the trail. I managed to use a small tree trunk asa lever, and walked it to the side of the trail. Also cut back some blueberry(?) bushes growing into the trail.		All set.
2022-11-11	Bob Vogel	Headquarters Path	0.5	Cut a lot of greenbrier between 2175 and Rt 28, where the trail is near Chickatawbut Road. lso cut a few small pine trees and other small trees growing into the trail/		This section of the trail could use a more dedicated brushing effort to make it wider, and prevent it growing back in so soon.
2022-09-29	Joanne M Newton	Monatiquot Path	1.5	Brushed trail and cut small trees leaning into trails.	John Schepis
2022-11-26	Bob Flagg	Beech Hollow Path	0.5	Removed medium sized tree blocking path near Bugbee Path.
2022-12-09	Ruth Bigio	Andover Path	1.5	Cleared wet leaves and debris away from the bridge spanning a swampy area. Boards and beams below are rotting. Removing the muck away from the wood will hopefully keep the bridge from deteriorating at a slower pace. Water is now not just standing but flowing very slowly.		Possibly rake out a deeper channel for the water to move faster. However, the terrain is barely sloping away.
2022-10-06	Jean Beebe	Buck Hill Path	2	trimmed branches, cleared some of the water runoff diverters, pulled debris off trail that had fallen from winds		Trail needs more clearing of those water diverters or whatever they are called. I did not have a shovel when I went.	Need to do more work, obviously. Am interested in doing this in the future.
2022-10-08	Jean Beebe	NEMBA Trail (FBH)	1.5	Trimmed brush back.		Need some stronger tools perhaps like loppers to get at the thicker brush.	trail was ok- normal brush growth & passable. Will check it out again in the near future.
2022-12-29	Charlie Crosby	Boyce Hill Trail	0.5	Cleared 1 waist high blow down that was impeding traffic on South Boyce. Got a hand from a passing mountain biker.