Deluge!

This weekend, you probably noticed the large amount of rain. Us here on the Bear Mountain Trails Project don't seem to shy away from a little bit of (ok a lot of) water. Friday and Sunday were both wonderful, if only a bit brisk, but Saturday was windy and rainy. There were places with water flowing that I've never seen flowing from the rain before. The waterfall was intense, I suspect it seldom gets much bigger. Also, the reason the existing AT needs to be replaced was entirely apparent- some sections were literally flowing straight through. The places that go directly down the fall line were inundated and left nowhere to walk without stepping into 4 inches of water.

We put up tarps to work under over most of the sites that people were working at. In the morning the rain was constant but it did wax and wane in intensity. The rain actually did stop in the afternoon. The mountain was beautiful under the misty shroud, and the smell of wet leaves. The post rain beauty almost compensated for the cold wet pants and boots.

There was supposed to be a stone shaping workshop, however it was cancelled due to the weather. One of the participants did decide to come out though and volunteer with us. Hormoz Kheirabi seemed to have had a lot of fun and worked with Dan on the section of wall that he has been building. Hormoz also came out on Sunday to work as well. Also on Sunday, Andy Helyk came out. He helped to set up some new rigging and then bring some rocks down to build some stairs. Also out helping us was Sarah Heidenreich and Will Stark.

A lot of work is getting done out here- I hope you all find a chance to come out and work soon! Its amazing to see the progress!

Also, don't forget to bring water. Save your empty jugs, clean them out and fill with potable water for the Crew- their water has been turned off.

Workshops and Work trips

Hi,

We've had a few work trips and work shops since last I wrote.

On Friday the 13th, we had an orientation and overview hike. There were a few attendees, as well as the newly arrived SCA crew leaders group. The SCA people had mostly built trails in backcountry settings and they are all very excited to do trailbuilding that is this technical and made to last under high usage for a hundred years.


The Student Conservation Association is an organization that was concieved of by a Vassar student in the 50's in her senior thesis paper. She thought that having outdoors service for High School students would lead to a lifelong love of nature and care for the earth. This led to the SCA having crews of High School students led by 2 Crew leaders to work in places like national parks to build trails. This program is still around and these 6 people are crew leaders who have lead High School groups in the past. They are great to work with and can teach our volunteers a lot.

On Saturday and Sunday, we had a rigging workshop. We had Bob Reardon and the SCA crew there to learn about the safty and mechanics of rigging. Even with mechanical advantage on my side I had a hard time beating Eddie in tug-o-war, but I'm not all that muscle bound yet. Time to start doing some rockbar lifts! Seriously, this workshop is fun because we get to play games with pulleys, as well as learn about the systems that we have.

The crew kept working out there through the cold and rain- it rained last week on both Tuesday and Friday, but they still got a lot done. Starting on Saturday, Jed Talbot is teaching a dry stack stone cribbing workshop that is actually still running until Tuesday. We got our new SCA 10 month intern at the TC out there- his name is Matt, as well as 2 volunteers, Joe and Liz. We also had a man named Dave out; he worked with Jed out in California. Jed's dog Cedar was there- he didn't get any wall built but he fetched many a stick by using his imploring "throw that stick for me" eyes. I love that dog, though its true he was probably a work distraction, I was glad to have him around. Anyway, I know Joe and Liz were excited to come out again and work with the SCAers, and I think I learned a little more about stonework.

Also, a little plea from the crew. The water at the camp was turned off today for the end of the season so if you happen to be coming to the mountain, try and bring extra water for them. If every volunteer coming out brings an extra gallon or 2 of water, then they can cook a little more pasta, drink more tea or brush a little more teeth.

Sorry its been so long!

Hi everyone again,

Sorry its been so long. Since I had been away for a few weeks, I had missed some happenings on Bear Mountain and wanted to have the other intern Dan write a post for you about them instead but we have just been too busy for me to have the time to fill him in on the working of this blog. I decided its been long enough that I'll just catch you up as best as I can.

Well, in the last month and a halfish, a LOT has been accomplished! There were a few workshops in September; Josh Ryan's stone cribbing workshops. I don't know everyone who was there since I wasn't but Dan got some good pictures of the days.

We had the Mahwah Boy Scout troop come out on Sept 23rd to complete their 50mile patch. They had done 50miles of paddling but to get their patch they also have to do 10 hours of service. They came out and got a lot accomplished! We had one group on corridor clearing- cutting through fallen logs, trimming branches etc, another group on digging a trench for cribbing and my group that I lead was on side hilling. Most of Bear Mountain is not "side hillable" because its just too steep for the effect we are going for, but there are a few small places where it is appropriate. My group did great! we got the whole section comepleted! Some of the other groups also got to dump some gravel down the short section of the culvert, which they greatly enjoyed.

The week later the ATC crew showed up. They worked on the section closest to the cul du sac. They got numerous base stones set and even more ground trenched. The West Hudson crew was also in on Saturday and they were working at the opposite end of the work site, setting steps and building up the walls over there. There was a forecast for rain so the ATC crew left a day early. It turns out the rain didn't happen all that much and the day got beautiful, but at least they accomplished a good deal on Friday and Saturday.
On sunday the 1st, Dan and I actually finally completed the shelves for the storage trailer! its been a long time coming from planning to finish, but its finally completed! Thanks to Brian and Christine for starting it, for Vic for helping with the plans and building, and Dan perservering when one of the shelves collapsed on you in prime sit-com follies.

The second week of the ATC crew was even more productive, as they stayed the whole time. Many rocks were split, highlined, shaped and set. The wall looks awesome and we've even started treading a little bit of it, which means is so close to complete trail. The amount of progess made since September is astounding and you all must get out and see it! (and bring some gloves, because you'll just have to work!) Thanks Casey and crew. Bob Reardon from the West Hudson crew showed up this past Saturday to help out, learning a little about the rock work and helping move lots of gravel for the backfill for the walls.

On Oct 5th we had Novartis come out for their corporate day of giving. I think I heard the count was 24 people came all the way from their headquarters in NJ up to bear mountain (there was also a group that went to work in Ringwood). Since it was such a big group that hadn't ever worked trail building before we needed to do something that would be relatively safe. We did corridor clearing on the south face of the mountain (down from the top of the mtn, away from the inn), hacking through the mountain laurel. There are so many overlooks over there, many bald faces coming out of the mountain with great views that you just don't get access to on the current AT. Be excited for this part to be completed. Once we finished this part of the work, we went over to the current work site and bucket-brigaded some of the fine gravel and dust down to the worksite. Thanks Novartis people, you did some good hard work! We were all very tired.

The SCA crew leaders come in later this week for their 4 week stay. Make sure you come out and work with us. This weekend is the rigging workshop and also upcoming this month is the Crib Wall apprenticeship and stone splitting workshop.

--Carol