Plans for trail workday in Damascus

As previously announced at the last club meeting in October, there will be a workday for a portion of the Creeper Trail in Damascus tomorrow, November 16. 

We will receive a load of railroad ties delivered around 8:30-9:30 from Berry's.  Chris Sullivan and I will be there to unload.  Others are welcome to join if available but please dress for rain.  At 10:30 the USFS surveyor will be there to mark the trail right of way boundary for the section between trestle 16 and the intersection with Shady Ave.  Damascus public works folks have agreed to bring a ditching tool/backhoe to create a shallow trench along the trail within the newly marked ROW.  This trench will serve as the guide to the placement of railroad ties which will hopefully prevent intrusions from vehicles parking or driving on that section.  The ties will be secured to the ground with rebar in the same manner as those along Hwy 58 across from the church and near the caboose.

However, given the weather today and the forecast of rain tomorrow, I have decided that it is appropriate to limit our scope of additional work from what was previously planned, so as not to do more harm than good to the trail surface.  Our tractor/box blade operator, Brad LaMontaigne agrees that the wet surface and saturated bed of the trail would not scrape well and we would do better to wait until it dries out a bit.  I am therefore scheduling a tentative second workday for two weeks from tomorrow, Wednesday, November 30 in order to scrape, put down new gravel, and roll the surface.  Anyone on good terms with Mother Nature, please put in a good word for us on that day.