Clean Up

On Friday, we met with forester Woody Johnson (his real name) and Tim Archer to discuss the trail. Woody has worked with the Timberlake trail near Eglin. He gave a thumbs up to what we have done so far. We also looked for a tortoise hole that the gps had located but I couldn’t find. We all agreed it wasn’t there so that’s where the trail head is going to be. We spent about an hour discussing the network and he was all for it. Monday I’ll email Barbara Schmelling about the tortoise hole and see if they are ok with the trail.

Saturday was filled with Christmas parties and rain storms.

Sunday I managed to overcome my food hangover and cut the last couple hundred feet. Not much to it. I rode the trail all the way through and it works well. I stopped to look for my mattock and I still couldn’t find it. That’s very weird. I can’t imagine how a 3′ long yellow handled tool could disappear. It kinda squirrels me out that someone could have taken it while we were out there. Next I’ll try to get started on Phase 2.

It’s Ready To Ride!

Almost. I’ve got maybe 500 feet of new trail to build to get to the north trailhead but that can be done in a few hours. But from the place where I started to the end is very rideable. I rolled through the whole thing in regular shoes pulling the trailer and managed to carry some speed. Barbara helped me on Saturday for about 4 hours and we finished widening and clearing. At some point I lost my mattock, which is hard to believe since it weighs a ton and is bright yellow, but I went back to look for it today and I couldn’t find it. Anyway, it will turn up eventually, probably through someones spokes. Today I opened up the south trailhead at the old railroad bed. It was mostly open except for the last 20 feet which had two fallen trees and a nest of grapevines. That pretty much did me in for the day. I flagged several hundred feet to the new trailhead but I ran out of flags and energy so I only got in 3 hours today. So that’s 11 hours for the weekend.

More Widening

I got in 4 hours Saturday but i was a little tired and the trail was still a little thick so I didn’t get a bunch done. I met the lady that walks her dog down the dirt road. She was curious about what was going on but she knew a trail was being built. She keeps an eye out about what’s going on in the area and she’s called the law on people hunting out there. Her son or grandson was with her. From the looks of him, I think he was out of jail for the weekend. I rode the trail pulling the trailer (with the new tool holder I built) and it seemed fine but it’s going to take some riding to get it fast. I also looked around for a trail head. It’s wide open in that area so it won’t be a problem. I also hit myself in the foot with the mattock. It hurt enough that I don’t want to do it again.

 Sunday I managed to escape and do another 4.5 hours worth of widening. I felt better this morning, I’m not sure why. I made up for yesterday, such that next weekend I should be able to finish widening and get the trail heads open. Then it’s just a matter of smoothing some rough spots and ride, ride, ride. It was foggy this morning but it burned off and then it was overcast and muggy. I listened to the Alabama Gravy Soppers on the way home. The song ‘Barbeque Any Old Time’ sounds just like Barbara and me.