Another Perfect Sunday

Saturday was crappy as far as the weather goes so we ventured up to Atmore to visit our friends Mark and Kimberly on their farm.They have goats, sheep, chickens, turkeys. What they didn’t have was a donkey. So for Christmas we got them one. Saturday was the day to pick it up. Now they have a new pet. I wanted to name it Odie that way it could be Donkey Odie (Don Quixote) but we’ll see.

Sunday Barbara volunteered to help out so we loaded up the dogs and tools and made it up there around 10:30. I chose to do cleanup today since I had help so we started at the beginning of phase2 and started trimming and raking. We made it to about 2014 before giving out but I think what is done is now rideable. With the trail raked, I think I can start pulling out pin flags to use elsewhere. Lots of gunfire but not really near us. So 8 hours for this weekend.

Only 3 Hours

Saturday was a wash. I didn’t get out of may bathrobe all day. The crappy weather and the cold made for a perfect day to loaf. Sunday the Schnauzer and I got a late start, not getting there until about 10:30. I forgot to tighten my loppers and I was out of pin flags so I just did some stump removal. I got to 2028 before I gave up. I gps’d the beginning of phase 1 so I could put something on the blog. The trail looks like it’s being used but the rain washed away all the old prints so I can’t tell if it’s hikers or bikers. We left at 1:30.

Another Beautiful Day

The Schnauzer and I flagged and rough cut about 1600 feet today to get to point 2030. The forest opened up nicely making the going easy. The only two negatives were a possible tortoise hole at point 2019 and a small erosion area at 2024. The tortoise hole looked new (if that’s what it is) so it could have been overlooked when they checked initially. It is right underneath the flagging for the point so I don’t know how they could have missed it. It won’t be hard to move the trail though. The other negative is an area of erosion maybe 100 feet long and the trail got rerouted right through it. I’m hoping they’ll let it slide or at least let me put a skinny over it. The Schnauzer and I put in 4 hours.

I only made it up once this weekend as we went to a bond fire/picking session at a friend’s house not far from the trail on Friday night. I think I was the best player there but that’s not saying much. It was fun playing those easy songs around a roaring fire. We made it home after midnight. The two teenaged children of our friend rode their bikes up to the trail and did a lap. And Justin’s girlfriend Lindsey has jogged on it a little. Another friend said he ran into a couple from North Carolina riding the trail.  It would be a nice thing to stumble upon but I hope they didn’t make that the goal of the trip. 

Saturday we had brunch at another friend’s house. To me, brunch is breakfast except it comes with alcohol and desert. It was worth skipping trailwork for. There may be the possibility of learning to surf and smoking some meat. Mmmm.

Phase 2

I started on phase 2 on Saturday. It was nice and cool and perfect for cutting brush. I bought a new landscape axe to replace my missing mattock and it works well. I started at point 2000 and pin flagged to 2010 and rough cut to 2007. It’s uphill at about a 5% grade for quite a way, maybe a quarter mile. I put lots of tight turns to make it more difficult than phase 1. I worked 4 hours.

Sunday I hit it again and rough cut to point 2014. Lots of tight turns and still uphill. It was hot today and I got cut and scratched pretty good. It’s not rideable but it’s easy enough to walk through. I’m hoping to get some people to help with the polishing or it will never get done. Once I get to point 2050 to 2060, I can cut a small trail back to the dirt road to create an extension to the phase 1 loop. That would be about a 2.5 mile loop that might be kinda fun to ride. I’m hoping to get it to that point before the summer arrives. I got in another 4 hours. When I quit working, I heard several gun shots that were pretty close, maybe down at the camp ground. I’m getting an air horn. There were also a bunch of motorcycles racing on Pleasant Home Road that were quite noisy. I also ran into the old lady that walks her dog out there. She said she walked the trail for about 20 minutes but got tired and turned around. At least it’s getting some use.

On New Year’s Day, several guys came up to do a time trial on the phase 1 loop. I think there were six of us and we did quite a few laps but never got around to the time trial. I had Fat Tire beer as prizes but since we didn’t race and a couple of guys had to bail early, we drank the prizes and ate chips and salsa. We determined that there is one bad turn on phase 1 that should be addressed but I don’t know if I’ll do it now or later. I would like to get as much cut as I can and then go back to fix things.