What a day! The temps were great, bugs were worse in the parking lot than they were on the trails and we had a good sized crew to work our way through some burly terrain. Our new trail 'The Dude Abides' is no joke. Good amount of vert and a good amount of technical features as well. Today we built a span across a wet area / washout, a ladder bridge up and over a boulder as well as some serious rock work up on the ridge.
We don't mess around. Not even a little bit.
Luckily we have the means to get some heavier tools in number back to the work area. We weren't kidding when we said Page Hill was big.
Matt, Scott and I got to work on a little bridge project just off the power lines in the morning to get us over and past a little washout / wet area. Took us a few hours but we are pretty pleased with the outcome. Slight camber to it, should be fun to ride.
Matt making artisinal chainsaw cuts
Scott analyzing camber angles
Matt scouring the boards for a bit of traction
I forgot to get any pictures of Matt and my second project, the ladder bridge up and over a large boulder. Went in faster than expected and is already nice and solid. And a few of the oak slat's we used were harder than our nails so it should be good to go for at least awhile. I lost count of how many nails gave up as we tried to pound them in.
We finished off the day with a collected effort to get a large 1 ton (at least) boulder into place up on the ridge. I can't speak personally to all the work that went in up there but I walked that section of the trail in the afternoon and I was blown away by the amount of rock work that went in. Nice work guys...maybe someone can chime in on this post for a true account of the toil.
BIG
HEAVY
but nothing two rocks bars and a tub of elbow grease can't handle
in its new home
We got a lot of help and expertise from Ryan O. of Pinnacle fame. You know you are in good shape if you have the Trail Boss from one of the most respected MTB spots in New England on hand. We didn't quite make it down to Page Bypass but we are close. Close enough to probably finish it off with some impromptu work here and there before the snow flies.
I just keep getting more and more excited about Page Hill the more singletrack we get cut in. Such an excellent mix of terrain. Its tough terrain to build in but it will be so worth it.