Sams Point, Minnewaska State Park Preserve, Kerhonkson, NY
The 2000+ acre fire that broke out on April 23, 2016 was fully contained on April 30, 2016.
Now that the fire is out and regrowth has begun, it is safe for LDTC to go in and rehabilitate sections of the Long Path / Verkeerderkill Falls trail. Because of the fire, this area is still very sensitive and the trail remains closed to the public. We will be very careful.
Because of the topography, plant life and heavy hiker traffic, the trail through this area has been compacted down so much that a furrow has been created. Any heavy rain causes the trail/furrow to become a river. The more rain the more river and the harder it is to hike. On the steeper sections, this river effect has eroded the trail to a point that many large boulders stick up and out into the trail making for a very difficult and potentially dangerous hiking experience. That’s where LDTC comes in.
We know the water will always be an issue so we wanted to build the trail in such a way as too coexist with the water movement but manage where the water should flow. In several places we put in water bars to shuttle water off the trail and slow the flow rate. In other sections we raised the trail using crib-walls, crush and soil to make a dryer trail during wet weather.
This is our second crew outing (weekend) working on this project. This particular Friday was a very foggy but not too cold morning as we set out from the parking lot heading to the trail head. Once there we realized we were in a cloud and would be for most of the day. There was a great turnout, Jakob was there with his gas powered brush cutter to clear the trail all the way to the falls. As we hiked along the trail getting to todays worksite, we couldn’t help but notice the amazing amount of regrowth happening all around us. Young blueberry bushes with bright red leaves were everywhere, Pine trees pushing out new branches with bright green needles from the base and all along their blackened trunks. Park ranger Drew went ahead and flagged problem areas indicating here is a place needing a waterbar or a berm cut. We needed that information to make a plan for the weekend. We first went to work where we left off two weeks ago and continued adding stepping stones in several wet areas . Each stepping stone would be surrounded by crush, lots of crush. That kept several of us very busy. By the end of the day we had several stepping stones in place and a lot of the crush. Tomorrow would be a different day altogether.
Friday night it rained, no it poured and the temperature dropped, a lot. By morning it was 37 degrees, very windy and rain still falling. It was very wet and cold, Bob got out an early email to the crew that todays outing was cancelled. But because some volunteers had to travel a great distance they were already on the road when the message was sent. Because of the distance from home, Bob F, Peter, Dr. Dave and Marty were staying nearby at Patty’s barn near Walker Valley so they went to Sams Point just in case any volunteers showed up. Well a few did and hearing news that a group of 10 college students, doing a community service project, were also joining us meant we were going out on the trail at least for half a day. We head out and immediately started making crush to keep warm. There is a lot of heat generated swinging a hammer. We had almost all the stepping stone crushed in when at 11:15 the students arrive and were completely unprepared for the harsh conditions. Some had worn dress shoes others wore sneakers and I don’t recall any of them having a rain coat. The Park couldn’t do anything about footwear but they did provide hard hats, safety glasses a large garbage bags with holes cut in as rain protectors. It was still very cold and windy but the students ,after hearing the plan, got right to work making crush and following Ranger Drews flagging, broke through berms to help water drain out of low areas. We didn’t want any student to get too cold or hurt so we were glad to hear they had to leave in one hour to catch the bus back to their dorms. With the harsh weather and realizing we had accomplished most of what we wanted to do today, It wasn’t long after the students left that we decided to call it a day and return to parking lot. On our way back we took a side trip to the ice caves. It is a very interesting loop hike/climb to the caves which at this time of the year there is no ice. But it was still very engaging hike ending with a great view just before the end. Sunday looked like it was going to be a much better day.
Sunday was a much better day and another great volunteer turnout, 15 here today. It was warmer by at least 10 degrees, a blue sky but still very windy. Todays goal was to build and rehabilitate several waterbars, more clipping and finalize the stepping stones. Of course after everything gets done we have to pack out all of the trail building tools. The work wasn’t easy but the lunch time view was awesome. The contrasting colors of fire blackened tree trunks and the sooty soil offset by massive fields of young blueberry bushes turning bright red in the fall coolness. The Dwarf Pine sprouting bright green branches and needles. Couple that with the orange and yellows of the fading ferns and you have a scene to die for. Words nor even pictures couldn’t accurately convey the beautiful landscape we were fortunate enough to be part of.
As you can tell from the pictures this project took a lot of effort mostly done by volunteers with help from Sams Point personnel.
Speaking of volunteers, not everyone could make it every time we went out and that’s OK with us. Some volunteers came out out all three days, others could only make it 1 or 2. Don’t feel that you have to commit to the entire project or even a weekend, join us whenever you can, any help is greatly appreciated and being a volunteer you can come and go as you see fit.
This project is not over, we will be returning again to work on other sections just when hasn’t been decided.
Hopefully our new volunteers learned something about crew life and about trail building, Despite the sometimes harsh conditions, I know everyone had a great time. We really appreciate their efforts and look forward to seeing them again.
Photos by Marty Costello and Dr. David Booth, LDTC crew members
If this looks like the kind of activity you want to be part of, contact us, we're a community of volunteers who build, protect and maintain hiking trails.
