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 is 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.
We split the crew into two groups with one group concentration on the lower section and the other a little further uphill. No high-line here (no trees to attach it to) so any rock we wanted to use had to be either moved using rock bars and pick mattocks, or split it into pieces that could be moved. We only used the rope puller for 2 rocks on the upper section where they were able to secure the lines.
We started on the steeper sections and dug up many of the rocks and used them in either the crib-walls or broken down into crush. As always we needed a lot of crush and the only way we get crush is to make it. We make it by using hammers which to break down big rocks into smaller rocks into smaller rocks and finally in to fine crush. Using rocks and trenches, the water flow was directed next to and away from the new trail allowing the trail to stay dry and intact. Of course no treadway project would be complete without mineral soil. Finding enough is always a challenge. This time we got lucky. While making a trench to divert water off the trail we encountered several large rocks. While removing them we discovered we had hit mineral soil . So our dirt hole had begun. By the end of the weekend it was a 5’ x 3’ oval, 4’ deep. The rocks we removed were either used for crib-walls or were broken down into crush.
The work wasn’t easy but the 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 in 2 weeks to work on other sections. Hopefully our new volunteers learned something about crew life and about trail building, I know everyone had a great time. We really appreciate their efforts and look forward to seeing them again.
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.
