Jones Creek

We had another work party at the Jones Creek reroute this past Sunday. I was still feeling that Turkey Shuffle and my shoulder still felt fragile from that crash, but neither rain nor sleet nor slime nor slush can keep me from my appointed rounds! There's new trail to finish!

Debbie and Nancy were there, of course, and the lady with the yellow Subaru who's name I perpetually forget and re-remember because I'm shit with names. Chris the ultra runner was back for another round, and a french (I think) guy from Gainesville named Elie joined us too. I felt a little bad for him because I thought he said "Eddie" and he had to correct me. Then everybody else made the same mistake. That's got to happen every time.

Oh yeah, and Terry Palmeri was there too, with a much more hardcore version of the same mindset I had. Three broken ribs... Whatever. I want to ride that new trail!

I took Pulaski duty and hacked my way through every damn thing I could, all the way down to the dam.

I got excited when I saw the ditch witch ahead of me. Must be getting close...

I finally got to see the tail end of the new trail too. Overall, it has much the same character of the trail it's supplanting. I always appreciate when a replacement trail attempts to maintain some general sense of the trail it's replacing. In this case, the old trail was a roadbed that rolls along the ridgeline before dropping down to the dam. But, it would develop mud holes in the low spots, and the drop down to the dam was unmaintainably steep and sandy. The new trail also rolls along the ridgeline before dropping down to the dam, but it's 3 feet wide instead of 15, has all of the necessary features for sustainability and maintainability, and though it drops, the drop is much less precipitous.

Down by the dam, I noticed a deer stand. It is firearms season right now.

It looked reasonably modern, but I couldn't immediately tell if the guy left it up year round or not. It would be funny if the guy came out one weekend and there was no trail near his stand, and then the next weekend there was.

When I made it to the dam, I worked back toward everyone else, looking for things I missed the first time. I only saw a few, which was fortunate because the axe blade was getting pretty dull by then.

Everybody had something to do later in the day, so we didn't hang around and socialize much. Basically just a bunch of hugs, handshakes, and Merry Christmas'es.

Last work party of the year. 2020, here we come.