We don't have any more trail flagged for the coming Saturday so I think the best plan is to use this week and weekend to wrap up what we already have started. Brad, Dave, and I are coordinating to get a significant chunk of the green loop flagged before next next Saturday (8/10) where we are hoping to have a large turnout. Dave is putting together lunch for the volunteers after that work day. Lets not get ahead of ourselves and jeopardize the quality of trail we are building.

A few things that still need attention on previously constructed trail:
  • A few stumps still need to be dug out on the section from two weeks ago (west side of the disc golf holes)
  • One corner is in need of a berm or some tweaking because it is too severely out-sloped (located in the far Southwest corner near the RR tracks)
  • Digging out the stumps and clearing the remaining brush from the section we worked on last weekend (East side of disc golf holes).

Also note that the section we cleared last weekend still hasn't had the final trail placement marked so I would advise against putting in the trail bed until we have had a chance to double check the alignment and finalize the trail placement (hopefully Sat. morning).

Since the undergrowth at Westbrook is so thick right now (thus limited sight lines for trail layout) the general trail building process becomes a four (instead of three) step process and more time consuming:
  1. Flag a preliminary trail corridor through the undergrowth.
  2. Clear the undergrowth to make the underlying terrain visible for final trail alignment.
  3. Refine the corridor and mark the final trail alignment.
  4. Construct the trail tread.


Once the undergrowth dies back we should be able to omit step 2 in most situations. Normally we layout trail in the late fall or early spring when there are no leaves because we need to be able to see 50-100 feet in front of us in order to establish good trail flow. Current conditions make it difficult to see 20 feet in many areas.