MCP Trail Maintenance

[TAS]

September TM ( Saturday 9/16) has been cancelled.....
The mid week brush hog & tree cutting crews have caught up with the downed trees and trim work.

Big News! Mercer park maintenance is actively looking to remedy what has become known as the bouncy bridge on Blue North! We expect to soon hear from the land steward and park maintenance director. They have inspected the existing bridge.
Updates will be posted as they become available.

Don't hold your breath... it may take a while.

Meanwhile take care while crossing.

If that beaver dam gets any bigger perhaps we can ride that?
Certainly is solid. Ha Ha!

TAS

 

[TAS]

Bridge Replacement Update!
Mick received notice from the park land steward that the bridge is scheduled to be fixed - replaced sometime this winter.
What it will look like is anybody's guess. Actually... who cares as long as it doesn't bounce!
Blue North is pretty much closed on weekdays for deer hunting December thru Feb so it makes sense that will be when the work is done.
TAS

 

[TAS]

October TM time this Saturday is cancelled due to weather.
There are a few trees down on Red & Blue that will be addressed in the near future.
TAS

 

[TAS]

Hi Folks, Mercer TM is next Saturday 11/18

Come on out and earn some karma points!
Depending on turnout to determine a course of action.
Yellow Brick Road section of Blue North to Conover road needs to be trimmed.

We will assemble at the Marina parking lot @9:00AM near the volleyball courts.
Tools and gloves will be provided. We will have power trimming tools available.

Please bring drinking water.

We will have JORBA and Mercer County release forms on hand if you have not completed them.

TAS

 

[TAS]

Mick, Rudy and I were the crew. Great day to be outside in the woods. Target area was Blue North from South Post road to the Conover road Culvert Bridge. Rudy ran the hog and did double cut back the entire length. This section had not been trimmed in quite a while.

Mick and I repaired the approach to the bridge. We will replace the missing slat at a later time but it will be fine for now.

We then removed the tree that was over the trail from the March tornado. It was hung up where it had broken off. Took repeated, careful nibbles until it finally dropped.

On the way out we trimmed and removed rotted branches over hanging the trail - general cleanup.
Should be good to go for another season.

TAS

 

[TAS]

The December TM scheduled for Saturday 12/30 is cancelled. Too wet and not much to do.
I did a ride of the south side and all was open but soft.
Happy Holidays!

TAS

 

[TAS]

February TM scheduled for 2/17 is cancelled. Too wet for ground work and no reports of blocked or damaged trails.

TAS

 

[TAS]

First TM for 2024 proposed for Saturday, 3/16/24!! Too wet for ground work and too early for trimming.

However, missing trail markers need to be replaced on the red and blue trails.

Weather looks great!

We will assemble at the Marina parking lot @9:00AM near the volleyball courts.
Tools and gloves will be provided.

Please bring drinking water.

We will have JORBA and Mercer County release forms to be completed.

TAS

Weather looks great

 

[Big Al]

First TM for 2024 proposed for Saturday, 3/16/24!! Too wet for ground work and too early for trimming.

However, missing trail markers need to be replaced on the red and blue trails.

Weather looks great!

We will assemble at the Marina parking lot @9:00AM near the volleyball courts.
Tools and gloves will be provided.

Please bring drinking water.

We will have JORBA and Mercer County release forms to be completed.

TAS

View attachment 234017
Weather looks great

In!

 

[TAS]

Beautiful spring morning! Tom, Al and Rudy. Mick assembled the gear but he had a doc appointment.

Red Trail was re-marked from West Picnic to East Picnic. Many had popped off or the tree they were on had fallen.
Face slappers were hand trimmed.
Spikey balls were away!!

Several trees are leaning- hanging and will be removed at a future date.

TAS

 

[TAS]

Hi Folks, Mercer TM is this Saturday 4/20/24

Weather will be good. Come on out and help repair the trails you ride!

We have two work areas on blue north.
Beaver dam removal and cleanup adjacent to the bridges near Conover Road. These are raising the water level in the creek and flooding the trail bed. There are 3 dams in various states.

Remediate trail bed erosion that is exposing glass from a bottle dump. Same area.
Install a nick with drain to move water off the trail bed and fill in the eroded area.

We will assemble at the Marina parking lot @9:00AM near the volleyball courts.
Tools and gloves will be provided.

Please bring drinking water.
We will have JORBA and Mercer County release forms on hand if you need to complete them for 2024.

TAS

 

[TAS]

Location Update!!!
Quick Update on where to meet up
We will meet at the soft ball field parking lot near the junction of South Post and Conover roads.
There is a rowing event on Saturday and the parking lot at the marina will not be accessible to the public.

TAS

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[TAS]

TM Report 4/20/24
Attendance: Mick, Mike, Rudy & I. Gloomy start with few spits of rain. By 9:20 it was clearing.

Success! Mick & Mike worked on the drainage issue.
The large erosion channel from the farm field runoff was blocked and filled. A new nick was cut across the trail to drain water away from the eroded section of trail bed. This is a temporary solution until a reroute is completed. All agree that a reroute is needed as the current trail bed / line is no longer sustainable.

Rudy assisted me with the six beaver dams. Two smaller dams were below the big one.
The large dam near the bridge was cleared to clean bottom. Debris and foliage were cleared away.
In doing so we were able to stabilize the bridge somewhat with large cement construction blocks that were found.

We then removed the three remaining small beaver dams upstream.

The Park has replaced the missing - broken deck slats. We had hoped the that entire bridge was going to be repaired, But....apparently not.

TAS