–by Adam Polinski, CRF Trailwork Coordinator
As always, the Coopers Rock Foundation thanks all of the volunteers who’ve worked with us between Labor Day and Thanksgiving, and in every season. WVU’s Adventure West Virginia Program, and Morgantown’s Scout Troop 93, made particularly large contributions to the improvement of Coopers Rock trails this Autumn, through working with the Foundation. They were both difference-makers. Thank you!
This article covers work on trails specifically. Other CRF projects this Autumn, such as Rocky Habitat Restoration, or Building Tent Pads in Rhododendron Campground, are not included in these statistics, and will be covered in other articles.
On Saturday, September 7th, a volunteer group composed of members of the WVU Davis Michael Sustainability Fellows Program and the Coopers Rock Foundation (CRF) took a few steps up the mountain of trailwork known as Scott Run Trail. Scott Run Trail needs lots of attention! Drainage work, in the form of digging and shaping new dips, water bars and drainage ditches, began a quarter-mile down from the northern terminus (Front Gate) of Scott Run Trail, at the right-angle turn marked by a signpost. Starting from there, the group worked downstream/south, putting in around 10 new outlets on the trail so that water will drain off of it. 21 Hours of work was completed.
On Thursday, October 10th, a volunteer group that included students from WVU’s Adventure West Virginia Program and from WVU, and an employee of the US Forest Service, worked with CRF on upper Rhododendron Trail. The group dug out a dozen long-established drainage features including culverts, drainage ditches, and dips, that hadn’t been cleaned out in well over a year. 17 Hours of work was performed.
Saturday, October 26th, was a highlight of the trailwork season at Coopers Rock. Eagle Scout candidate Joey McBee, of University High School, with great support from friends and family in local Scout Troop 93, built a pair of 16’ trail bridges on the Ridge/Rhododendron Connector Trail. There had long been an unfilled need for these bridges at the two stream crossings 50’ apart from one another. Now that these two bridges are in, a trail loop that starts and finishes at the adjacent trailheads by Shelter #3, in the Lower Picnic Loop, is now a ‘dry’ loop. This loop is as follows: From Shelter #3 at the Lower Picnic Loop, follow Rock City Trail to Shelter #4, then Ridge Trail to the big switchback of Ridge/Rhodo Connector, Connector to Rhododendron Trail, and then upper Rhododendron Trail back up to the trailhead in Lower Picnic Loop. There are no more wet crossings that whole way.
This is especially important to cross-country skiers, because now, between 2,300’ and 1,800’, on the entire South Side of Coopers Rock, there are no more significant wet crossings. Yes, there are still some small, pesky problem wet spots in a few places on the uppermost 500’ of the South Side trail network, and no, we will not rest until they are all conquered, but none remaining will require anywhere near the huge effort put in by Troop 93.
Every single plank, beam, and nail was carried down, one-third of a mile to the jobsite, by scouts and their parents.
They then built four 8’ X 4’ bridge units, which were then linked together with hardware into two 16’ bridges. The bridges were mounted upon rock supports in the stream beds and the ends were carefully dug into each bank. Each stream bed above and below each bridge was cleared of rocks and debris. (Streams this high up on Chestnut Ridge generally only flow intermittently, and are not surprisingly dry or nearly so in mid-Autumn)
One new bridge also has an alternative ‘wet’ crossing alongside it, for mountain bikers and trail runners who prefer the extra challenge. The other bridge will have a 3’ X 12’ constructed rock garden alongside it as a more challenging alternative – to be completed in late ‘19/early ’20.
Troop 93 not only carried the bridge materials and built and installed the bridges, they also covered the costs of the materials. CRF’s role was to describe the trail problem and the solution to the State Forest management, gain official permission for the project, and design the bridges (based off prior success on Reservoir Loop Trail). CRF also prepared the bridge surfaces by sawing deck boards to size and painting them first with primer and then with non-skid paint. Additionally, CRF prepared materials for carry, provided State Forest tools, and some technical guidance.
Based on the outcome, it should be universal consensus that Joey McBee deserves Eagle Scout status.
Number Of Hours Worked is uncertain, but with over two dozen volunteers coming and going, that number is between 50 and 100.
The Coopers Rock Foundation held its Annual Coopers Rock Halloween Candy Trailwork Weekend over November 2nd and 3rd, and completed a total of 107.25 Hours of work.
The second-to-last day of CRF’s Autumn Trailwork series focused where the fall season began, on Scott Run Trail. 63.75 Hours of work was put into drainage work that 2nd day of November.
The morning’s group consisted mostly of trail runners, some of whom are on the CRF Board. We revisited prior work done on September 7th, and expanded and lengthened those dips and ditches, and then added a whole lot more. Strong crew!
There are now 24 new drainage features on Scott Run Trail …
…between the obvious signpost at the right-angle turn, and, 15 minutes’ walk away, the pair of bridges just 300’ from one another.
In April, 2020, we’ll continue to climb the mountain of trailwork on Scott Run by resuming maintenance and expansion of these new drainage features, and with the addition of more.
The afternoon’s volunteer group was yet another big showing by students involved with Adventure WV, or who received transportation to/from the event courtesy of AdWV. We focused our energy on a concentration of problem spots on each side of the second/lower bridge of this pair (twenty minutes’ hike from northern/Front Gate trailhead). This included lots of harvesting of local materials – rocks, coarse gravel, and sand — gathered in 5-gallon buckets. This material went on top of the trailbed to provide dry passage over once-extremely-muddy areas and also to create a crown on one segment of trail, to increase drainage there.
A notable improvement from that afternoon is a 35’ long rock-patio-style build-up of the trail that rises up above a muddy mess.
That site and its surrounding area are on the Spring 2020 List for a return visit, to refine this work after 5 months of cold-weather use.
The final trailwork day of the Autumn was on Sunday, November 3rd, and for the season finale’, who else but an Adventure WV leader, students in the program, and others who were provided transportation by AdWV, showed up and put in yet another big showing – 43.5 Hours. The theme for the day was a return to the bridges built by Troop 93 a week earlier, to transport crusher run gravel to the site, to make smooth transitions on each end of each bridge, and to add to the drainage maintenance that happened the prior week. If you’ve ever had a wood dining room floor and a tile kitchen floor not align, and then had a carpenter craft a smooth and aesthetic transition between the two differing surfaces, then you know what a transition is. In this case, in 5-gallon buckets and in backpacks lined with chicken feed bags, our volunteer army carried down a volume of 65 Gallons of recreation-friendly crusher run gravel to build four transitions. The gravel was carefully placed on top of the transitions built the prior week, which then became the sub-flooring to the crusher run topcoat. The fresh gravel was raked, shaped, and compacted to achieve a seamless connection between bridge and trail. Some other drainage clearing was also done nearby.
The two new bridges provide a long-needed upgrade of that short trail segment. In 2020, CRF plans to work on a 30’ trail segment — the extremely rocky curve that is just uphill from the southernmost of the two bridges — at the base of the big switchback. Once that short segment is upgraded, then Ridge/Rhodo Connector Trail will have a consistent Difficulty Level from one end at Rhododendron Trail to the other end at Ridge Trail. The bridges truly transform the lower end of this connector trail – it’s a great place to pause for a moment and take in the surroundings.
Trailwork Totals, Autumn 2019
*Various dates 8 Hours (CRF: running gas-powered trimmer on Roadside Trail, flagging volunteer group projects, loading/unloading tools for volunteer days)
September 7th 21 Hours
October 10th 17 Hours
October 26th 75 Hours* (see article)
November 2nd 63.75 Hours
November 3rd 43.5 Hours
Number of Hours Worked On Trails, with/by the Coopers Rock Foundation, Autumn 2019: 228.25
