Trail maintenance day at Branched Oak Area #7

When: Saturday, August 30th starting at 8 am until ???

Why: To prepare the course for the upcoming Psycowpath race on September 13th

What to bring: Tree pruners, weed whackers (manual and powered), McCloud tools, shovels, rakes, etc.

Directions: Branched Oak Lake, Lieber’s Point near Raymond, NE From I-80, take Exit 401B to Hwy 34. Head west on Hwy 34 to NW 112th to W Raymond Road. Turn left on W Raymond Road and proceed west to NW 140th Street. Turn right on NW 140th Street and head north to Branched Oak Road. Turn right and proceed to the park gate/booth. Turn left (north) on the gravel road at the park gate/booth. Follow this road about a half mile. The road will then fork out. Turn right at the fork and continue about a quarter of a mile northeast. (Area 7)

Manawa Volunteers - A Mighty Big Thank You!!!!

Steve D. sends....

After numerous evenings of bug infested, poison ivy/summac, and high humidity heavy duty cutting, clearing and cleaning the Manawa MTB trails are back. Steve is tremendously appreciative of all the folks that helped out for the last month and a half plus clearing out all the water and wind damage to the trails. He couldn't have done it without you and he passes on his sincere thanks to all of you that helped out.

Over the last several years the black/technical trails with many of the log crossings and technical features have been ground down so the trails were not so difficult anymore. Many large trees and logs were trimmed up and left in place to replace those features in the technical trail areas. The "No Second Chance" trail has the largest logs that require "trials" skills as Dale pointed out in the previous blog post. These are still work in progress and will be built up a bit in the next couple of months.

Break.

And from the rest of us trail users a mighty big thanks to Steve, Blaine, and Tom for having the perseverance and tenancity spearheading this monumental clean up effort by hitting the damage each and every week for the last month and a half plus.

There are a countless number of other folks unrecognized that gave so much time and effort I wish we could spotlight all of you but on behalf of all the users a big thank you just the same. This was definitely a community effort to accomplish.

some new ttfs at manawa

Forgot the one with Tom, Martin, and I checking over the trail after completion.

These pics are from Saturday's work in Tony's Playground.

Martin is checking ring clearance on a new log crossing. Better technical riders can clear it where Martin is standing without the stepup and down help.

Ginger was a great traildog, though she was sore and limping today. This log was dropped straight down but would roll. I don't like moving logs so I sunk it in the ground a couple inches. Still hits your ring when attempted w/o technique.

Martin made some great stakes to secure logs from moving.

No 2nd Chance has several new logs that are difficult to climb over, let alone ride. This brought back memories of how difficult Manawa was early on. Slowly, the ttfs have worn down or given easy bypasses. No 2nd Chance is for the people who like grinding up logs and other trials type riding. Check it out!

Save Manawa!

Okay, so I'm being a little dramatic with the title of this post, but this weekend is THE weekend THOR is hoping to wrap up the major clean up at Lake Manawa.

Trail Leader Dickey is asking for double duty. Here are the details:

Day 1
Friday, August 22
Meet at 5:45 at Trail Head
Work from 6-8pm
Goal: We need to clear a lot of trees and cut them up for future trail features.
Bring: loppers, hand saws and a strong back (those of you who have been approved to use a chain saw, bring it).

Day 2
Saturday, August 23
Meet at 8:30 at Trail Head (grab a bagel and a beverage)
Work from 9-2
Goal: Bench the trail after the rock climb and finish tree removal, pick up any remaining branches
Bring: loppers, hand saws, chain saws, shovels, Mcleods, hoes
NO GRASS WILL BE CUT AT THIS TIME SO DON'T BRING WEED WACKERS OR TRIMMERS

If you can only make it for a couple hours, please do so. Most of the work is being done towards the back of the long loop. The warm up loop is all done. So if you arrive later in the morning, take the levy as a means to get you to the east side of the trail quicker or walk the trail backwards. The benching area is towards the beginning of the long loop.

Wear long sleeves and pants. Bug spray is a must. Bring plenty of water but we'll have some on sight as well as gatorade.

Bring your bike.

calvin crest sunday 8.17

CC has a college age group working from 13:30 - 15:30 this Sunday. I'll be leaving around 12:00 from my place if anyone wants to go with.

I hope to cut a downed tree into bridge gurders to cross a creek. This will require chainsaws and ropes to pull into place. Another trail crew will continue clearing the trail through cedars.

Loppers, handsaws, chainsaws

edit: here are a couple pics




We cleared a couple hundred yards of trail in the short time. Only another couple hundred to clear, then a lot of tread work and a handful of bridges to put in. Looks like the next group of volunteers may be available in Oct. for several days.

Manawa Trail Work

This week we are trying Thursday evening for trail work. How about giving up your Thursday Night Ride time to help open more trail at Manawa.

Meet at the river boat ramp at 6pm. We will work for about 2 hours. Bring the usual tools -- loppers, hand saws, long pants, bug spray, gloves, etc.

Trail Leader Steve thanks those that have helped clearing the Lake Manawa trails. We are planning to schedule trail work one evening each week.

Thanks from Tranquility

I'd like to thank everyone who braved the heat and came out Saturday morning to help with tread work at Tranquility. Because of your hard work we more than met our goals and the Tranquility Tire Tantrum race in 2 weeks will be better for it. Volunteers like you sure make THOR an effective tool in trail maintenance and we are lucky to have you in our community. Thanks again.

Doug

Manawa Needs Your Help

This evening we will be again doing trail work at Lake Manawa. This photo is of the trail crew that on Tuesday helped Trail Leader Steve.

We have lots to do before the trails at Manawa are in any ridable condition. This evening we are planning to mow some of the trails, raking and picking up debris, lopping, moving cut logs, and perhaps cut some more fallen trees.

Try to come out this evening to help. We will start at the river boat ramp at 6pm and work until 8pm. Brings bug spray, long pants, water, loppers, racks, hand saws, gloves... etc.

See you there.