Prepping the Upper Pileated Woodpecker Trail

At 9 am on Friday August 16th, Nan Fey, Bob Feyen, Neil Howk, John Ipsen, Kate Kitchell, Ted May, and Kris Wegerson met at the Mount Ashwabay parking lot to work on the Upper Pileated Woodpecker connector trail between the Jolly Long Link and the Ashwabay parking lot.

Kate, Neil, Nan, John and Kris removed rocks from a portion of the trail where Bayfield County plans to bring in machinery to mulch the trail surface in early September. This will be followed by Doug Olson’s handiwork to install rock in a drainage that crosses the trail and to elevate the trail surface and create drainage to make the trail fully passable prior to the end of the season.

Ted and Bob worked on stabilizing a footbridge that was impacted by flooding earlier this summer. Neil, Nan, and Kate hauled rocks from the creek bed to armor the streambank around the bridge. Ted, Kate, Kris, John, and Bob also dug some water bars across the trail on the slope leading down to the bridge to prevent erosion from heavy runoff and foot traffic.

Ted, John, Kris, and Neil returned on Saturday August 17th to install steps/water bars on the Pileated Woodpecker Trail just south of the spur trail to Chickadee Point. They installed 15 steps along the switchbacks on the steepest part of the trail. Additional steps are still needed, but these new ones should help divert water from running down the trail as well as create steps for trail users where the clay soils can create slippery conditions when wet or icy.
 
Although the trail remains closed at the Red Dam gate behind the Les Voigt Fish Hatchery, it can be accessed from Mount Ashwabay as it connects to the Jolly Long Trail that ultimately leads to the Jerry Jolly Trail network from Star Route.
 
This work puts us several steps closer to having a full trail connection between the fish hatchery and Mt. Ashwabay. Stay tuned for more progress!