On April 29th, Pioneer Valley NEMBA held its fourth annual cleanup of the Poet Seat park in Greenfield, Massachusetts. As you can see from the pictures, this event was our most ambitious project to date: the construction of a large rock ramp to shore up a corner of a switchback on a remote trail on an extremely steep section of trail. Last year, the IMBA Trail Care Crew casually suggested the project, knowing that since the site was so remote and steep, there was no way to use a vehicle or even a wheel barrow to move the rocks, and we're talking BIG rocks…three tons of them!
So, what's the solution to this modern day myth of Sisyphus? Flying rocks, of course! Utilizing the arborist experience of two of our dedicated members, Tristen Redgrave of Shumway Tree and Glen Bouchane of J and L Tree Service, bull ropes were placed high in the trees, and block and tackle were attached. With these in place, slings were wrapped around large rocks, which were then hoisted in the air and slid down the ropes to where we needed them on the trail. This was a very labor intensive project, and perhaps the most technically challenging one that NEMBA has undertaken. Our dedicated trail maintainers started at 7:00 A.M. and didn't finish until 5:00 P.M.! All told, an estimated three tons of rock and material were moved in to place to create a —dare I say it— rock-solid switchback.
Big thanks to J and L Tree and Shumway Tree for the use of their equipment, The Peoples Pint for providing tasty home made soda to cool down our volunteers and most importantly Glen Bouchane, Tristen Redgrave, Dan, Erick Rudder, Pete Taylor, and Rich LaBombard for their back breaking dedication. NEMBA can be proud that this project will be in place for years to come. –John Dudek
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