Land of Confusion - Trail recon and bouldering

[mick]

Anyone want to come to the LOC with me tomorrow, Saturday Dec 13? I have crash pads and room in my car.

There will be some wandering around, as this is sort of a recon mission for Climb Nova Scotia. The plan is to figure out which trails are most overgrown or flooded and good candidates for improvement, as CNS will be doing trail maintenance over the coming months.

post up or email me

micklevin at gmail dot com

[granite_grrl]

Would redirecting some of the trails be part of trail maintanence? I know this won't always be an option, and it would require a lot of bush wacking and probobly wet feet to find a better route, but it might be a good idea for some of the boggier trails in the area.

[tracstarr]

i think little sign posts are in order. It's not called the LOC for nothing!

[chossmonkey]

i think little sign posts are in order. It's not called the LOC for nothing!

Hey, I thoroughly enjoyed getting lost the last time I was there.

[mick]

granite_grrl, redirecting is a possibility for some of the trails.

CNS has some funds set aside for maintenance, and that will probably include rental of some equipment for clearing brush and whatnot. I'm hoping to leave most of the existing trails intact and build puncheons across the wet bits if needed.

There are some felled logs out by Pleasure Dome, I'm gonna check them out and see if they would be suitable as braces (kinda like railroad ties) to go in the swampy bits and keep the planks more or less out of the water. I hoped to go with hemlock, since it is naturally rot resistant, but it's twice as expensive as pressure treated wood and might not be worth it. Don't worry, the arsenic-treated CCA (green Chromated Copper Arsenate decking) is not for sale anymore, so commercial decking lumber is safe for vegetation, according to the Nova Scotia Trails Federation's Trail Construction Manual.

We will be using 2"x8" or 2"x10" ten or twelve foot lengths of lumber for the puncheons. Hopefully we can get most of the trouble spots taken care of over the winter and avoid the swampy trails becoming mini-lakes as people walk around the edges and widen them.

Suggestions are welcome for boulders and trails that are due for a little maintenance, and if anyone has experience building trails, we'd love to hear from you. CNS will post up when we will be doing the heavy-lifting and looking for a few extra sets of hands if you'd like to help out.

Cheers
mick
CNS Prez

Nova Scotia Trails Federation's Trail Construction Manual:
http://www.novascotiatrails.com/page.cf ... d=10&hid=3

[chameleon]

It's not called the LOC for nothing!

I'll say it's confusing!!!

On my first trip in there - with fresh directions from the recon posse.....
I was searching in vain for a House-sized boulder. Sounded exciting! House-sized...imagine that!
.....Couldn't find it.
Turns out it was the "dog-house"-sized cube we paused briefly at on the way in.
Go figure.

[pulldown]

Well Camelion

we don't all live in a huge mansion estate like yours. Imagine how massive the boulders look to someone like Ben who lived in a Tercel. Oh yeah, and it helps when you have partaken in hiking enhancer.

Pulldown

[jeremy benjamin]

You guys are cracking me up. Hiking enhancer will surely mess with your depth perception and ability to recall the actual size of boulders when recounting the story.

I know a trail that could use some definition added to it. Has anyone ever successfully travelled from Bop Gun boulder to Area 51, without bush whacking / bog walking. The last time I made the trip it was in the dark and Luke and I almost lost Ben Q into a sinkhole. He went in up to his waist and emitted a high pitched prolonged sort of yelp and no matter how hard we laughed at him it didn't seem to help him get out of the hole. We also got lost walking out, and ended up on the hill closer to Peggy’s cove instead of the hill with the hunter’s blind on it. So it was a bit of a gong show and maybe the LOC at night is not the greatest idea anyway, but I think even during the day navigating between Bop Gun and Area 51 is pretty tough.

[chameleon]

Hey Pullclown, I was just thinking the same thing - about how spacious said 'house' would be for dear Benji.

And Jeremy, Ben Q was on the right track. If only you had hiking enhancers yourself, your doors of perception would've been wide enough to see that by going a little bit deeper into the sinkhole (about chest level) you end up going directly to the parking lot. Kind of freaky but it saves a lot of time.

[stoneseeker]

hhahaahaa

I will never forget the sound emitted from Ben Q that night. Poor little dude shivered for the rest of our session in Area 51. I agree the area needing the most in my experience would be getting to Area 51. I've never managed to get there dry. Stoked u guys are doing trail work! I'd love to help but I am in BC visiting family for the holidays. Whenever it gets started later, I would love to lend a hand though.

[granite_grrl]

We will be using 2"x8" or 2"x10" ten or twelve foot lengths of lumber for the puncheons. Hopefully we can get most of the trouble spots taken care of over the winter and avoid the swampy trails becoming mini-lakes as people walk around the edges and widen them.

How often are the same trails used by ATVs? Sometimes bridges get damaged/destroyed/removed by the ATVers if they get in their way. It would be a shame to spend the money if they didn't last.

[bns]

you dont have to worry people will take care of details

[bns]

Would redirecting some of the trails be part of trail maintanence? I know this won't always be an option, and it would require a lot of bush wacking and probobly wet feet to find a better route, but it might be a good idea for some of the boggier trails in the area.

Redirecting doesn't work at LOC. Maybe in theory but not there. When most people see the next boulder 100ft away and there's a wet area in front of them it's still not enough to stop them from hiking through it. Especially if the only alternative is to use a different trail that will take 20 minutes longer. I'm talking from experience here and not theory. The best example is between BopGun and Area 51.

[pulldown]

Having had a bit of experience with the trails in the LOC i would say forget about going directly from the scoop to Area 51 unless the swamp is completely frozen and even then it's dicey. I remember walking across there with Sean one day, it was frozen solid except for one small spot that swallowed up Sean. Think of the swamp as a barrier like a raging river or an impassable crevasse or even a huge lake of quicksand or hay we could even think of it as a large, soft, spongy mass of dead and living plant matter, floating on a deep pond with constant water flowing under it. A.K.A a bog.

The only dry way in is to go from behind Dog house. that trail could use some markers.

Ben shat gives? i was trolling for a comment about your living quarters and i got nothing.

[bns]

again theory

[Eager]

Ben shat gives? i was trolling for a comment about your living quarters and i got nothing

The Dog House or the Bog?

[pulldown]

I just noticed a typo "Ben shat gives....." Should have been "...what gives...." My Bad.

I could totally see ben living in that swamp, hell he has probably slept in there before.

[Nihoa]

when we were there in nov i think it would take a local to recognise the trails as trails. we got seriously lost a bunch of times and it doesnt help the deer paths are better worn than the trails!

[RockMasterFlash]

Welcome to the aptly named L.O.C!!!!!

[kate]

well put, Rock Master!

[mick]

This week CNS is hoping to finish work on the Nuveau Riche/Cheesecake approach, now that most of the snow is gone.

We will be carrying in some lumber to span the large swamp just before the trail forks. The tentative plan is to place a large rock or stump in the center of the swamp and use two 10' treated boards to reach across, with the odd nail here and there to keep them in place. I'll also be cutting back some of the brush that is growing across the trail in places where it is thick and obscuring route finding.

If anyone has any constructive criticism of the proposed trail improvements, or you would like to lend a hand, please post here.

mick
CNS Prez

[RockMasterFlash]

Hey Mick
when are you thinking of heading out and doing the trail maintenance i cant on Saturday but possibly Sunday.. Let me know..

Chris

[mick]

Heading out tomorrow afternoon for an hour or two. I'd like to get out again this weekend either day - I'll keep you posted

[aidasr]

Hey mick if your heading out this weekend, id be in for helping out.
saturday would be better, but sunday is good too. I do however need to be back by like 3:45 at the latest.
holler.

[Scooter]

Lamp posts and paved walkways. Then we can call it LOC! Land of Convenience!

[patzer]

I forgot to thank you guys last night after hiking in to Nouveau Riche, but the work you put in to improve the access really deserves some thanks.

So thank you! My feet were very happy with all the uh, long, hard sections to run down on.