Adirondack Peeks Winter 2024

Jimmy Lake Outlook Bridge Construc tion: Tom Armstong , Janine Hvizdos holding stringers in place (off camera being spiked by Derrick Tingley) . Photo Credit: Mark Simpson

Giant Mt. Lean-to Build: Curt Snyder working on rafters; Photo Credit: Doug Varney

Old Calamity Brook Bridge before re mediation; Photo Credit: Doug Varney

We spent three work weekends on Calamity Brook endeavors. We have reworked some of the drain age done over the last few years and added many more. It is well apparent that our efforts are paying off—the trails are getting harder and narrower. The effort our volunteers put into this trail is remarkable. One of the day’s events was to disassemble a suspension bridge over Calam ity Brook that was destroyed by Hurricane Irene in 2011. This event closed a large section of the trail and a new 1.5-mile section on the north side of the brook was soon opened. The old bridge was about a mile from the Up per Works trailhead, and the storm deposited the bridge on the south shoreline. Our volunteers used sockets and wrenches and hammers to completely dismantle the re mains and remediate the site. We hauled all metal includ ing 75-foot-long steel cables back to the trailhead. We worked on a new trail section this year. Called the East River Trail, more fondly known as the trail to Ad ams/Allen, we spent two weekends constructing a 30-foot bridge that spans the outlet from Lake Jim my, which involved carrying the materials to site, a full-day’s work for six of the volunteers in itself. The bridge is complete and is very good quality. Imme diately after constructing this bridge, we restored/ created a long section of bog bridging and did side cutting. Forty-sixers should be proud of this crew as they pass this area on their way to Adams or Allen! Also, further up the trail, we moved a large cache of wooden planks approximately 1,000 feet to stage for future bog bridging near Lake Sally. We opened several drainages near lake Sally, a very muddy endeavor; anyone working on this became covered in mud. Adding information and additional work to the blowdown sweeps in the Hoffman Wilderness noted above, we constructed a 30-foot wilderness bridge over Platt Brook using native cedar trees. These trees were previously marked by NYSDEC

for this use. They were harvested using crosscut saws and axes and pulled to the site with ropes and pulleys by this crew. They were shaped to fit the site conditions and pulled over the brook to set on rock and native wood headers. Tremendous work was done by the volunteers. Much of the effort was done during the annual WOW (Women’s Only Weekend). All work done in the Hoffman wilderness noted herein was done on and in conjunction with the North Country Scenic Trail (https://northcountrytrail.org/), which runs from North Dakota to Vermont and meanders through the southern Adirondack Park. We should be very happy to be part of the construction of this trail system, which is longer than the Pacific Crest Trail and the Appalachian Trail! Due to incredible rain and a county state of emer gency, the annual 46er August gathering/work weekend was sadly canceled.

Giant Mt. Lean-to build; Photo Credit: Mark Simpson

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