Snowshoe - Pre-season Trail Maintenance

Chilly to start the day, followed by sunny and pleasant, and ending with snow at our heals - such was the weather on Tuesday at Dutchman. Christie Crowe, Dennis DeLapp, David Alward, Kelley Cleman, and John Berendt started pre-season work on the Todd Lake and Dutchman Snowshoe Trails with a refresh of the Junction signs, followed by brushing, trimming for marker visibility, replacing about 10 reassurance markers due to fallen trees, and clearing about a dozen blowdown. Both trails are ready for the season; at least until the next storm. Thanks to Dennis and Kelly for photos and for David and Christie for driving. 

We will continue efforts for the next couple of weeks on pre-season trail maintenance. Priority will be to work from highest to lowest elevation sno-parks, but a last-minute change might be made based on weather conditions and scouting reports. Swampy Porcupine Snowshoe Trail is the most likely target for next Tuesday. This event posting will be updated Sunday PM with final details and registrants will be notified.

Update on Tuesday Plans

Christie hiked the outer loop of the Porcupine Snowshoe trail and identified just a handful of trees needing to be cut. He did not hike the two tie segments.

So, on Tuesday, we will head clockwise from Swampy sno-park down the west leg of Porcupine, cutting one at the crossing of the Beginners Ski trail, then head to the Swampy Shelter Tie, taking it east, then southward to the Tie trail, cutting a leaner just past Junction "F" and then across the tie trail and then back to the sno-park. Unless there are a bunch to be found on the tie trails, it should be an easy day. We will just need a couple of x-cuts and a pole saw.