Clearing Coddington Valley

 

  The next phase of the Coddington Valley Rail Trail is progressing from Ridgeway Rd in Caroline.  A work party was scheduled, and if turned out to be like the previous ones, about 20 people would show up.  Getting off the road was going to create a serious bottleneck, so I suggested to a few people we get it set up to get the most out of a big group.  I started by taking a picture of the entrance.

  Then I walked around on the ice and snow and approached it from the other side.  That honeysuckle bush was blocking the only solid ground once the path reached the beginning of the pond.  I stepped around it and my foot dropped into water without reaching the bottom.  It was deep enough to go over the top of my boot.  
 

  

  In the other direction, I was able to walk over this snow a couple times, but it was apparent that would be as many trips it would hold up to before stepping through to the water running under it.

  The idea was to take all the brush from the entrance and pile it on the unstable snow and ice to make a bridge.  It worked splendidly, even if the footing was a bit tricky.  Steve showed up soon after I got started and began working on the elevated rail bed.  Our goal was to the get to the outlet so the big group coming in a few days could spread out.

 

   Let's just say progress was slow.  We didn't quite make it to the outlet.  I estimated we were halfway there.

   A couple days later, Kari and I returned to see if we could get the outlet bridged with brush.  We accomplished that, and I was able to cut all the trunks of the honeysuckle leading up to it.  Enough room and tasks to keep dozens of people active.

   And the masses arrived Saturday as planned.  Lewis had some foot-wide planks that we set on top of the brush for better footing, a few people had chainsaws, and everyone had loppers.

  

I continued on cutting trunks and Eric followed clearing the brush.  That's his hat, about 30' behind me.

   Katy, Andy and someone else felt the outlet crossing needed fortification.  Eventually, it had a pallet in the middle with planks extending to both sides.  Other people were still willing to trust the ice for a flat walkway.  It was sufficiently thick to hold a person, but the edge to get back onto the rail bed was dicey.

   We kept optimistically proclaiming that when we reached the larger trees to the north, the underbrush would thin out.  By the time I left just before the group called it quits, there was no thinning in sight.  But what an accomplishment by lots of hands.  

  Come join us April 25th when there will be a celebration of the trail extension and hopefully a work party that will connect it (except for two washouts in need of bridges) from Ithaca to the county line on White Church Rd.