The Woody Adams Trail runs downhill from the Gile Mountain Trail for 0.8 miles to Turnpike Road just beyond a crossing of Bloody Brook. The lower half of the route follows an old woods road. The upper half was created in 2022 to avoid an erosion-prone section of the woods road.
When initially adopted by Norwich Trails, it was understood that both sections were going to require additional improvements because of the amount of water draining down from Gile Mountain toward the new trail. Massive rainfall this summer has led to serious mud and frequent, wet stream crossings – both situations requiring some attention from the work crew on this day.
Starting out at 8:00am, the crew headed uphill to the newer trail section, where a muddy, “fern-y” stretch would challenge its skills and stamina.
The proposed solution would require placing many stepping stones plus some fancy stonework. Crew members scoured the woods for large yet movable stones, cleared ferns from the pathway, attempted some drainage improvements, and began placing the stones – working from both ends of the muddy route to the middle.
Setting the heavy stone pieces was frequently a multi-person task: finding the best choice stone, moving it close to the target location, orienting then setting the stone in place.
A messy business for the crew, but it should provide a better treadway for trail users!
After a short break, the crew split up and headed down-trail to work on improved drainage and stream crossings. In a normal year, most of these small streams would be dry in August, or at most a simple step-across. This year has been very different!
The chosen approach for narrower streams was to harden the banks to perhaps narrow the span and provide firm step-off and landing points. Each crossing required testing.
Wider streams require mid-stream stones as well, which need to be large enough to provide a platform for the hiker above normal high-water level – hopefully stable and reasonably permanent! A stone like this requires more crew members working together, using heavy tools to prod the stone into place.
This was an extra long session for the weary crew, who carried tools out at 12:30 pm.
Volunteers were:
- Jim Faughnan
- Bob Fisken (with helper Bela)
- Peter Griggs
- Nick Krembs
- Craig Layne
- Gerry Plummer
- Cody Williams
Story by Gerry, with photos contributed by Jim, Cody and Pete.
Norwich Trails 