Glenrock Volunteer Maintenance Day Pics from March 13, 2010

I thought this may be of interest to you guys. Of late we have been getting very active with the NPWS up here in actually getting in and maintaining the trail network.

We worked on a very difficult section of trail near the Treatment works known as “Shit Happens” and were working in conjunction with the NPWS, who have done a lot of machine work so far and will continue with this as an ongoing project.

Because of the long term existence of this trail and the fragile and erodible nature of the surrounding area the NPWS were against any relocation of the trail and preferred that it was rebuilt in the same corridor. This meant our preferred trail route which followed the contour couldn't be used, but the compromise seemed to work and held up to heavy rain post construction.

In this build day we worked on the upper switchback section. The steep grade and water flow problems made it one of the most difficult tasks we will likely undertake in the whole. this is probably also the most major reroute we will need to do so we needed to make sure it was done right. For those who aren't familiar with Glenrock and the loops proposed by World Trail, this section is meant to be a climbing trail. Part of the brief for the trail was not only attempting to address the erosion and water flow problems but to also reduce the maximum gradient and make the trail easier for the novice rider. At the same time we wanted to do this without losing the technical nature of the trail for the more experienced rider, so alternate lines were built into the features to allow a challenging or easier line all on the one trail.

The ground during the build was very dry, but with much hand ‘tamping’ and the use of a wacker packer on the slope most of the trail bed in well.

The NPWS workers should be back with their machines within about two weeks and then we will continue on the lower section of the trail, which will involve some interesting line creations. The NPWS have already smoothed out the badly eroded fire road we used to follow, so now we have a blank canvas to play with in two weeks.

Massive thanks to the NPWS for their assistance in this project, the works we have done and in anticipation of the works we will do to keep the trails in great condition.

But enough talk, time for some photos.......

Hand watering and wacker packering.

Work on the switchback, note the multiple line options for the climb

The finished work
The old line here has the logs scattered on it.

You can see the old line crossing the trail on this one. The sticks on the big tree are a temporary line blocker until we can get some rocks in place.