Maria Earley (temporary), Trails Subchair
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Trails Committee Chair Needed
The Trails Committee provides leadership for doing local trail work projects and is open to all AMC members interested in trail stewardship. A Committee Chair is needed to work with and support Trails leaders. Duties include monthly Trails meetings, simple record keeping, maintaining contact with the national office at Joy Street, and providing information to the web site and Gazette. For more information please contact Anne at 615-7106.
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Outdoors.org Listings for Chapter Trail Projects
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2008 Trail Projects
March 27, 2008 Lumber lift by National Guard to Ell and Long Ponds for new bridge.
To enable the chapter's trails committee to replace some worn-out log bridging over a stream and its approaches on the Narragansett trail near Long Pond/Ell Pond, an efficient means of bringing the lumber materials to the site were needed. Manually carrying the lumber from the trailhead to the bridge site was ruled out, due to the extensive amount of materials and the difficult trail terrain. Bringing the materials in by boat on Long Pond or sliding the material on the ice on this Pond during the wintertime was investigated and ruled out as not being possible. The only other option was to airlift the materials. The Army National Guard was contacted in late 2006 and an airlift was initially scheduled in 2007, but was ultimately postponed due to National Guard support personnel being unavailable on the scheduled date. Eventually, the airlift was re-scheduled to March 27, 2008 and the airlift was successfully carried out. The lumber was brought from the lumber supplier to the parade field at Boy Scout Camp Yawgoog and divided into three bundled loads. The Blackhawk helicopter airlifted each of loads (in three separate flights) the one mile distance to the drop point, a rock ledge above and next to the trail near the bridge site. The loads were lifted from the ground and eased to the ground using a sling and hook method, to enable the helicopter to hover above the loading/unloading points, during the transfer of the materials. This was the first time in the history of our Chapter, that we have moved trail project materials by this method. (CS)
The principals that were involved in the airlift include:
- Army National Guard- Colonel Christopher Callahan and his crew in helicopter and on the ground at Camp Yawgoog and the drop point.
- AMC- Roy Benoit and Henry Cruciani, from our chapter trails committee, were the principal leaders and planners of the event and held the advance meetings/discussions with the Army National Guard and the Rhode Island Boy Scouts (permission to use Camp Yawgoog).
- Publicity- Fred Durso Jr., AMC Outdoors editor came to event and interviewed the principals and observed the airdrop, so he will be doing an article in a future AMC Outdoors on the event.
 Blackhawk Helicopter Lumber Lift |
 2 minute (60MB) Helmet Cam of Third Load |
 Staging Field (JCrooks) |
 Photos of Lift (MParker) |
 Final Bridge Construction (SKelly) |
2007 Trail Projects
September 30, 2007 Burlingame trails project
Photos pending
March 31, 2007 Barrington’s Veterans Memorial Park
Trails & Conservation Earth Day Projects: AMC Members and friends spruced up three parks and collected obsolete computers for recycling during the Earth Day period. Chris Shafer and Henry Cruciani lead an AMC-REI team of 30 in building board walks and removing debris in Barrington Memorial Park. Barbara Flagg, Jack Schempp headed a productive group, a mix of AMC and Roger Williams U. international members, who restored the appearance of a section of Colt State Park. Their work commended by the Providence Journal in a story featuring Barbara's comments. On Earth Day, 10 AMC members, a squad from Bryant University and a neighborhood group installed earthen stairs and water bars at Neutaconkanut Park under the tutelage of Chris Shafer. The work will reduce erosion of a scenic trail, a step in the restoration of a park offering great views. Meanwhile, Leader Linda Pease created an AMC obsolete computer recycling station-trailhead at the Johnston landfill and followed up with a hike though the mysterious Snake Den Park. Participants enjoyed good weather, interesting work, new friendships and the satisfaction of improving recreational open space. JS LP
Photos of Barrington’s Veterans Memorial Park Project
2006 Trail Projects
April 22, 2006 (Earth Day) - Francis C. Carter Preserve Project
Our first project of the year was a joint endeavor with the Conservation Committee. Although it was cold and cloudy we were able to build six board walks (a total of 72 feet) over a marshy area in the preserve. The pictures show the team cutting the wood, carrying carrying the material to the site about a quarter mile, the actual construction and the final product. The Francis C. Carter preserve consist of 841 acres of oak forest, pine barrens, wetlands, and grasslands Charlsetown, RI.
Photos of Francis C. Carter Preserve Project
April 28, 2006 - Corduroy on the Narragansett Trail
The Narragansett Chapter of the AMC's Trails Committee has maintained the Narragansett Trail, including the section that goes through Camp Yawgoo, together with the Boy Scouts, since it was laid out in the early 1930's. There is a section of the trail near a stream that is usually muddy. Bikes attempting to ride through the mud were deepening the treadway causing more water to fill the depressions. There is no way to drain this area as there is swamp on one side and a hill on the other. Corduroy, which is a structural unit composed of a series of logs placed perpendicular on the trail provides a method of crossing wet area. Corduroy is a 7-10 year fix to facilitate walking on the original path rather than to the sides of the trail thereby widening the trail. As it rots, it adds "fill" to the footpath. The pictures show the view before the corduroy was put in and after it was finished.
Photos of Narragansett Trail Project
June 3, 2006 (National Trails Day) - Penny Hill area on the Breakheart Trail
The Breakheart trail at Penny Hill has become severely eroded during the past 10-15 years, resulting in the trail becoming increasingly difficult to use for recreational purposes and also becoming very unsightly. Our Narragansett chapter trails committee proposed to the DEM Division of Forest Environment to make vast improvements to this section and, because of its fragile condition and based on the types of improvements to be made, to make the Penny Hill section a hiker only trail, with other user groups diverted to the bypass trail. DEM approved our request.
We determined that a series of log steps and waterbars would enable the trail to be stabilized and result in proper control of rainwater flow down the trail to minimize further erosion. The first task was establishing a plan for the layout of the steps and waterbars. A series of stakes were planted in March at the desired locations both north and south of the hill’s summit, as well as determining the appropriate sizes of the steps and waterbars to be built. Due to a lack of fallen trees of sufficient size in the Penny Hill area, we checked off-site locations for our log supply and obtained DEM’s permission to use a former tree cutting area in the Arcadia Mgt. area as the source, since many fallen red pine trees were still available at that site. The fallen trees were cut to proper size and the bark was stripped off as a preservative measure. The logs were then trucked to the site’s trailhead.
During a series of work days from June 3 to June 17, we carried the logs from the trailhead to the Penny Hill area and implanted the logs at the desired locations. Approximately 32 steps and 6 waterbars were implanted, from the efforts of approximately 35 volunteers for a total of 310 hours. The steps varied in length from 5 feet to 12 feet and waterbars varying from approximately 10 foot length to 40 foot length were implanted. Preliminary signage was also established at the approaches to Penny Hill from the South and the North, directing the non-hiker user groups to the by-pass trail.
The following pictures show the crew hard at work in the various phases of the project: Stripping the Logs, carrying the Logs, implanting the logs, and the final results.
Photos of Breakheart Trail Project
September 9, 2006 - Vin Gormley Trail Work at Burlingame
Many projects were completed today by a group of 30 hard working volunteers for a total of 200 hours. We built approximately eight boardwalks on various sections of the Vin Gormley trail, added ramps to some existing boardwalks on that trail and on another section of the north-south trail, installed stepping stones and some temporary walkways, and filled in some depressions near the covered bridge.
Photos of Burlingame Trail Project
2005 Trail Projects
View Photos of 2005 Projects
Narragansett Chapter Trails Committee (1921-2001)
2001 was the 80th anniversary of the founding of the Narragansett Chapter of the AMC. To celebrate this milestone, Jennie Crooks, Marjorie Gaunt, and Ann Perkins of the Trails Committee updated a brief history that was written in 1984. Look at old photos and read about of this interesting Narragansett Chapter Trails history.