This area had a gorgeous picnic shelter, steps and benches all made from the stones and boulders on the beach, built by the CCC in the 1930's. Unfortunately, many of the stones in the steps and benches had come loose, and a few rude visitors dislodged some of these stones, making the benches not really benches anymore. We repaired some of the worst ones, but I think it would take another week up there to get it back to like-new shape.
We sort of neglected to take before pictures, but here's an after that shows the new stones in place.
This was a fun project because we got to wander around looking for stones on the beach to fit the holes we had, then we chiseled out some of the extra concrete/mortar, sometimes cut/chiseled the stones themselves, then secured them in once we achieved a perfect fit.
After Miniwaukon, we headed over to Fort Defiance State Park, where we needed to place a bridge over a creek. The forest we were working in was one of the most beautiful I'd ever seen in this part of the country. All of the trees were vibrantly yellow, and the ground was also covered in yellow leaves. It reminded me of pine forests out West because there was so little undergrowth that you could see through the forest for a very long way.
We were in a very deep valley, and for that reason the creek at the bottom receives a lot of rainwater, and the banks around the existing bridges are constantly eroding away. We thought about supporting one of the banks with concrete bags (which eventually get wet and harden over time) but faced with high water levels we decided to place a new bridge (which was a recycled dock) on an alternate route. After placing the bridge, we used our posi-track skid loader to dislodge some of the boulders in the creek and piled them against the edges of the bank to help slow the erosion.
Great job you guys! Michael
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