VGP in Monticello!

Adios, Green Valley!

During the last week of April the trail crew wrapped things up at Green Valley State Park just in time for camping (and trails!) season to begin.  All in all, the crew completed the following tasks at Green Valley:

• Cleaned out the Gater house and yard
• Picked up trash around the park 
• Demolished two old sheds/hog houses 
• Finished building, insulated, sided and roofed a new cabin 
• Installed/repaired a stone drainage area around all three cabins 
• Graded the area around the new cabin 
• Planted grass around all three cabins
• Cleaned up around the newly-renovated campsites
• Installed ADA walkways to the new cabin and four new concrete restroom buildings
• Built, insulated, sided and roofed a check-in stand for the campground

The last task the crew tackled was installing tongue and groove siding on the inside of the check-in stand as well as for the soffit outside the building.  The inside was a bit tricky since holes needed to be cut for electrical outlets and light switches, and the boards needed to be fit around windows, but having already completed this task on the third cabin Delilah and Ceith were up to the challenge.

Delilah uses the scroll saw to cut an interior siding board so it will fit around a window

Ceith uses a brad nailer to secure the siding, making sure to blind nail the brads so they won't show

Meanwhile, JB, Adam and Ewan worked on the soffit outside, making sure to install a soffit vent, as well as tackling the somewhat tricky angles on the architecturally interesting underside of the roof.

Showy angles

Adam makes an angled cut

Adam and Ewan secure one of the boards 

After finishing these tasks and picking up wood scraps around the worksite, cleaning and putting away all of the tools, and cleaning/packing back at the house, the crew headed back to the shop.  The first two weeks of May will be spent preparing for the arrival of twelve new crew members for the summer, who start May 17th.  We will host an orientation for the new members at Mines of Spain State Recreation Area near Dubuque, and we are very excited to try out the brand new facilities at the park's interpretive center for some of our presentations and seminars.  During orientation we will also organize a service project (or volunteer-generating-project) on Tuesday the 18th at Pictured Rocks near Monticello, Iowa, where the trail crew built an ADA-compliant trail last summer and flagstone terrace last fall.  More details on the service project will be coming soon!

Spring Cleaning

April has been a busy time for the Trail Crew. We are currently in the process of hiring our summer seasonal employees, and there is a great deal of preparation to be made so that we can make full use of our extra (wo)man power in the coming months. Our first priority has been tying off loose ends by putting the finishing touches on our various projects at Green Valley State Park. This will allow us to smoothly transition to the more trail oriented projects we will work on once our summer team has been assembled.

The bulk of our time has been spent with shovels and chisels in hand, as we installed new rock borders around each of Green Valley's three cabins and re-graded the ground around the newest cabin. This was time consuming and tedious work, as we had to ensure that each of the borders was straight, (reasonably) level, and properly aligned with its corresponding cabin. We then had to adjust the soil height within the borders so that a sufficient volume of gravel could be placed around the cabin, the goal being to prevent the formation of mud holes under the roof's drip-line as well as to keep weeds from growing around the cabins.

Adam and Ceith break ground to install a new limestone border.

Our limestone border in place and properly aligned.

The rest of our time at Green Valley was spent working on various miscellaneous projects, such as cleaning and touching up the cabin interiors, cleaning the house we've been staying in, minor maintenance on the facilities of the park, and cutting down cedar trees to be used in another project (more on that later). However we have more preparatory work to do beyond tying up our loose ends. In order to be effective leaders this summer, we must have a solid understanding of the methods Trail Crew employs on the trails, and the ability to efficiently coordinate a sizeable team of people with varying levels of experience.

Delilah and Ceith detail a cabin by staining the interior.

Adam works on felling a tree.

Timber!

Delilah drags the freshly felled tree to the limb pile...

...Where Ceith cuts off the limbs...

...And then loads the log onto our truck for transport!

Always trying to be efficient, we stationed ourselves at Palisades Kepler State Park near Cedar Rapids, Iowa. This park had been affected significantly by the flood of 2008, and still needed some minor attention. It is also in close proximity to several parks that Trail Crew has worked at over the years. This made it easy for us to accomplish several things at once: to revisit several former projects (and thereby gain a better understanding how to address specific trail problems), and to provide assistance to a park in need.

Our project at Palisades was to replace a flood damaged fence, using the cedar logs we had cut down at Green Valley. While we wanted to participate as much as possible, there was too much to get done in a week, and assistance was needed. This came to us in the form a corrections crew that was serving community service in the area. We trained this crew to prep the cedar logs, dig appropriately sized holes, and to erect the limestone pillars that would serve as the foundation for the fence. This then freed us up to tour trails at Palisades, Pleasant Creek, and the Mines of Spain.

Adam mixes mortar for our stone pillars.

Members of the corrections crew use the mortar to build the stone pillar.

A finished stone pillar, ready to be attached to the process cedar logs we brought from Green Valley.

While touring trails we explored the various problems that trails can face as well as the potential solutions. The most common problem is erosion of a trail due to a combination of rain water and heavy usage. This can not only make a trail difficult or uncomfortable to use, it can also make them dangerous. It also makes them aesthetically unappealing and disruptive to the natural experience that most hikers are looking for on the trail. Luckily there are many solutions to the problem of erosion.

The first and best solution is preventative: construct the trail so that water sheds off the trail easily and evenly so that ruts and gullies don’t form and channel even more water. It is a simple fact of physics that water will follow the path of least resistance, and so a trail must be constructed with the natural terrain in mind so that water will “choose” to travel across the surrounding terrain rather than the trail itself. Constructing the trail grade so that it is shallow in relation to the natural terrain is the best way to accomplish this, as a steeper grade provides less resistance to water flow.

Unfortunately it is difficult to predict the behavior of water on a trail as it being created, so post-construction solutions are often required. These include (but aren’t limited to) rolling dips, water bars and culverts. Rolling dips are gradual undulations in the trail’s grade that cause water to shed off the trail (as it can’t travel uphill). Water bars are physical objects (such as railroad ties) that are buried under the trail to elevate its surface, thereby creating mini dams that push water off the trail. Culverts are a situational solution, serving as a conduit for water to travel through under a trail. Unfortunately this also causes water to concentrate in a small area, and can cause erosion problems downhill if they aren’t installed conscientiously.

With the summer hiring process coming to a close, Trail Crew has plenty more preparations to make and our real work has just begun. Bringing in the summer team is only going to increase Trail Crew’s workload, and that means more to report here! So expect even more exciting updates as we begin to move into summer. Happy Spring everyone!

Green Valley Continued...

Mid-March the trail crew worked toward wrapping up our various projects at Green Valley State Park near Creston, Iowa.  After the internal siding and shingles were added to the cabin, it was time for external siding.  A great idea for providing a rustic look and durable, lasting protection from the elements, this siding was unfortunately quite a challenge for these novice carpenters.  We received some pointers from Mark, the carpenter in charge of the cabin's framing and electrical work, and learned the rest through trial and error (but not too much error, because these panels are costly!)

No idea what we were getting into...

Was it scant?  Or strong?  Oh the precision required 

of this task...

One wall down... you might think this other one looks over half 

finished, but that's where you're wrong.  The final pieces take 

almost as long as the first dozen.

This would be another "almost finished" wall, except

for the fact that cutting that final wedge piece can eat up an

afternoon.  No straight lines here, being stacked on a dozen

other pieces of wood each with their own natural warps

means this final piece needs to be so irregular that it's a task 

best suited to pocket knives.  

So close!

After finishing the exterior siding, the heavens decided to pour.  Some of the crew worked on intensive Asian Lady Beetle habitat destruction back at the house (i.e. cleaning windows) while others waded through the mud moat around the cabin to oil the interior siding, leaving a protective coating that still showcases the natural beauty of the wood.

The cabin still needs some final touches such as a drainage area under the eaves, some landscaping, and a protective coat on the exterior siding, but those all needed to wait for dryer, warmer weather so the crew moved onto their second large project at Green Valley, a check-in stand for the newly renovated campground.  This is where campers will reserve their sites, ask questions, and buy sodas, and it will be the daytime "home" of the campground host.

First wall!

And we have... a frame!

Always looking for ways to cut down on costs and waste, we used

rafters from an old, torn-down building in the park.  Unfortunately, 

this meant an incredible amount of nail-pulling.

 Adam demonstrates how the checkstand will look when it's in use.

Fascia board... harder than it looks, especially with reclaimed rafters

See those blue skies?!  Finally!!!

Back to one of our favorites, roofing!  

We look to be wrapping things up in Green Valley soon, a couple more weeks ought to see both projects through.  This brings us into the long-awaited trail season, and most likely we will head to (somewhat) nearby Lake of Three Fires next, where water quality issues require us to take a look at the popular equestrian trails and re-route or re-structure areas where runoff is going straight into the lake.  Unless somebody finds a (legal!!!) way to dissuade thousands of geese from calling the park home, spiffing up the heavily-used horse trails should do the trick and get the lake's bacteria levels back in check.  

Green Valley Cabin

After a rough start to the month, Trail Crew bounced back to begin working on its next big project: finishing the construction of a cabin at Green Valley State Park. The primary carpentry work was completed while we were working on clearing out and refurbishing the house nearby, and it was our job to put the finishing touches on both the interior and exterior.

The first step was the interior. Fiberglass insulation and a vapor barrier help to ensure that the cabin is weatherized and energy efficient. After applying these, we finished the walls with tongue and groove siding, cut to fit each wall individually. Doing so was a complicated affair with a steep learning curve, but we quickly learned to mind all of the many details associated with trimming a board to have a tight and level fit that was aligned with the boards on the adjoining walls. We also learned to "blind nail" each piece, a technique that hides the nails in the joints of the siding so that the final product is unblemished wood.




After Ceith cuts a piece of siding, Adam blind nails it to the wall. The before and after can be seen on the final photo.

After mounting a mantle above the heating unit, applying the siding to the walls and vaulted ceiling and providing trim to the windows, we moved to the exterior. Siding was again individually cut from stock, this time from log siding that gave the cabin a rustic aesthetic. We also applied drip edges, shingles and vents to prevent moisture from rotting the wood, thereby ensuring that the cabin will stand the test of time.




Adam Delilah and Ceith raise a piece of external siding. After that was finished, everyone moved on to roofing for a day.

Though the bulk of the work is now finished, we still have details to finish on this project. All of those loose ends will hopefully be tied up next week, allowing us to move on to what will hopefully be our first project of spring (is it spring yet? please?). More on the Green Valley cabin, as well as pictures of the final product to come soon!

Oh, February...

Winter has been bittersweet for the trail crew, with some really fun experiences as well as some awful ones.  Many of the past few weeks we've been prevented from working by the weather, which only makes collaborating as a team that is spread over 300 miles that much more difficult.  Some highlights in the past few weeks were:
MLK Day at the Iowa State Capitol, where we got an awesome tour of the most amazing building I've ever seen (HELLO Davenport schools, forget Chicago, you need to take your kids on field trips here!!), got to participate in various service projects (including serving meals for the homeless at Hope Cafe, part of Bethel Mission... very clean kitchen, very friendly staff, and the food even looked good!) and got to meet with our legislators... mine (Phyllis Thede) worked in my high school library so it was great to see her again!

 

House of Representatives

  

House of Representatives' ceiling... WOW

   

Up in the dome... need a tour to get up here :)

 

Looking down from the dome... HUGE drop!

  

They look like paintings...

  

But are actually mosaics!  Some pieces are smaller than the tip of your pinkie finger!

  

The Law Library... yes you are looking at five stories of books! 

  

Exterior shot

  

We had to cut the day short due to an impending ice storm... and it's a good thing we did!  It hit Ames hard, and we woke up the next morning to over a half inch of solid ice on our cars... and I actually caused a lot of damage to mine in trying to get it off :(

 

  

 

The tire is literally frozen to the ground!

  

Poor trees...

  

Despite the awful weather, we did manage to make a lot of headway back at Waubonsie on the former tent pads:

 

Adam painting balusters--easier to paint before you put them on!

  

Cutting out the stairs!

  

Delilah cutting more balusters from a reclaimed 2x4

  

Ceith and Ewan cutting more pieces for the stairs 

  

Matt (Waubonsie staff) and Ceith installing some reclaimed counters in the WaShawtee shop to give us more workspace!

Ceith working on the railing on one of the tentpads

  

99% finished... just needs some balusters for the railing, and a nice coat of paint! 

Delilah, Ewan and Ceith made it to a rescheduled training day in Cedar Rapids for the Iowa Commission on Volunteer Services (ICVS) where we met up with some other DNR/Keepers of the Land Americorps volunteers, as well as got to meet Americorps volunteers from other programs such as Habitat for Humanity, Each One Reach One, and Green Iowa, to name a few.  For our service project we helped move Theatre Cedar Rapids back to their original building downtown which sustained major flood damage and has been restored beautifully.  They were stoked to have 30+ people move their boxes, and we were happy to do it.  It's amazing what you can accomplish with a decent amount of people.  Although we hit a minor snag when we heard our cars would be towed back in Iowa City, we moved them in time and were able to fully enjoy the day.  Here are some photos from a team building activity in which we had a limited amount of time (15 minutes?  20?) to build a self-supporting structure that would contain all team members out of only newspaper and tape:

 

Delilah and Ceith's structure that just couldn't support itself... 

  

This team won two awards... awesome! 

  

Ewan's team on the left won "Most Fashionable" 

The bitter part of our winter involves mostly cars.  Ceith's car is basically totaled from an interstate pileup (in which he also chipped a tooth), Adam sustained major damages to his car in an accident, Delilah's been through two flat tires, unknowingly caused major paint damage by ice scraping, and also was towed in Iowa City (yes, after the runaround to move them, it got towed the very next morning)--all of these things happened en route to work.  We have yet to encounter a week that isn't started late, cut short, or blown altogether by weather and its effect on our cars, but here's hoping it's behind us now.  Already a storm has kept us in today, but hopefully tomorrow Ewan, Ceith and I can join Adam and our boss Michael so we can go to Green Valley State Park and start on a big project.


And our sincere apologies to Joan at Pleasant Creek State Park, we were scheduled to do invasive species removal (a favorite winter activity of ours) and that week was the one with two accidents and the tow.   We do look forward to helping you out at a later date!