Trail Day

Today was a productive day and it went by quickly.  I was hoping that it would, it is my Friday after all, and my weekend includes a fun holiday this week!  On my drive to the park, I stopped at the barn.  I don't usually, but it was calling to me today.  The sun was positioned just right and it looked like it was a pretty morning over there.  I'm glad that I listened to my instincts.  There were three deer and lots of pretty frost-covered things to look at.  The deer were not in the sun and it was still too dark to get a decent photo of them.  I tried to sneak around the barn to get closer, but I wasn't sneaky enough.  The frost covered vegetation didn't frighten easily, so I do have some photos to share.  We weren't expecting freezing temperatures last night, but some areas behind the barn had a light dusting of frost.  The grass and spiderwebs just sparkled in the morning sun.




I went to the office next and got straight to work on paperwork.  I wasn't at the park yesterday, so I had two days to catch up on.  It went quickly though, with the spring closed, we haven't had any paying visitors.  Just as I was finishing up, I got a call from a worker with a tree service who was just pulling into the park to meet with me to give an estimate on the three dead trees at Adams Tract.  I took him over there, got the estimate, and talked to him about the river camp and some possible opportunities for a scout troop that he is involved with.  We had some company while we walked, a neighbor's dog enjoys visiting the river camp.  The dog is a very sweet Lab named Bear.  He and his brother love to come to Adams Tract to visit, but we would rather that they didn't.  On my way out, I loaded Bear into my truck and took him home.  His owners weren't home, but his brother dog was there so I let him out of the truck and they started playing.  I'm glad he didn't follow me out.


When I got back to Troy, my coworkers were already hard at work on our project for the day.  I had saved it for this Wednesday because we had four people working.  It was a big job and more people lighten the load.  I joined them when I arrived.  Our project was shoveling and spreading wood chips on the pathway down to the river.  I picked up the wood chips from Ichetucknee last week, you may remember.  The pathway turned out even better than I had hoped.  We filled in the holes that were made by erosion and created a smooth surface.  I was a little concerned that the wood chips would be slippery on the hill, but it was nice and stable.  We will try to walk on it as much as we can to pack it down so that it doesn't wash away in a heavy rain storm, but I think it will hold up pretty well.  All of the roots that were exposed will help to hold the wood chips in place.  Take a look at the dramatic before and after below.


When the trail was done, we broke for lunch.  After lunch, our volunteer and I went to town to put gas in the truck and to visit the local hardware store for a few more supplies.  Once my paperwork was done, e-mails were sent, and my projects were wrapped up, I headed home a little early to make up some of my long day yesterday.