Eno River - MST Trail Workdays

March 20, 2010
April 17, 2010

Meeting Spot for Workdays - Pump Station Trailhead on Rivermont Road

MST - Durham and Orange Counties - Eno River State Park

Work is currently progressing on getting approval for the construction
of the MST along the Eno River. We now have approval to construct a new section of the MST in Eno River State Park. The work involves
constructing new natural surface hiking trail, and will involve clearing
brush, moving logs, picking up debris, and constructing the trail
surface. Tools will be provided. The Friends of the Mountains to Sea
Trail (FMST) will be hosting the above work day from 9AM to 4PM.
Please RSVP to Fred Dietrich at fred.dietrich@duke.edu. Please wear appropriate work cloths, and bring a bag lunch, plenty of water, hiking boots, work gloves, sunscreen, and insect repellent.

All volunteers under the age of 18 will need a signed permission slip, and will need to be accompanied by an adult volunteer. Individuals and groups welcome.

Meeting location: Eno River State Park - Cabe Lands Parking Lot off Howe Street. Please car pool when possible. See info above where the dates are listed.

How we build trail at Eno River

Stage 1 – By the time you arrive at the worksite the approve flag line is done with surveys tape (pink or orange) tied to trees. Small “stake flags” are placed in the ground about every 8 to 10 feet to show where the trail tread is to be placed. All of the chainsaw work of major trees is complete as well.

Stage 2 – A team of people with fire rakes or garden rakes come along and remove the leafs and duff from the ground by following the small stake flags.

Stage 3 – A team of people with cutter mattocks come along and hand dig the trail tread into place at a width of two feet wide. The overall goal is to have a nice flat trail (with a small degree of slope to allow for waterrunoff) to hike on that is root and rock free.

Stage 4 – A team of people with fire rakes come along and do the fine detail work to remove any small roots or correct any tread issues that were accidentally left out from Stage 3.

Stage 5 – A team of two or four people remove the stake flags to be used further down the trail. At the same time white blazes are painted on the trees to guide a hiker on the final trail route.

Trail Quotes at Eno River:

“Water is the number 1 trail enemy” – Bad water erosion problems lead to huge trail issues. If the trail tread is constructed properly water erosion will not be an issue.

“Quality is better than Quantity” – Great quality trail means that we will not have so many future trail maintenance issues in the long term. We must build quality trail instead of seeing how far we can accomplish in one day.