We had a 3 week crew from VT Youth Conservation Corp. One week was a ‘pro crew’ a little bit of experience and just out of college. Then a two week Community Crew which are high school kids that go home at the end of the day. The ‘pro crew’ camped over at Lake St. Catherine this year. Too many mosquitoes for camping at the Rutland Rec Community Center.
We built rolling grade dips on a few trails along with pulling rocks and some resurfacing. The rolling grade dips help improve drainage so when the heavy rains come the rain is not running straight down the trail tread for miles. We’re catching the water with the rolling grade dip.
We pulled some rocks that were growing thanks to erosion and trail use. People were widening the trail in a few places by riding around the rocks. Snowdog doesn’t like hitting rocks jutting too far up either.
Some concerns over making some trails to easy. Remember the park is for everyone and it is a city park.
Yellow line is original trail, blue is what people were ridingPeople were avoiding this rock and widening the trailReclaiming old lineFinished lineEstablishing rolling grade dipsMaking sand castles with wet dirtGreat dirt pitLeonard, Nate, Shelley finishing working in the rain
KSA Built has been in the park since the end of May. Rosey finished up Exit Strategy so we could get that open.
From Exit Strategy KSA Built moved to Casey’s Cross to put a culvert in to fix our perpetual mud area.
Broken Handlebar North was next up for a major tune up. The table top has been improved with an ‘A’ and ‘B’ line for an exit. The ‘B’ line jump at the bottom that flows really well. Further down the rock face there is now a ‘jump line’. Please look at this feature before attempting to hit it. There is no roll over it is a ‘jump’. The rest of Broken Handlebar North received a tune up as well with some hip jumps, log jump.
Before After
Table top above
Jump line which does not have a roll off feature!
REMEMBER: Pre-ride, free-ride, re-ride!!! Broken Handlebar is not an easy access for first responders.
Rosey’s Rollover landing area received a little TLC. Next year the rest of this trail will be improved to make it more fun to ride.
Upper Halfpipe has gotten a significant upgrade. Many of the features that had been built in 2008 all needed some TLC. Lower Halfpipe is getting tuned up as well.
Upper Halfpipe getting a small reroute for better flow
Lower part of Furlough will have some drainage issues resolved. The water current runs straight down the trail tread which is not good for the trail.
Aaron’s Air will also receive some TLC before KSA Built leaves for the season.
All this repair work has been through an ERSA grant through the state. Pine Hill Partnership is paying out of pocket $11,000 as the quote and bid came in at different prices due to diesel being more expensive. Please consider becoming a member or making a contribution to help cover these costs. https://pinehillpartnership.org/membership/
Saturday, April 29th, 9AM meet at the front entrance. We will be working on Bone Spur doing finish work up near Milk Run/Watkins Wood Rd. This will be tilling and raking for our finished trail tread. And of course, new bark mulch for the front entrance gardens to make them look pretty!!! Hope to see you there!
Save the Date: A community B-B-Q is happening on Saturday, May 20th. We will have some guided rides and hikes starting at 10AM with food at 12:30pm. Everyone is welcome to come. Do your own ride or hike, then join us for food.
Great news! All of our trails are open to bikes, pedestrians, runners. We are completely amazed at how dry the park is for this time of year.
Trail maintenance will continue through the spring and summer.
Just a quick reminder that these trails are built and maintained by volunteers. Please consider joining Pine Hill Partnership by using the button on the front page—or by leaving a donation in Tinman when you visit us.
Banking a corner on Underdog2008 – Hourglass BridgeMembers of the Rutland High School Cross-Country team spent the morning refurbishing a section of the Evergreen Fall trail in Pine Hill Park in Rutland, Vermont. September 15, 2018Underdog Repairs
We’re the first trail network to open in the state, so please be considerate of our volunteers who have worked super hard to create a great trail system. Unfortunately, trails do not magically appear :- )
Save the date! Tuesday, March 28th, 6:30pm. It will be via Zoom this year so our out of town members can join. Email pinehillpartnership@gmail.com for the link to attend.
Would you like to contribute to the park join our board of directors. Shoot us an email and let us know.
To replace our annual dinner we will be holding a walk/hike/ride on Saturday, May 20th from 10-2pm. Burgers hot off the grill start at 12:30.
We hope all of you can attend the annual dinner to hear about what is happening in Pine Hill Park this summer. Plus join us for some fun on May 20th.
KSA Built is in the park doing trail remediation work thanks to the Enhanced Recreation and Stewardship Grant that Rutland Recreation received.
We are super jazzed about how the trails that cross the upper power line are coming out. Arthur’s Chair(Upper Jersey) has had a tune-up. Strong Angel and Upper Jersey Turnpike have had a lot of work on them are now open. Watkins Wood Rd spring area received a culvert to hopefully eliminate that spring mud hole.
Exit Strategy had to sit over the winter. Rosey had gotten the mini on it only to have it snow the following day. It sat over the winter all roughed in and finish work was done in early April. Exit Strategy opened the earliest that we can remember in quite a few years. The whole park really never closed for spring freeze/thaw cycles.
Underdog, Salamander, upper Droopy Muffin, PA4J and Casey’s Cross all have been repaired. Where these trails cross the power lines and it’s sunny and warm(above 25 degrees) please stay off those sections of trails. The dirt has a lot of moisture in it being recently disturbed and will rut extremely easy. We would appreciate it if folks just be aware of tire and foot traffic leaving ruts in the dirt. We do not need to readdress these in the spring.
Casey’s Cross will get more repair work done as we missed the spring that floods the area.
PLEASE DO NOT BE THIS PERSON
The work KSA Built is doing is fantastic with more refinements starting in June. Broken Handlebar North, all of Halfpipe and Escalator will all get tuned up.
A few before and after pictures.
Upper Jersey looking downhill before picUpper Jersey looking downhill after picKSA Built getting it doneWater on Watkins Wood Rd in the springCulvert added to WatkinsWatkins Wood Rd finishedStrong Angel before Strong Angel after
KSA Built is starting Thursday, October 27th in the park. Rosey will be working as late into late fall that weather permits. Some trails may be closed off as they are being upgraded. Please do not ride, walk, or run if you see a trail closed sign on that trail.
Broken Handlebar North and all of Halfpipe will see major improvements. Other smaller sections of trails will have drainage’s improved so water stops running straight down the trail tread. These improvements are part of the ERSA Grant Rutland Recreation received. Pine Hill Partnership is helping defray the higher cost of diesel some of our trails can see the upgrade they need. If you would like to make a donation directly to our trail fund please do so here https://pinehillpartnership.org/membership/ All contributions go back directly into Pine Hill Park trail system.
VYCC (VT Youth Conservation Corp) will be in the summer of 2023 to do more trail remediation work.
Our trails are being used heavily and need much needed TLC so please bear with this while the work is being performed.
Overlook trail between Intersection 30 (Dewey/PA4J) and Intersection 37 (Shimmer/Stego/Overlook view) will be closed all day Friday (9/30) and Saturday (10/1). We are doing repair work to re-tension the bridge and replace several soft stringers. Please don’t go under the ropes otherwise you’ll be walking through the swamp that now has water in it.
On Sunday, August 21 we opened the last new trail to be built in Pine Hill Park and we definitely saved the best for last. We celebrated with a little ribbon cutting, some refreshments, and a chance to say hello to long-time members as well as those just discovering the park.
Cutting the Ribbon — Grand opening celebration of Maximum Capacity trail at Pine Hill Park August 21, 2022
Prior to the official snip of the ribbon long time Pine Hill Partnership leader and project coordinator Shelley Lutz shared a few thoughts:
“Thank you, Rutland Recreation, for having the trust in Pine Hill Partnership to build and maintain trails in the park. This started around 2003 with Cindi Wight and Michael Smith, who had a vision of the asset that Pine Hill Park could be for the city, then Ejay Bishop agreeing with this vision. Now it’s Kim Peters and Tyler Dahlin. The Rec Department’s trust has been instrumental in getting the park to where it is today. Thank you all.
Next round of big thank you’ s go to Tim Vile, who designed the bridges in the park, and more recently Nate Netsch, Leonard Bartenstein and Keith Wight who will still come down to help us out on major projects.
Pine Hill Partnership board of directors: Andy & Peggy Shinn, Joel Blumenthal, Claus Bartenstein, Lindsey Johnston, Nate Netsch, Dave Jenne.
A huge thank you to Josh Harris and Rosey for volunteering their time, energy and mini-excavator to build the jump line on Maximum Capacity. This started out as me casually mentioning to Josh one day there was a mini bowl area we discovered when Keith and I walked this trail 5 or 6 years ago. Josh immediately said I’ll donate my time and mini and get Rosey to help build a jump line. Thank you Josh and Rosey for all your time well spent.
Josh Harris (left) and Rosey sample the jump line they volunteered their time and a mini-excavator to build on Maximum Capacity.
VT Youth Conservation Corp has had a big hand in building trails in Pine Hill Park along with Rutland High School YES plan, Killington Mountain School and Youth Works. YES plan and KMS programs will be back in 2023 and Proctor High School will be doing an outdoor education class 2 days/week this fall learning how to maintain trails.
Josh and Rosey Playing on the jump line. Video by Claus Bartenstein
Riders take a tour of the jump line on the freshly-opened Maximum Capacity trail. Video by Claus Bartenstein
Claudia Sachs was a crew leader for our crew this past summer that built Maximum Capacity.
Funding for Maximum Capacity has been by contributions from folks who use the park. Plus a Recreational Trail Program grant that Nikki Adams a former Rec employee helped write. Thank you Kim Peters for letting Nikki assist in writing this grant. “
The work done by the VYCC crew was hard, dirty and wet a few days but luckily they did not lose any days to poor weather. Even the mosquitoes didn’t carry them away! The spongy moths were buggers the first week but even they slowed down thankfully.
Maximum Capacity is 2486′ long. When combined with Broken Handlebar, Jigsaw, Milk Run, Furlough and Exit Strategy it will be 12,215 (2.3 miles) foot long mostly downhill run.
Pine Hill Partnership applied for a Recreational Trail Program (RTP) grant which we received to pay for this 3 week crew. Thank you to Rutland Rec for their help in writing the grant and the maintenance crew for their support in mowing VYCC camping site and equipment we can borrow when needed.
Hope to see you in the park trying out Maximum Capacity soon!
