Why we do not remove leaves there are several reasons. One we move all hard earned dirt by hand in 5 gallon buckets and leaf blowers blow all that dirt off the trail tread. Second the ground up leaves will actually help hold our dirt on the trails and protects the trail tread. Plus freeze/thaw cycles the leaves help hold our trail tread in place and not get sucked up on boots or tires.
We are not blessed like other local trail systems that have an abundance of dirt. Pine Hill Park is not one of those areas.
We know leaves are slippery especially when wet but with the traffic the park is seeing currently the leaves will get ground up quickly.
As of late Monday September 7th, our newest trail, Milk Run, is fully open!!
Our newest trail, Milk Run (pink line), is now open!
We started building this trail with YES plan from Rutland High School and Youth Works volunteers in 2018. That first year we completed about 1300′ of trail with 400 volunteers and 1600 volunteer hours. In 2019 we completed about 1000 feet of trail with 1225 volunteer hours, 286 volunteers. 2020 the year of corona and no major volunteer groups like YES plan or Youth Works we accomplished quite a bit.
The trail is just under 3900 feet (.74 mile) long. FYI, the longest trail in the park is Stegosaurus at 4100 feet.
The Vermont Youth Conservation Corp (VYCC) came in with 4 crew members for 2 weeks and we completed just under 1500′ of trail. With VYCC removing organic material and our three Pine Hill Partnership volunteers doing finish work behind them it was a perfect combination utilizing the work force. We completed just under 1500′ trail in a little over 500 hours. We did have an extra hand two days that really helped with getting a couple of small banked corners built along with finish work. Having a trained work crew was instrumental on getting this trail done.
A time lapse of work on Milk Run during a hot, humid August day makes it look way easier than IRL!.
The trail still will need a touch of refinement next year (hopefully our big volunteer groups are back). We expect to build two banked corners on the new section.
5 pry bars to move ‘Deborah’. VYCC was naming the rocks.
Keith came down and helped for two days. Follow the yellow brick roadIt poured for about 30 minutes one day.
Update October 28, 2020: We received a check from IMBA/Shimano for $2300. to help pay for the VYCC crew we had in the park the end of July. Thank you to everyone who contributed to this fund.
We have been selected as one of 10 recipients of the IMBA Dig In Grant program. With the support of Shimano, IMBA is doing a grant to pay for trail building at Pine Hill Park. Read the announcement from IMBA here.
This program will help us raise money needed for the VT Youth Conservation Corps (VYCC) to come in at the end of July and help finish off a couple of trails in the park that volunteers have been working on. (map below)
Thanks to COVID-19, large volunteer groups are not happening in 2020. VYCC will be a big help, but we will have to pay for their services.
Our newest trail, Milk Run, was started in 2018 with the help of volunteers. At the end of July we are having VYCC come in and hope to use their time to get all the organic material off so that we can open the trail up to the top of Upper Halfpipe. This is about 1500′ of organic top layer to be removed.
Why remove organic in Pine Hill Park? We have found for long term sustainability, our trails hold up better by removing it early. Early on in our learning process of building trails we would do a ‘rake and ride’. Those trails now have been rebuilt at least once if not twice.
If you’d like to help us with this effort, please consider making a donation here. As always, thank you for your support!
We are reaching our limits of trails in Pine Hill Park. We currently have 17 miles. With Milk Run, Bone Spur and Maximum Capacity all adding about another mile and a half we will have reached our limit for density of trails inside Pine Hill Park.
This is a rough map of where Milk Run is completed in 2018, 2019. 2020 we hope to break open the rest of Milk Run with a VT Youth Conservation Corp crew in July. They are a paid crew so we are trying to raise money to cover this expense.
Bone Spur will be a pretty bony section off Milk Run.
Maximum Capacity will branch off Milk Run and head towards Intersection 20. This will be a fun trail utilizing trail contours.
If you are able to donate money to help defray the cost of a VYCC crew it would be greatly appreciated. We are applying for multiple grants-we have been turned by a couple and are patiently waiting to hear on other applications. https://pinehillpartnership.org/donate-2/
Meet at Giorgetti parking lot 5pm. We will be trimming the Carriage Trail back from the top of Library Pass back to Rocky Pond. We will shuttle folks up to Rocky Pond in vehicles from there hike in with weed whackers. We will have a few spare weed whackers for folks to use.
Bring a headlamp, work gloves, water and bug dope.
Due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, the Board of Directors voted today to cancel the 2020 Annual Meeting.
While we are very disappointed in not being able to see you all and tell you about our plans for next year, we are hoping to see you on the trails (at the appropriate social distance, of course) as we all enjoy what the Pine Hill trails have to give to help us to get through the challenging times ahead. For now, look to the web site and social media for updates and plans as we move ahead.
Thank you for your continued support of Pine Hill Partnership. Stay healthy and we’ll meet again soon.
Sincerely, Andrew Shinn, Joel Blumental, Dave Jenne, Claus Bartenstein, Peggy Shinn, and Shelley Lutz—Board of Directors
Snowdog got a work out over the weekend moving 6×6 lumber up to the Overlook for future bench project. Nate N and Augie spent a half of day moving lumber up the Pond Rd then up Shimmer.
The benches will be built on site sometime this spring/summer. Would you like to help with this project? Please email pinehillpartnership@gmail.com.
Our volunteer Nate N has been out grooming the last few days. He’s been able to lay down a pretty sweet path in the woods and down around the ball field. Like what you see? Please consider a donation to the Snowdog fund. More snow in the forecast so the riding/skiing/walking should get better! If temps go above freezing please refrain from biking/walking/skiing on the groomed trails please.
We are looking for a few volunteers who are interested in helping groom the trails with the snowdog this winter. It could be a runner, hiker, fat biker, snowshoer or a skier. Are you interested? Shoot us an email at pinehillpartnership@gmail.com.
Come join us on Tuesday, August 6th for a weed whacking party. Meet at the front entrance at 5pm, bring a weed whacker if you have one we will have a few extras for folks to use. Bring water and a headlamp. We will shuttle people up to Rocky Pond and we will hike on the Carriage Trail to get grass/ferns, berry bushes pushed back. We could use 15+ people so maybe we’re done before 9pm! THANKS!
