in Cross Plains (Moderator: Cliffy)

Greetings - A reminder that we will be having a work day on Sunday 11/12/17 from 12pm-3pm.  Our main focus will be to clear a portion of the west loop, so please bring loppers and brush saws if you have them.  We will have extras for those who need them.  Also, be sure to bring water, gloves, long pants and long sleeves (shouldn’t be a problem with the weather).

Good news is that Landowski Trailworx is in town and is slated to start work in the coming weeks.  They will start on the Market Street access retaining wall and will continue to construct the major switchbacks on the uphill access trail.  This will allow our volunteer crew to jump head and work towards rideable trail for Spring 2018!

More good news is that Trek has graciously donated a Fuel EX-5 as a raffle gift for our project.  We will attempt to have raffle tickets ready for sale at the trail day for those of you who are feeling lucky.  The drawing is tentatively planned for late January or February at Capital Brewery.

Lastly, please continue to promote the IMBA Dig In campaign for the Capital Off Road Pathfinders (See Link Below).  Proceeds will go directly to our Cross Plains project and will help pay for more professionally built trail!  Donations are tax deductible.

https://win.imba.com/digin?chapter=219586

See everyone this weekend!

Hey Ron/Mike,

I am cleaning out the CORP tool trailer at Blue Mound to make room for the Snow Dog. I want to get rid of some trail tools I never use. Waiting on permission from the DNR or the Friends to get rid of:

3 Shulaskis-these have a wide cross-cut head (like a Rogue Hoe) on one side, with an axe-type blade on the reverse. A bit heavy compared to a Rogue Hoe.
3 Pick/mattock type tools with 5 lb heads

My personal stuff, can go now to a lucky trail crew:

5-lb mattock with cutter blade on back side
5-lb pick
16 lb sledge hammer

I'm finding the 2.5 lb pick-mattock by Husky, available at Home Depot to be the best bang-for-the-buck tool anywhere. It has a beefier handle than a Pulaski, so using it as a pry bar doesn't cause the head to come loose. The horizontal cutter blade is rather narrow, so it's not a substitute for a Rogue Hoe, this end compares more with a Pulaski. Like that tool, the metal is thin enough to be useful without being sharpened. It's ~$18, so bashing it into rocks doesn't make me feel bad.

Walt,

Let me know if you end up with any takers on those tools.  I could use a couple additional mattocks for my crew and would be willing to pay whatever you feel is a fair price.

Volunteers wanted! Compensation in the form of hoppy water provided for any helping hands. 

Constructing the new ingress egress trail in Cross Plains has created some large piles of buckthorn and small removed trees.  We're looking for extra hands this weekend to help distribute the brush into the surrounding woods, making our trail corridor look a little more aesthetically pleasing.  Not to scare anyone away, but this isn't easy work.  Volunteers will be tasked with dragging piles of brush up and down unforgiving terrain.  If you're interested please feel free to get ahold of me at landowskitrailworx@gmail.com or send me a text / give me a call at 920-988-4420.  We'll supply refreshments for those interested. 

Bring a bike, we'll have the lower portion of the trail open for volunteers to test ride.

If interested in lending a hand, we'd recommend wearing a durable pair of pants, gloves and eye protection. 

Side note, we're looking to expand our crew and hire a couple additional professional trail builders this winter.  If you know anyone with previous building experience or even general landscaping / carpentry knowledge, please feel free to have them contact me at the email listed above.   At this point we're only looking for individuals capable of committing to full time work and willing to travel regularly.

Chad

My price is you continue to build bike trails. For a while.

Not sure I can get the mattocks to you tomorrow. Are you at Cross Plains next week?

As you have read Chad and his crew have been working their magic into the cross plains hills.  Come out on Sunday 12/10 to continue to add distance to the trail in Cross Plains.  We will be clearing brush  at the top and moving south along the ridge.  We plan to start at 9am so meet  at KP and Bourbon or up on  the trail whenever you can make it.   If you have loppers or saws feel free to bring them.  The weather will be perfect for trail work!    If the new trail is frozen you may have a chance to test it out so bring a bike just in case.

Hope to see you there!

I hope everyone is having a good winter!  We wanted to get a couple dates on the calendar for upcoming trail work days.  The first of which is this Sunday.  We’ve been trying to get as much brush clearing done as possible while the leaves are off the trees.  We can move along pretty quickly when we aren’t inundated with buckthorn, briars, and killer bees! 

Work Days:
3/11 – Sunday – 2pm-5pm
4/21 – Saturday – TBD – Check www.madcitydirt.com
Monday Work Day - As soon as daylight savings kicks in.....

As always, meet at the powerline trailhead at Bourbon Road and Hwy KP.  Bring loppers and brush saws if you have them.  We’ll have extras for those who need them. 

Once the frost melts off we hope to get Landowski Trailworx back to finish up the access trail and will look to start hand building the west loop trail.  We have approximately 1.5 miles flagged and partially cleared to date.  Looking to have some ridable trail this spring!

See everyone soon!

Mike

Thanks to the HUGE turnout of volunteers on Sunday we completed the clearing of the west loop. I want to Thank all volunteers who have worked on the trail to this point.  We will start working on the tread as soon as the frost is out of the ground so look for week night workdays as well as the 21-April work day.

Now that the supposed nicer weather is rolling in we are planning to start our Monday night trail work days starting next week, 4/9/18.  We will meet at 5:30pm(ish) at the powerline trailhead near Bourbon Road and Hwy KP.  If you get there a little late, just head up the trail.  Bring work gloves, water, bug spray, and brush lopper if you have one.  We will furnish all the earth working tools (rogue hoes, rakes, shovels, weed wrench, etc).  We will be in trail building mode now that the upper west loop corridor has been clear...... so get excited! 

Also, we will be having a CORP wide trail day on Saturday 4/21 from 9am-noon so pass the word along to friends and family.  We are hoping for a good turnout and would like to install a substantial amount of trail!

See everyone soon.

Do not worry about that snow it will be gone by 530.  We will find something to do tonight so come out and join us!  We have a newly flagged segment that should be really cool.  If the ground is frozen we can start clearing the new area.

If you missed our first Monday work night last evening, don't worry, we have another opportunity for you to check out the trail and volunteer in Cross Plains!

4/14 9am - Noon
Meet at trailhead on Hwy KP and Bourbon.

We will supply tools and we will be digging. I hope to see you there!

Hi All - The Monday work day for tonight is canceled….. as you might have guessed.

We are still aiming to have our spring work day this Saturday 4/21, 9am-12pm.  Assuming that the ground is not frozen, we will be looking to move some dirt and build trail!  There are a couple switchbacks that need to be touched up and about 1 mile of new trail that is planned to be built.  No experience necessary and kids are welcome.  I will send out an update later in the week with more details.

Trail Day Saturday 4/21 is STILL ON!  It will likely be mushy and wet, but there are plenty of To-Do items for us.  Plan A will be to build trail and Plan B will be to clear brush.  We will have earth moving hand tools for volunteers, but please bring brush saws or loppers if you have them.  Again, no experience is necessary and everyone is welcome.  Meet at 9am at the corner of Bourbon Road and County Hwy KP, parking on Bourbon Road.  If you show up late, the trailhead is located near the power poles.  Sign in and head up the hill to where we will be working.  See you there!

We had a great work day on Saturday. Built some trail, cleared some brush and we are getting closer to having the trail opened. 

Plan to come out on Monday nights to continue working on the trail.  Meet at 530 at KP and Bourbon or whenever you can make it. 

Tonight should be a great night!  See you there!

Awesome turnout last Saturday 4/21!  We had 10 people (2 mini people) hard at work building trail! 

Monday work days ARE ON for the summer so come out and join us every Monday at 5:30pm.  Trailhead address is approximately 8721 County Rd KP, Cross Plains, WI 53528.  Park on Bourbon Road.  See the attached map.