Albemarle Day 2

City Lake Park is now well underway, today marked the majority of material being delivered. This is gonna be a really cool project when completed. Below are photos of just how much dirt it takes to build a "small" pumptrack, a photo of some of the GREAT rock that the city brought out and finally, creosote soaked telephone pole to be used for log rides and log overs. I am always happy when this stage begins coming to a close because now the creation begins. Think of the empty field as the canvas and the logs, rock and soil as the palate. Tomorrow will be the beginning of the actual build. We will be moving soil into place, stripping the last of the hardware off the poles and cutting them to length. Should be a very busy day.

Albemarle Day 1 for real...

Okay things have begun to transpire at City Lake Park, the morning was spent getting the design together and working with the city guys for the first couple hours of the day simply moving materials. The photos are of the site with only a load or two of nearly a hundred that would be on the ground. The second is of the city folks hard at it. Tomorrow will be the arrival of boulders and creosote soaked logs, yummy. More photos for sure tomorrow.

Warrior Creek Vacatio’n Albemarle’start

Well the last few days were a fer’ reol-reol vacation, not the half arzed attempt at one that happened last week. I wanted to drive somewhere and not move, but to ride a mountainbike and do some reading in a hammock for a few days. THANK YOU KERR SCOTT AND ALL OF THOSE WHO LOVE YOU. All I am going to say is, GO, Dark Mountain, camping and riding at Warrior Creek and the history of the Over Mountain Victory Trail. What am I reading? A wonderful book of murder, engineered life and debauchery – Devil in the White City, it intertwines two of my favorite Historical figures, Olmstead and Tesla.
Now I am in a campground about 10 miles out of town from Albemarle getting ready to dive into a fun little bike park at City Lake Park. Look for very precise and creative log-work this time around. I will be doing lots of chainsaw cleaning with diesel fuel, ah creosote. Until then ---

End of a working vacation.

Well, the week is coming to a close and I don't really feel as though things eased up this week. Lots of work on the truck at the beginning of the week, then helped dad do some work on his property, see below:



Finally, checked out some cool acreage with a friend yesterday and I believe have now filled the slots for next winter. SO the schedule only really needs to get filled in for Late June through Early September. If you have potential projects, better get in touch.

The end of the week sees putting the truck and trailer back together and rolling out to Dark Mountain for some pedal turning and then on to Albemarle for a Pocket Bike Park. Everybody have fun.

Vacationish...

Well this week is all about refining the system. The build season is beginning and bookings are starting to come together. But, during the season it is rare to get a chance to do things like dial in the truck or trailer, so those are under way this week. Also this week is scheduling and working on a few bids. Nothing really exciting lines up, but should be productive at least. Photos from opening up some vent holes for moisture in the truck and staining the inside. Now I understand why people repaint their houses so much.

I'm goin' back to California Dreamin'

Sorry for the long delay between posts, but I was smart enough to leave the computer behind for the Cali trip which forced me to relax, and boy did I. My mother got married this past week in a little town called Calistoga. If you ever head to Cali wine country, I highly recommend this town. Well the wedding wasn't until the afternoon on Tuesday, so Jenn and I took a stroll heaed up to Table Rock just outside of town and had a great, stellar, fantastic, and magical hike. Here is the first view a mere half mile from the car. Oh yeah, the west is sweet.



Along the way the trail was eroded and steep and doing tons of resource damage, but that doesn't concern the folks of Northern Cali. Instead they spend time doing focused spiritual trail work like this:



I will say it was pretty cool. But, who could help but be inspired when nature is busy turning out fantastic art of her own. This is just the remnants of an old forest fire left to season in the moist dense woods of Nor Cal.



Finally from the resting part of the trip, here is the pool and view at the spectacular place my Aunt rented for the family during the wedding.



Our last day we drove the Pacific Coast Highway, tried to stop by Muir Woods (place was too packed), and spent time in Downtown before flying out.



Now I am back home trying to get caught up on bids and quotes from the last month while working and on vacation. The next few days will be the best and easiest time to get in touch with me if someone has questions or needs help developing a project.

I do feel good though, real good actually.

Goodby Creston...

Creston is behind me. It was a great chunk of time to be able to focus on a design build and knock out a critical link for those guys. Above is a photo of some of the finished trail.



The place is absolutely beautiful and I wish them them the best in finishing out Phase 2, maybe I will get to be involved with Phase 3.



Finally, what's next? California for my mom's wedding then off to Albemarle to build a Pocket Bike Park in City Lake Park. Should be a fun project. For now a CRAZY day trying to get caught up on computer work and to pay my taxes...AWK!

Creston winding down, ending with snow and rock

Well, tomorrow is the last day for the Creston, build. It has been a wild ride of hurry up and wait, then crank hard when the weather was nice. We got quite a bit done considering the weather at the beginning of the project, but still not as much as I would have liked. Oh well.

Today, well it snowed. Plain and simple it turned into a cold, long day sitting on an excavator trying to fight back the jungle.

Then, at the end of the day, well ROCK, my first real rock encounter of the project, things slowed down considerably at the end of the day, maybe ten feet an hour, big deeply bedded rock. As Billy Blyth would say, "life on the trail."




Tomorrow will be labor doing hand finish on the existing cut and me trying to make the connection to the roadbed to complete the first portion of Phase 2, then mobilizing the machine out and clearing the corridor well enough for someone else to finish Phase 2. Should be the best trail in their system, a real gem.

A weekend Mitchell and Creston Phase 2

Well, was a great weekend, got a few loose ends tied up in Phase 1 at Creston on Saturday, then on Sunday went out to the property and got Phase 2 dialed in for the build this week. At the end of the morning however, I was Drrrraaaaagggiiiinnnnggg. SO I decided it was time for a field trip. I usually go up to Mount Mitchell this time of year and the afternoon was nice and clear yesterday so up, up and away we went. The above photo is to show those westerners we have real Mountain covered in Spruce and Fire with loads of exposed rock. The below photo is the clear view to the North East of the peak and if you look really close you might see the truck sitting in the parking lot.



SO after a restful afternoon yesterday it was back to it hard today. Cranked out a great day and here are a few photos to share. The first one is a little dance I put together just for this occasion and the second one is the machine left in the woods to sleep overnight. Really becoming a fan of the 325, good balance of just enough power without being too big. Good machine.

Gettin' my Crest...on

Good day of tech. production today. Had to cross some steep and a seep. Enjoy the photos.




The end result was good enough to drink, or so Otie thinks.



Now, I am chillin' next to a camp fire resting these weary bones before charging at it full speed again tomorrow. This should help set the mood around camp.

Catawba Falls

Okay so lets start with work today. The morning was spent on the death box getting some things set up for the next couple of projects, then groceries. Next, I went up to Creston, but the dirt was still too wet to work, so did a bit of recon on the next couple stages and got a headache looking at phase 2, gonna be a long start to next week. But, then I went back to camp and this is where the day gets good. We went to Catawba Falls, by far THE BEST WATERFALL IN NORTH CAROLINA. It was amazing, with all of the rain we have had it was raging. Photos for your enjoyment.