Sometimes straddling the divide does the trick. Or leaping from high ground to high ground. Across a brook, maybe. Sometimes the only way across is slugging through a damp ravine. Or wading a slushy stream after breaking through thin ice covered with snow. With snowshoes! Other times, these times for example, I favor bridging.
Today’s dispatch, a follow-up to yesterday’s dock-to-bridge preview, is another related review of bridging projects underway. Shifting from the southwest to the northwest quadrant (roughly delineated in the aerial photograph above), there are a pair of upgrades to simplify (and safe-tify) walking, snowshoeing, and cross-country skiing where moisture and grade can create hazards.
NW Bridge
Similar to the repurposed aluminum and timber dock section featured yesterday, we’re spanning another section of Library Brook further upstream. This is another installment of our ongoing dock-to-bridge adaptive reuse initiative, affording safe and habitat friendly waterway crossings to access the newest addition to Rosslyn’s trail system.
Long anticipated, this remote route will extend and diversify our existing trail system through the Library Brook drainage and into an older tree stand with a drier understory and a tranquil atmosphere. So close to the heart of downtown Essex, this peaceful place feels like a secret oasis.
Two anticipated stream crossings offer meditative glimpses of meandering Library Brook that promise to be just as breathtaking in winter as summer. Lush with wildlife, this riparian corridor will likely permit plenty of intriguing wildlife photography in years to come.
Higher ground along the western flank of Rosslyn’s backland includes some dramatic pine trees… By spring the loop should be finalized, and we can begin to prioritize the stream crossings. I look forward to updating you soon. (Source: Beyond Brook Bushwhack)
After John Davis laid out this new westward loop, Tony intermittently advanced trail building whenever he had gaps between more pressing tasks, finally completing the meditative meander in mid October. It’s an impressive addition!
Trail Culvert
Proceeding eastward through Rosslyn’s backland, the next loop — marked by John and built by Tony about three years ago — roughly follows the high ground east of Library Brook. A depression toward the northern end of this section (located roughly where the trail departs the woods, opening into meadow) is seasonally wet and challenging to cross. Forming a subtle draw down toward the stream, this crossing has been resolved with a buried culvert, leveled with topsoil from our jumbo compost heap, and planted with grass.
Now year-round navigation will become more agreeable, and impact to wet sloped ground will be avoided. Even in soggy spring traversing this stretch will be safe and inviting, much as it is in the winter when snow’s natural bridging effects simplify and streamline topographical contours making cross-country skiing a joy.
As trail maintenance and bridging coalesce in coming weeks I’ll revisit the waterway crossing with an eye to evaluating adaptive reuse success. We’re still troubleshooting some hardware and implementation challenges, so any advice or suggestions would be welcome and timely! Thanks in advance.
What do you think?