Forest Park - 12/17

~Look down, look down, don’t look ‘em in the eye.  Look down, look down, you’re here until you die~ Haha, the conditions we served in today weren’t nearly as bad as the Les Miserables lyrics may suggest.  The whole swinging motion resulting from the proper use of the pick over the shoulder just brought the song to mind.  It worked as a nice little metronome.  Anywho, we continued our quest to rid a particular portion of Forest Park of woody invasive species and Maples up until lunch.  I didn’t have my saw today *sad sound*, but I did get to play with a brushcutter.  It is more or less a weed whacker on steroids that can cut down anything up to an inch to 2 inches in diameter.  I also got to wear a harness which distributed the weight of the device evenly and made that part of the day much easier than it would have been otherwise.

After lunch we started on the trail.  Yesterday we got all of the larger stuff out of the way with chainsaws and brushcutters so today it was all about working on crafting the path.  Using pick axes, McLeods, and fancy shovels we scraped the roots away and created a nice 5 to 6 foot wide clearing.  We’re a little over half way done I believe, but we also need to angle the trail slightly downhill to help prevent future rain from pooling.  I have been having immense difficulty with the angling because every time I take away a little more dirt, more roots come to the surface.  My back is throbbing.  I have to say I have never felt older.  Half a decade ago I could go through these simple tasks and hardly break a sweat but now I am left with lingering aches.  Perhaps I am getting ahead of myself.  After all, by the end of the 10 day I was able to keep pace with the leaders of our hikes.  Hopefully the muscles being built from our service work will make their presence known soon!

I’m heading off for some relaxation.  We’re getting up bright and early tomorrow to try and finish up the trail.  We got a conference on Friday and I hear we may be helping to set it up the day before, which leaves us a jam-packed day tomorrow if we want to get everything done.  Later all!