Trail clearing, Lower Preston Pond - Duck Hole!

[KenG]

I went into Upper Duck Hole this past summer for daytrip. The trail from Lower Preston Pond to Duck Hole is a mess! I talked to Delbert Jeffery, the Forest Ranger, in the summer of 2010, & he had hoped to get to it this past summer. They got quite a bit done between Henderson & Upper Preston Pond but not between Lower Preston & Duck Hole.

So......, I was wondering if there would be anyone interested in arranging a trail clearing crew for sometime next summer, after bug season. We would be leaving from the Upper Works on a hike, paddle, hike, paddle, hike, paddle, clear trail, & return trip. It's only a half a mile of trail, we could do it in a day with 6 to 12 people, I figure. Del said it would be cool to do it, we just have to fill out a NYS Form, which I have, & send it in to Ray Brook.

Or, we could do it this winter! After hunting season.

Any takers? It's beautiful country!

 

[DSettahr]

It's clear. A DEC crew went in after Irene with chainsaws. Very little blowdown to speak of.

 

[KenG]

That's great! I was in there as the hurricane prior to Irene passed through; not that bad. Duck Hole was still intact. I'm dying to get back there again to see, first hand, the devastation down stream from the dam. Hopefully it was a slow leak but I doubt it. Would've liked to have been at the Seward lean-to @ Miller's Falls as the bubble passed through!

 

[DSettahr]

Well, the dam itself didn't fail- in fact, the dam is still sitting right where it's always been, more or less in one piece. What failed, it seems, was the sedements to the right of the dam (facing downstream). It looks like the water was high enough that it eroded a whole new chanel around the dam.

I would bet that such a failure probably would've been a slow one, without a "sudden wave" of water rushing downstream.

I posted some pictures on these forums a few weeks back from my Columbus Day weekend trip there: http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=42294