Poto: Hewens Creek

[mmrobertson69]

Rode Hewens Creek yesterday afternoon along with Rolling Hills. Hewens Creek was in pretty good shape, just a few muddy spots but not bad considering how poorly the trail drains. There was some windfall but I was able to clear most of it as I went. Overall the trail is in good shape and very ride-able.

[BikeHewensCreek]

Rode through most of the trail tonight and it really has dried out in most places, so I took down the "Is your name Mud?" sign. Let's open it up and get some riders on it.

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[ChrisInYpsi]

Trail was in pretty good shape today. It was great to see so many riders and a full parking lot. Need to get as much traffic as possible in the prairie sections to keep the grass from taking the trail back.

Had the usual greasy spots by the bridges in the first section, but other than that it was plenty dry enough.

It's great to ride this trail without herds of deer flies and thorns. In another month or so they'll be taking over again, but this time of year is great.

[BikeHewensCreek]

Rode through tonight and see that it needs mowed and pruned. Anybody up for a trail day in the next few weekends? Since the mower is broke we might have to borrow one or two to open the fields back up. Most of the wooded sections are in pretty good shape.



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[michael48197]

I pretty tied up with family commitments and RHP work the next few weekends. However, remember that I have the Stihl weed pulverizer to share on RHP and HCP work. It has the solid three-lobe blade that makes mince meat out of anything up to 3/4" diameter. I'm going to ask at the Poto meeting tonight if I can get the scythe head attachment as well. The scythe might be better for HCP as it will be great for vertical cuts and overhanging face slappers. I also have a MMBA push mower. It's kind of finicky to start, but works great once started. It restarts easily when warm, has a pretty wide deck for a push mower and doesn't mind chewing up goldenrod and other woody stems.

Let me know if/when you need the Stihl or mower and we can get them transferred to you or someone else.

Also, let me know what's wrong with the riding mower. I'll check at the Poto meeting tonight about getting it fixed or replacing it somehow.

[michael48197]

Last night at the Poto Chapter meeting I got approval to buy the hedge trimmer attachment for our Stihl FS90 trimmer. I picked it up this morning from Larry's Mower on Jackson. While the solid 4-lobe blade we already owned is great for horizontal cuts on woody growth like Autumn Olive, etc. it's cumbersome for vertical cuts on overhanging branches. So, now we are well-equiped with both heads which can be changed in a minute or two with a Torx driver. Bob Hollen will be the first to use it at HCP this weekend where the hedge trimmer will be really useful. If anyone wants to use either head on the Stihl or other loppers/trimmers, let me know.

[parttime]

Rode through tonight and see that it needs mowed and pruned. Anybody up for a trail day in the next few weekends? Since the mower is broke we might have to borrow one or two to open the fields back up. Most of the wooded sections are in pretty good shape.

BikeHewensCreek@gmail.com
http://www.twitter.com/BikeHewensCreek

I am up for this weekend, at this point Saturday afternoon or Sunday all day will work. I will bring my mower to help work on the central loop.

[BikeHewensCreek]

Passed parttime mowing on the trail tonight. Thanks parttime! If anyone wants to help out this weekend let us know and we'll hook you up and let you know where the work needs to be done.


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[BikeHewensCreek]

Weed whacked the last wooded section from the parking area back to the orange loop. Opened up nicely now.


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[ChrisInYpsi]

Rode HC and RHP this afternoon in the heat. The good news is the flying/biting/stinging bugs aren't a problem for now. The trail is über dry - even the bridge section in the first mile is dusty. The wooded sections are in great shape.

The bad news is the meadow sections are very overgrown. I cut a bunch of face slippers back with a pair of hand loppers, but the trail really needs a once over w power tools.

I also found two ticks today. I saw the first one after the HC loop but before RHP. The second one was found when I got home. If you choose to ride HC before it's trimmed please check carefully for ticks when you are done.

[parttime]

Did some trimming of the central loop with the stihl, and cut back some of the large autumn olives there too. I just focused on the first 2/3 of the central loop, and am planning on mowing there Sunday a.m. If anyone can help to walk/ride the rest of the trail, as I do not know the condition of the rest.

Oh yeah, holy tick f**k. I lost count of how many ticks I pulled of of me. Probably in the area of 2 dozen, mostly on my jeans. I even had one in my pocket, and another trying to get through one of the seams in my jeans! Pulled 5 of my clothes again after I got home after a good check at the trailhead. Check yourself! Mosquitoes and deer flies were not bad though.

[parttime]

Picked up the brush mower today and did some mowing of the central loop this evening. I was also able to mow the central loop out and back, the meadow section of the orange loop, and the intersection of the central (yellow) and red loops. I will be back tomorrow at 9 a.m. to do more mowing, if anyone wants to do some work out there.

Things that I know need to be done:
There are alot of face slappers and some autumn olive in the second half of the field section that need trimmed. Requires hand saw and pruners. I will bring mine to loan out.
The central loop field section may need raked in a few places.
The intersection of the yellow and orange loops need cleaned up and raked, alot of small deadfall in the trail.

If someone could ride the rest of the trail and report back as to what other areas need work, it would be appreciated.

I am happy to report that I did not pick up any ticks today, and the mowing will probably help alleviate the problem for riders and hikers alike.

[parttime]

More mowing this morning. Central (yellow) loop weeds/rose/blackberry are beat back pretty good and is in decent shape. It still could use a pass with a finish mower though.

There are still some face slappers and a few overgrown olive trees that need trimmed back.
The intersection of the yellow and orange loops need cleaned up and raked, alot of small deadfall in the trail.

Also mowed 90% of the 'flooded woods' bypass, the last little bit was too rough to take the mower over.
I also mowed the hike path and the shortcut that goes from the hike path to about the middle of the central loop.

Again no ticks today!

[BikeHewensCreek]

There are still some face slappers and a few overgrown olive trees that need trimmed back.

Groomed the yellow loop up to Y8, pruning or even cutting down some bigger olive branches.

Great job on the mowing, parttime. It looks really wide and open.



BikeHewensCreek@gmail.com
http://www.twitter.com/BikeHewensCreek

[BikeHewensCreek]

Again no ticks today!

I was not so lucky today, found a wood tick starting to dig. Be careful out there, for it seems to be a bad season for them!



BikeHewensCreek@gmail.com
http://www.twitter.com/BikeHewensCreek