In April, the Cycle Youth team received an e-mail from Charlie Bennett requesting help to complete a bridge at the Chicopee trail system. Charlie chose this to be his Eagle Scout project to be ready in time for the SORBA time trial, to be held there on May 26th. This is a great idea! Not only would our team be able to get together (off the bike), but we would be helping our trails at the same time.
Approximately fifteen volunteers arrived at 9:00am, on May 7th, at the Devil's Backbone trailhead. Charlie, Ethan, Everett, Jansen, Bill and Kari arrived from the Cycle Youth team. Five of Charlie's scout troop buddies, along with SORBA volunteers made up the rest of the group. Blake Sexton, the president of the Gainesville SORBA chapter, supervised the construction. All of the youth workers, as well as the adults, worked hard and many stayed from 9:00am until 4:30pm to complete the bridge construction and trail reroute.
The Bennetts were well prepared, with plans in hand and having all the lumber precut at Bruce Ray's house by Charlie and his scout troop. Charlie, Bruce and Ben Marshall, who is also a scout and a member of the Cycle Youth team, delivered the material to the trail head on Friday afternoon. Materials were donated by Bruce and Karen Ray of Apalachee Cycle, located in Dacula, and Hills Hardware in Winder, GA. We estimated the retail cost of base materials to be close to $600. At the end of the work day, the approximate total hours of labor reached 150 hours!
Various tools were used to complete the bridge. A four wheeler was used, along with rope and man-power, to move one of the large base poles to the other side of the ravine. (Please see the most hilarious pictures of this event!) Hammers, cordless drills, McClouds, shovels, nails and screws were some of the tools employed.
This bridge completes the Devil's Backbone trail and was the last piece to fall into place for the opening SORBA Time Trial. The youth group did most of the hoeing and rerouting of the trail, carried boards and tools, and stayed involved in all aspects of the bridge construction. We started the foundation 'from scratch' by digging the trenches to place the foundation poles. Then two poles were placed across the ravine so that the second foundation piece could be rolled across the ravine to the other side. Next the four base poles were secured with wedge cuts and rebar stakes. Some of the group worked on the trail reroute during this time. Then the fun began......we got to place the boards across the base poles. This was fun and easy since the number of boards and placing had been planned out by the Bennetts. Next, the boards were hammered into place and the railing was added. Once the final touches were added the tired and dirty crew headed home.
The young adults worked very hard throughout the day. The only break was for a lunch of Chic-Fil-A, provided by SORBA, which the guys ate carefully on the nearly completed bridge. (oh, and an occasional swing on the vine :+) I was very impressed with our guys!! A huge thank you to all involved!
Kari L.
