trailwork pii - Carnage on North Meadows

It's near impossible to ride in the forest without clearing your way these days. Tonight, we witnessed the bloody, (pardon my nonfrench) mess that is / was North Meadows. I'll have to say, the three of us did a stellar clean up job. It was gnarly in parts.

The power of teamwork. So sweet.

The guys had to split a ways down and i was left to tackle the base. I lost some steam without the team but did manage to clear a largely ridable path.

Above: You would be surprised how much one person can move. Large tree tops can often be rolled off the path.
Below: Not perfect, but ridable.

Some are appreciative of our forests and demonstrate that by helping cleanup.
Some just walk on by and say "good luck".
Nice.

carnage in the woods

Deciduous and coniferous trees have very strategic structural adaptations to deal with harsh winter conditions. Deciduous trees lose their leaves for a reason - to alleviate weight bearing mass on their woody frames. in other words - leave drop so they can handle snow. This weekend, we were witness to trees when winter preceeds fall. Sheer and utter devastation.

Bear meadows at the intersection with kettle. The forest service has been working hard to clear the roads.

Kettle trail - my little trail helper. We passed another working on trails on his own. props to the local cycling community - we love our trails and forest.

Chaya doesn't have to worry about spokes or a derailleur. she just bunny hops it all.
Right: Some stop to smell the flowers, others the leaves...


up tuxedo...really there is a trail here. we found it.

in some instances entire trees were on the ground.
We moved as much as we could.

it was lovely none the less. so much snow.



Ironically, this "devastation" is a very natural process. we only find it unnatural because it impedes OUR use of the forest. In a truly natural system, woody debris would accumulate incrementally burning off in phases. However we have effectively eliminated fire from our forests on the east - case in point take note - most of the down trees are red maples. this topic however is an entirely different post. I'll let the pictures speak for themselves...

Natural or not, my heart was a bit sore seeing the forest so torn up.

fragile

It's been a hard few weeks.
But harder yet is this story of a woman, battling cancer. She died Thursday, on the scene, after being hit by a truck; her husband was taking her to the hospital for treatment. To some it's just another headline in the news. To others, it's all too real.

I'm not sure how to process this information. What do I say to her husband when I see him next? Do I send a card? That hardly seems to be a meaningful gesture.
Is there anything, anything in the world that I could do to make things better? What about their family? Her sister?

my heart is sore contemplating this tragic story of fighting losing the one who means most to you in the world in one way to a consuming disease; but then watching them disappear suddenly and abrasively - the unexpected.

life is - fragile. live it while it's here.