Hansen Team and their improvements to John Williams and Covered Bridge Trails

John and Jim Hansen hauled buckets of gravel to build up the eroded slippery clay of these steps on the John Williams Trail

The two trails south of the covered bridge in the Meditation Park had taken a beating with downed trees and erosion over the years since their creation. They are difficult trails to work on due to the steepness of the slopes they’re built on in certain places.

When these trails were built in the mid-2000s by Trails Committee members, there were many workdays of 8 to 12 people led by Frank Wright and his expertise in trail building from his work at the Appalachian Trail. A good portion of the John Williams Trail had to be cut along a steep embankment, with supporting large rocks and timbers. The path was wide and clean upon its completion.

Over time, with rain and damage from falling trees, the trail started to erode along the lower edge, the log cribbing started to rot and some of the rock supports had shifted. Timbers that were used in steps also started to fall apart.

The trails became difficult to navigate except by the most sure-footed.

In addition, downed trees and limbs blocked the view of the beautiful stream, where people would sit on some large rocks by the water and enjoy the views of the small waterfalls and eddies under overhanging hemlock boughs. Those rocks became unaccessible as storm debris accumulated on them over time.

The trails require a lot of effort to return to a state where they’re stable, wide enough for a comfortable stroll and have erosion controlled and steps refinished.

Fresh cribbing supports the edge of the trail

Footing ruins from a bridge built over 100 years ago

Meet the Hansens. They joined the Trails Committee last year and were eager to restore the trails to their original condition. John and his wife Mary Ann were joined in their work by John’s brother, Jim. The three of them have taken advantage of the cooler weather to refresh the supports on the trails, widening the paths where they had become narrow, stabilized a stream crossing by using larger stepping stones, cut back limbs from downed trees that were blocking the view of the stream in picturesque areas and removed debris from the stream that not only looked ugly but interfere with the flow of water, causing shore erosion.

Where the trail settled or eroded to the point of leaving large roots exposed, they filled it up with dirt they harvested from the root balls of fallen trees. One area has a small spring oozing out of the side of the hill next to the trail, causing it to always be wet and muddy. So they built up the trail using large gravel to allow the water to flow without making it muddy. They also built up a muddy set of steps next to the spring with gravel and sand. They hauled the sand in buckets all the way from the parking lot at Trotter’s Lane, quite an accomplishment on its own!

Near the covered bridge there are ruins from an old bridge of a road that led to a large house in Wolfscratch Village. Most of those ruins were covered in vines and vegetation. The Hansen team cleared them and cleaned them up. It’s like discovering a Mayan temple in the jungle. With all of the old stone footings now visible, you can really see how big that old bridge must have been.

Author’s Papillon showing off the marble bench the Hansen brothers built.

There are also pieces of marble by the water’s edge that the Hansen team fashioned into a creekside bench.

Speaking of benches, all the wooden ones, in addition to the bridges and signs were pressure-washed by them, with a battery-operated pressure washer. Battery technology has come a long way! A long hose uses water from the stream. Pressure-washing bridges keeps them free of moss, which retains water and causes the wood to deteriorate faster.