META's Maine Trail Blog

Veratility Trail Challenge

The second annual VErsatility trail Challenge to Benefit META was held at Piper Ridge Farmin Limerick again this year. This year there is a series of 6 events with a year end award celebration (details to follow). Only the Piper Ridge event benefits META. The others are benefits for other causes and clubs. for instance the October event at Hearts and Horses in Buxton benefits their Theraputic Riding Program.

Watercat productions did the photography again this year. Be sure to browse arround their site and see more of their lovely work. Yup that's the META demo bridge put to use as an obsticle.

Check out this video of the Piper Ridge event from 2009 also by Watercats productions.

Work Day Volunteers?

We will meet at the trail head near the bottling plant at Killick Pond Road Friday Morning to put railings on two bridges connecting to California fields.

New Bridge to be railed.

Bridge 2 of 3 is almost complete: Poland Springs Bottling Plant Hollis Maine

A 3rd stringer (10 x 10 pressure treated) was added down the center of the bridge between the telephones that run the edges. The telephone poles are still in excellent shape. The 2 inch decking was removed and 3 inch thick pressure treated was installed. The supports were reinforced as well.

There still must be a railing added to this bridge. If a horse were to change it's mind about crossing mid way and leap off the side, he / she would be mired in the shoulder deep muck, tall grass and swampy bottom. It would not be a good scene. We will be sending out an invitation to equestrians to volunteer to make short work of the project when the weather warms a bit this spring.

This shows what 3 inch decking looks like as compared to my size 9 feet. It's thicker than some of us with little carpentry experience realize.

Looking down on the decking you can see the 3 stringers through the gaps.

 

Here is a picture of what the bridge looked like before the upgrade. With no center stringer and 2 inch non pressure treated decking of unknown age it was not safe to cross on horses.

The snowmobile runners for the center on top of the decking were saved and may be replaced over the new 3 inch decking to save wear and tear from snowmobile track.

I cannot emphasize enough the fact that the 3 bridges on this trail were in perfect shape for ATV and Snowmobile use before upgrading. The Hollis Freewheeler's ATV club  paid for these upgrades. It is a sign of their great commitment to equestrian safety and desire for cooperation between trail user groups. You will often see ATV, equestrian, snowmobile users all working elbow to elbow on this trail system. It's a great feeling. Please ask us how we can help you foster these kind of relationships in your area.

Below are photos of the third and final bridge which will be upgraded in the spring to connect The trails around Killick Pond with California Fields on Plains Road:

Decking is showing far too much wear to be safe for a horse to step on, and again no 3rd center stringer.

 The opening of this trail to horses will greatly increase the riding opportunities throughout the entire ~500 acre Poland Springs fields and woodland from Plains Road to Killick Pond.

 

One of the trails near the bottling plant takes you along side the road where the truckers come in and out. The Speed limit is 35 MPH so the trucks are not very intimidating. Occasionally a trucker will stop and want to meet a horse like this young man from FLA did in June 2009.

New bridge 1 of 3, Poland Springs Hollis Maine

This new bridge built by Scott Hatch META's own bridge expert, is on Hollis Freewheeler ATV Club maintained trail on Poland Spring Property. it is one of three bridges that are being upgraded to accommodate equestrian traffic between the bottling plant and California Field. The Hollis ATV club is so dedicated to horse safety that they purchased enough materials to upgrade / replace 5 bridges on the Hollis system of trails.