December 23. 2002 12:00AM
|
Henderson, Transylvania and Polk Counties |
| Frank Byrd - Local
December 23. 2002 12:00AM |
 |
By
Harrison Metzger
Times-News Staff Writer |
Walking behind a contraption that looks like a miniature bulldozer, Ed Sutton dumps a load of rocks on the freshly dug "ride around" at the gate to Lake Imaging Road in DuPont State Forest.
The unusual device, a Toro Dingo 425, is a tiny tractor designed for working on the narrow trails favored by mountain bikers and other outdoors enthusiasts.
"It took us about an hour to do this with the Dingo," said Woody Keen, trails coordinator for the Friends of DuPont State Forest. "It would have taken us all day with hand tools."
The Friends of DuPont State Forest is comprised of horseback riders, mountain bicyclists and hikers. The group has donated thousands of hours in the past year to maintain trails at the 10,400-acre forest on the Henderson/Transylvania county line.
Keen, 43, has probably put in more hours than anyone the past few years.
If you visit the forest you may have seen the tall, lanky Keen working with hand tools or lugging large bags of sand to repair the heavily used trails.
Now he has more help, thanks to his partner, Sutton, and the Dingo.
Sutton, 45, met Keen while they were both doing volunteer work on trails in nearby Pisgah National Forest. They hit it off and decided to found their own company, Trail Dynamics.
"It's a trail design and maintenance company," Sutton said as the pair took a break from working on the trails Friday. "You can also add bridge construction, Dingo maintenance."
"Basically we decided to take our trail-building expertise and go full time with it," Keen added.
At the same time the men founded the company last summer, they landed their first job; building 625-feet of equestrian trail and 1,200-feet of mountain biking trail in the Biltmore Estate. The work they do at DuPont is all volunteer, although they hope in the future to contract to do some larger jobs here and in Pisgah National Forest.
The Dingo came into the picture in September.
The Blue Ridge Bicycle Club put up $3,500 and 150 volunteer hours as a 20 percent match for a Recreational Trails Grant. The state-administered federal grant pitched in $20,000 toward the machine.
The gasoline-powered Dingo is known as a compact hydraulic loader. Small enough to work on narrow single track trails without damaging the environment, it is made for doing precision work such as installing water diversions and hauling logs and rocks.
"You can go in and do machine work in a very aesthetic way," Keen said. "The key to trails being sustainable is proper design."
Many of the more than 90 miles of trails and old fire roads in DuPont run along ridges then drop straight down steep slopes. These poorly designed fall line trails tend to erode over time.
At the bottom of Jim Branch Trail, for instance, water-carved ruts about 18 inches deep will have to be repaired. Volunteers will grade the ruts and install 6-foot locust posts at 90 degrees to the trail, then secure them with rocks. These flat steps are much safer and easier for bicyclists to ride over than traditional water bar diversions, which are raised and set at an angle.
The Dingo has five different attachments -- a bucket for moving dirt, an articulating blade for cutting new trails and pushing dirt, adjustable arms for hauling timber, a ripper blade for digging up roots and breaking up compacted soil and a leveler for spreading gravel. It can lift about 750 pounds.
On Friday, Keen and Sutton used the Dingo to prepare a portion of the Jim Branch Trail for a workday. About eight to 10 members of the Pisgah Trailblazers equestrian group are expected to work on the project.
At the recent Tobacco Free for Life benefit ride in DuPont, Sutton rode an intermediate course that included the Jim Branch Trail. He was pulling a chariot with his son Rudy, 3 at the time, and was able to ride most of the course except for the steep, rutted part.
DuPont is popular with beginning mountain bike riders as well as experts. Sutton and Keen hope their work will make more trails accessible to riders of all skill levels.
"I love riding in Pisgah, but when I ride with my wife and son, I'm going to come here to DuPont," Sutton said. "It's more of a family oriented riding experience."
Want to help out? The Friends of DuPont State Forest will sponsor monthly
public trail work days starting in January. The group has also installed
green metal "donation stations" at each of the six parking lots to accept
money toward improving trails. For more information, e-mail Keen at trailboss@dupontforest.com.
More information and photos of the group's work are available on the Internet
at www.dupontforest.com.