This section of the Appalachian Trail is near a popular State Park and has a sign hanging on this bridge announcing it’s presence so it’s a very busy place to walk. Because of all of those boots and feet, the trail tread takes a beating.

It’s almost a continual process to keep the drainage waterbars from filling up with loose sediment and failing. Because of the slope of the trail here, lots of water gets directed toward that footbridge and without proper management the surface will get covered with dirt and when wet become a sloppy mess.

I’ve been working on keeping the systems functional and this week laid a 15mm layer of gravel on the AT as it approaches the bridge to harden the surface and prevent the dirt from migrating down and onto the bridge. The last picture below is from this summer when I built a waterbar to prevent water from flowing down the AT and onto the bridge. Surprisingly, there is still a bit of water gathering up on that 20 meter long section of the trail after the waterbar thus the need for the gravel.

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