Took my son Elliot down to Pond Brook this morning and met with Tom to look at alternatives for crossing the stream and doing something about bank that DEP has suggested remedied. The Blue Trail crossing on the map above, it's not entirely accurate on this map, it's actually further up the trail. The course of the stream is just representative, too, because the actual course is much more serpentine. The map above shows the entire trail and below is the detail of the crossing.
The red trail is my suggestion and the orange is Tom's alternative. There is no easy way to address this section but I think a bridge coming down from the top of the bank and spanning the stream is out of the question, if that is what DEP has in mind. I would prefer to armor the crossing and create a sloping climb up to the top of the knoll and connecting back into the existing trail.
Here is the existing trail as seen from the parking area along side Hanover Road.
And after the trail crosses the stream it climbs up the bank on the other side and it's just a big ugly scar that gets wider and wider. From this angle it doesn't like steep but it is.
This image overlays the existing route.
And this profile view gives a better impression on the steepness. It's probably somewhere between a 10 and 15% grade.
Looking straight on. You can see the rutting taking place.
Here is the first proposed route. It goes over the existing stream crossing which would be armored to prevent further erosion. It takes a more sweeping approach and sets up for a nice crossing.
The second proposal changes the stream crossing in order to make a switchback turn to climb the other side of the slope.
While I like the second proposal because it makes a shorter climb on the embankment trail users might make an alternative crossing of the stream at the instead of making the hairpin turn.
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