Starting off a little chilly, it was a fine morning for trailbuilding. Just two volunteers opened up an additional 50′ of trail along the shore on the north side of Plainville Township Lake.

It was a fairly light-duty day, allowing for volunteer Jerry Wilson to mow the entire open length, while Bret Greenwood focused on brush clearing at the southern terminus.

The big challenge of the day was working in and around a large patch of poison ivy. As a result, some of the brush was allowed to lay where it fell. These logs will be cleared out later in December, or even January, after the daily high hovers in the 30s.

Urushiol (u-ROO-she-ol) is an oily resin found on and in the leaves, stems and roots of poison ivy, poison sumac, and poison oak. This resin can cause an itchy rash where it contacts the skin. Being oily in nature, it flows more slowly in colder weather. Being a resin, it does remain sticky, so it is still a hazard even on the coldest of days.

Plans are to treat the area to reduce the poison ivy then follow up with aggressive mowing of any remaining plants in the spring to starve the ivy out.

The current terminus is at a dense group of cedars which will need to be cutback as the trail expansion continues. The next workday, however, will be spent preparing a bonfire ring at the proposed trailhead, for use by the Photo Scavenger Hunt later in the afternoon of October 22.

If you can’t make the trailbuildng day, come out for the First Saturday Trail Hike on November 6.