Trail Guy and I have a weird hobby. When we hike, we like to improve trails. We toss rocks off, scrape out places for water to drain off the trail, improve water bars and just generally take notes on trails.
A favorite walk of mine is the almost 2 miles to the Franklin Creek crossing. (To refresh your memory, a hike is when you take food and wear a pack; a walk is just a walk.)
Crossing Franklin Creek can be scary early in the season. If you are lacking in depth perception as I am, it is really scary. This isn’t a very high water year, so we weren’t sure what to expect. I expected to take my shoes off and get a little relief to my stupid Plantar Fasciitis, and then to turn around and head for this:
When we got to the crossing, there was water flowing down the trail. No no, can’t have that! We began with a little water diversion, getting the water to flow off the trail and back into the creek.
We worked our way up toward the stream, where I removed my shoes and got into the water. Pretty soon, Trail Guy was shouting at me to move this rock and that rock (not because he was agitated, but because the water was roaring.) Eventually, he got tired of shouting and joined me in the stream. He crossed to discover the weak places.
This looks scary to me. If I had to cross, I’d do it barefoot and wade through rather than misstep or slip.
More rocks were moved. The idea was to break down the dam that well-meaning but uninformed hikers had built. If you build a dam for crossing, you will be crossing on a wet wall. If you break the dam and let the water flow through, you will be crossing on steps that are above the water. So, we cleaned out stones to allow for greater water flow.
See all that dry ground? It was under water when we first arrived.
Now, there are nicely spaced stepping stones across the creek, no water flowing down the trail, and no dam.
Way to go, Trail Guy!
(and I helped)