I’m Getting Older, Too

Depicted here is our recent completion of the entrance ramp over the Dwarskill Creek in Alpine, NJ. The pressure treated lumber is fastened to the span and sits on a rock foundation anchored 12” into the ground.

Sadly, you did not get the privilege of reading my mad ramblings last week as I was in New Mexico. However, I am back in New Jersey now and interning away for PMTB, so you are once again subject to my vertigo-inducing thoughts. Before I left for my trip to New Mexico, my dad and I headed over to the Alpine Scout Camp to fix a wooden bridge spanning the Dwarskill creek. We cut and drilled wooden planks to form a ramp-like structure that makes getting on the bridge easier and less abrupt. My dad drilled the ramp into rock at the base of the bridge, and we finished off the project with some dirt at the entrance to the ramp. Overall, I would say that we made a pretty good team with my dad handling the power tools and my job consisting mostly of holding things in place and bringing buckets of dirt from the nearest root-ball.

Under construction: the bridge took a couple of volunteer sessions to complete in February, 2022.

This is the Dwarskill bridge after construction was complete. It was leveled and anchored late February, 2022

This was not the first time I had worked on this bridge, though. We began construction on the original span back when I was 11 or 12 (I am 18 now) and was not permitted to go to New Mexico by myself. Unfortunately, the first iteration of the bridge was washed away in a storm, and we actually used one of the remaining pieces of wood from this OG build in our latest repair work. At the time, I do not remember being particularly helpful during the initial construction process. In fact, I spent most of the trailbuilding sessions trying to catch frogs in the Dwarskill and getting my socks wet. That being said, things have changed a lot since then: I can carry heavier buckets of dirt, and my appreciation for frogs has dwindled (only) slightly. Even as an older, perhaps wiser person, there was something meaningful about revisiting a site that I had worked on as a child. In life, we cultivate good habits and mindsets through practice and persistence, and trail-building is no different. Long-term dedication to our craft is part of PMTB’s philosophy of stewardship. Maintaining a trail is almost just as important as building it. The process of facilitating outdoor recreation does not end when the trail is built; rather, a new phase of stewardship begins.

Noah and I joined Palisades MTB trail work in Blauvelt, NY. May, 2016