May 10 Bridging Talbot Branch

 

The before and after pictures

Just a short distance from Tot Hill Farm trailhead near Asheboro, the Birkhead Mountain Trail crosses Talbot Branch shortly before it flows into Betty McGee Creek. A wood foot bridge has crossed the branch for as long as I can remember. Beginning about 10 years ago, some of the tread boards began deteriorating. Several were replaced over the years by trail angels. It became apparent that the tread boards all needed to be replaced. 

The Uwharrie Trailblazers hatched a plan to do this. The old tread boards were regular 2x6 (actual dimensions are 1.5" x 5.5") treated wood like what would be used for framing. I learned that the bike club-  Fat Tire Society's bridges were built with rough cut and treated wood. The rough finish was better for bicycle tires to maintain traction especially when wet. Working with them, we were able to source some rough cut treated 2x8 boards. 

Everything seemed to go as planned until we had one last work plan meeting at the bridge site. The bridge is supported by two spans (retired utility poles). One of them had a rotten spot which had previously gone unnoticed. Now, we needed to replace that span. One of our members, Matt, had such a pole laying beside his yard. It looked solid and would work well. Now, how do we get that 29' utility pole out to the bridge site.

It certainly was not easy but the trailblazers came through with Matt figuring out the logistics.

Now that the pole is out there, we need to remove the old tread boards and rotten span. Then get the new pole in place and cover it up with tread boards.

I drove to Tot Hill by 7am hoping to be able to at least get in the parking lot. There was almost a full parking lot when I arrived. It was a tight turn but I was able to snag the first spot right by the kiosk. 

Gotta carry them out there

The new pole on the left needs to be rolled into place and leveled with the other pole. 

Normally, we see Matt with a machete but today he uses a splitting maul.

Once the spans were in place and leveled, the tread boards went on. We used spacers and a caulk line to make it look nice and straight. 

When removing the old boards, we could see that many of the deck screws used, had corroded and some were corroded into two pieces. So, we used 5" Timberlok fasteners which were about as expensive as the tread boards. 

All done