Falls Lake Workday – Come help with trail work on the MST on Sunday November 10, 2024! We are working on Sunday to avoid deer hunting season.

Please RSVP to jdbrewer104@gmail.com or 919-900-0483 for our workday by November 7, 2024.

Falls Lake Social Event – Save the Date – November 21, 2024 – We will gather at the Salty Turtle in Wake Forest at 5:00 for happy hour to celebrate our year of trail work. More to follow after the workday.

Meeting Spot at 9:00 AM – All interested should meet at Food Lion parking lot at the intersection of Patterson/Sherron and Highway 98. The address for your GPS is 121 Sherron Rd., Durham, NC 27703. After we meet we will split up into project groups and “scatter out” to do our trail work. This workday is being limited to 75 volunteers to accommodate our current projects.

Projects for the Day are:
1. Chainsaw Crew Assistance. With all of the recent weather our chainsaw crews will need to help moving limbs and debris off the trail after they cut it. Our sawyers have received the necessary training to cut trees at Falls Lake.

2. Fall Trail Maintenance – We will divide up into small groups and walk around 6 miles to perform trail maintenance. We have 63 miles of trail at Falls Lake to cover.

3. Boardwalk demolition and boardwalk new construction. We have an old boardwalk on Section 21 that needs replacement. John P. and Eric M. will be your crew leaders that day. We will need to carry out the old lumber and carry in the new lumber and mix concrete. Decking battery power tools are needed. Crew size = 15 volunteers.

4. Rip Rap rock placement at bridge foundation at our Little Lick Creek Bridge site with Gregory Scott.

5. No Shoreline clean up trash removal for this workday….sorry about that!

Thanks to Great Outdoor Provision Company for sponsoring our breakfast from Chick-fli-A at our workdays. Thanks to Starbucks off Falls of Neuse Road and Durant Road for the coffee. Thanks to REI Co-op, whose 2023 gift of $15,000 supports our efforts with (among other things) signage improvement, updates to trail guides, the purchase of new tools, and tool repairs.

Make sure you bring plenty of water, bag lunch, and gloves. We supply all of the tools and projects.

The Falls Lake Task Force leaders recently had a meeting to discuss our weather policy for workdays if bad weather is present. If the workday is canceled a mass email will be sent by 9:00 PM on Friday. So please check your email first thing in the morning before leaving.

If you are new at trail work please let us know and we will pair you up with an experienced person.

What you will need.
Work clothes and solid shoes or hiking boots.
Proper Clothing for the Weather!
Plenty of water
Lunch
Work gloves, if you have them (If not, we have some)

Work Safely. This is the most important thing, and our main goal.
In particular:
Use tools carefully. If you do not know how to use a particular tool, or what to do in a particular circumstance please ask. Do not work too close together and be careful with rakes, shovels, and mattocks to avoid hitting the person next to you. When walking past another volunteer, please say something so they know you are there. Do not lift anything heavier than you can comfortably lift.

Know your own limits. This is not a race. We will be working on and maintaining this trail for years to come. Take plenty of breaks. Make sure to drink plenty of water, even when it’s cold outside.

There are holes in the ground to step in, branches to trip over, thorns, wasps, poison ivy (fortunately not too much of that on this segment of trail), ticks, chiggers, and other hazards. Please be cautious.

Have a good time. This is a scenic area. There are box turtles, heron, woodpeckers, deer, beaver, and other wildlife in this area as well as scenic views of the lake.

We have the tools that will be needed.

Thanks for your service.

Jeff Brewer