A Typical Day That Didn’t Go According to Plan

“What exactly do you do every day?”

This is one of our trail crew’s most frequently asked questions. Jaime, Daniel, and Gabe have big trucks and trailers. They use motorized wheelbarrows and rent large machinery. They often spend their days in the woods. They wear straw hats and bandanas. Who wouldn’t be curious?

As the Communications and Events Manager, part of my job is to know, generally, what the three of them are up to; I’m in the loop about projects they’re working on, I get to document their progress, and I sometimes even join in a volunteer workday. But earlier this month, I traded my sandals for hiking boots and spent a day with Daniel, our Trails Manager. I wanted to learn the full answer to this FAQ… and then share that answer with you.

So, here’s a log of everything we did on that typical day of trail work.

9:30 a.m.

Daniel and I met at Evergreen Woods near the ponds on a sunny Wednesday morning. The temperature for the day was forecasted to stay in the mid-70s with low humidity — ideal weather for a day in the woods. Daniel led me to the spot where we would be working on our project for the day: tearing up an old, broken bridge and building a new one.

The bridge in question.

10:00 a.m.

We arrived at Eldridge Lumber for bridge-building essentials: a big pack of nails and lumber. Specifically, four 20-foot-long boards that would be the frame of the new bridge. Once Daniel strapped in the boards, he then had to maneuver about forty feet of truck, trailer, and cargo. I was relieved to be the passenger and not the driver.

Daniel strapping the 20-foot boards to his trailer.

10:30 a.m.

Daniel and I unloaded the lumber from the truck, including the 20-foot boards and all the wood for the footing of the bridge. We hauled the lumber and tools over rugged tree roots to our work site in the woods.

10:45 a.m.

After a tutorial from Daniel on using a circular saw, I cut each of the smaller boards into three sections that would be the width of our new bridge. As I got into the rhythm of it, I discovered the intense catharsis of using power tools. While I was busy getting saw-happy, Daniel used a chainsaw to hack up the old bridge and dismantle it.

11:30 a.m.

The old bridge was gone, the boards were prepped for the new bridge, and…we realized that there was no reason at all to have a bridge in that spot. We stood there scratching our heads for a moment while we pondered what to do next. We had all the materials we needed for a new bridge right there, but the best long-term course of action for the trail, Daniel said, was to abandon our original plan and cover the trail section with crushed stone instead. “A bridge will last maybe 20 years, but putting stone down will last forever,” he explained.

“I don’t think we even need a bridge here,” said Daniel.

12:00 p.m.

We headed to the Riverside Recycling facility where they sell materials like crushed stone and woodchips by the excavator full. Having to pivot and create new plans on the fly “is not atypical,” Daniel said. While we drove, we ate our lunches.

Watching the excavator fill our trailer with crushed stone.

12:45 p.m.

Once we returned to Evergreen with a trailer full of crushed stone, we got to work preparing the trail. There were metal pipes in the ground that were holding up the old bridge, so I used a reciprocating saw — my second saw of the day! — to cut the tops off the pipes. (I’m still riding the high of slicing through metal.) Meanwhile, Daniel sawed a fallen tree into sections and arranged them into a natural border between the trail and the pond. I used a sledgehammer to wedge stakes into the ground to hold the logs in place and quickly learned that swinging a sledgehammer is also very cathartic.

Daniel casually carrying a whole log.

2:00 p.m.

Daniel shoveled stone into a motorized wheelbarrow while I took a moment to take notes about our day so far. It struck me, with my back against a tree and my gaze toward the pond, that this was a stunning place to spend a day. There were beautiful purple flowers in bloom on the water, with dragonflies and bees hovering and buzzing around them. When our machinery was quiet, I could hear ducks quacking and the cattails rustling. All day, people walked by holding nets and hoping to catch frogs.

My view from the shade.

2:30 p.m.

After Daniel delivered the first load of crushed stone on the trail, he stacked sections of the old bridge and the boards I’d expertly sawed onto the motorized wheelbarrow to haul them out of the woods. But as he maneuvered the top-heavy wheelbarrow over the rough, uneven ground, the machine tipped and landed on its side at the bottom of a small hill. Smoke billowed out until Daniel, frustrated but keeping his cool, cut the engine. “Well, this happens sometimes,” he said.

Unsure how to help in this moment, I grabbed a rake and tried to make myself useful by spreading the stone on the trail. But then my rake broke. “Okay, I think we’re done for right now,” Daniel said.

Daniel inspecting the damage.

2:45 p.m.

We arrived at Daniel’s house, not far from the trail, to pick up some starter fluid from his garage that would help get the wheelbarrow back up and running. I got to meet his friendly orange cat, Simon, and then Daniel handed me a glass of cold, homemade seltzer water.

My new friend Simon.

3:00 p.m.

Back on the trail, Daniel shifted into mechanic mode. With lots of perseverance, plenty of starter fluid, and a little luck, he got the machine right-side up and running once again. We shoveled more stone into the wheelbarrow, a deafening task, and Daniel successfully delivered it to the trail where I used a different, not-broken, rake to spread the stone.

Can he fix it? Yes he can!

4:00 p.m.

To finish off the trail, we shoveled stone dust into the wheelbarrow and spread it on the trail over the crushed stone. This final step made the trail look beautiful, a satisfying end to a day that didn’t go according to plan.

The finished trail!

4:30 p.m.

Daniel and I parted ways to get ready (i.e., become less sweaty) for a board meeting at the office that evening. There were still things he’d have to come back for, like pieces of the old bridge and all the lumber for the new bridge we didn’t build. But that was for another day.