The Bridge to Somewhere

Last September I wrote a post about Hurricane Irene (http://ddramblings.blogspot.com/2011/09/more-rain.html).  Irene caused incredible damage in my part of the Northeast.  Too many people lost homes and businesses.  So to say I lost a couple of bridges sounds horribly self-involved but I assure you I in no way consider my losses tragic.  But without the bridges I've had no access to half of the trails behind the house.  All of my ramblings since the hurricane have been limited to the field trails which provide a wonderful place to walk for me and the dogs, but we have really missed the back trails.  And now the bridges are back - YAY!

After the rain finally stopped last August 28th the stream was at least 10 feet higher than usual and the bridge was floating into the backyard.

The next day, after the water had receded some, Blackie was sad to find he could not cross the bridge any more.

But now, almost 9 months later, Blackie is happy to cross the bridge again.

There was a hill that led down to the bridge on the house side - a lot of dirt was bulldozed to make the bridge level with the yard.

The bridge was winched back into position on the other side.  It looks a bit precarious on this side but it is much sturdier than before.

Last year I spent a lot of time grooming the back trails.  After the hurricane and 9 months of neglect they are in rough shape but not as bad as I anticipated.  Blackie is just happy to be in the woods again.

There were a lot of trees down but most were off the trail.  This tree split in half - I had to use the chainsaw to remove some large limbs that had blocked the trail.

The best thing is that we can now get down into the ravine again.

This area is known as Dog Pond due to this small pond that varies in size based on how much rain we've had.  Right now it is very dry so the pond is small.  Every dog we have ever had runs down the hill and immediate jumps in Dog Pond.

Dog Pond Bridge was also washed away during the hurricane.  Dan and I maneuvered this bridge back into place using the 4-wheeler and its winch, and a lot of manual labor.  It has always been kind of rickety but it gets you across the stream.

Once on the other side we can now go up the hill and at the top we can connect with the field trails.

When it was Lucy's turn for a walk we went in the opposite direction, starting with the field trails.

Lucy heading down to Dog Pond from the field side.

Lucy heading back to the house on the back trails.