Time for some love. Broken and rotted rungs stop the flow of a trail. 
We spent this June NSMBA Trail Day to fix one of many damaged structures

Anyone who regularly rides on the North Shore trails will agree that ladder bridges are an integral part of our trail network. We use them to connect sections of unridable trail, to ride over mud bogs, streams, fallen trees, and across ravines, not to mention to reduce erosion in sensitive environments. In the case of Boogieman there are numerous sections that require a bridge to complete parts of the trail. We selected one bridge in particular that was becoming unsafe due to rot and did not have a ride around as an option. Our focus: to re-build a new bridge that was safe, would sustain at least a decades worth of mountain bike traffic, and use all lumber from the surrounding forest that was dead fall.

Clearly this ladder bridge was in need of replacement.  Not only missing rungs, the stringers were rotted through and the supports were not secured to anything structural

This before shot shows how the roll out ramp had an interesting twist from rotting logs, 
destined to take out a rider upon exit at some point.

    

Sean Gerke our Trail Maintainer with his old friend “The STIHL 20” MS260 Chainsaw.

 

A thing of beauty, especially when it’s a tool you really need. On this trail day, Sean certainly used it a lot. It’s amazing how versatile and essential a tool the chainsaw can be. It was used to cut down the old rotten structure, cut supports to size, create the notches in all the beams and brackets, and prepare the rot resistant cedar logs that were to be turned into fresh ladder bridge rungs.

 

Simple bucket? Something so basic is the life blood of how the crew moves dirt from the source (trail side dirt pits carefully selected to fill in erosion from prolonged trail use). Again, this tool is an essential item on trail day! I couldn’t imagine being without this sturdy pail! Listen to me, I am a changed man!

Full Article HERE