News

Little Raven Trail Bridge Projects

A massive round of applause for a successful summer of projects on the Little Raven Trail. A very ambituous agenda had us building a 25 foot bridge, rock retaining walls, and new bench cut trail. After several days of preparation, two full project days (July 27 and August 23), and a final push from the Forest Service, we got it all done!

Prior to the first full project day, BMA crewleaders and Forest Service staff visited the site several times to plan the bridge, select the location, define the new trail alignments, and clear the trail corridor.

During the July 27 project BMA volunteers constructed the new trail sections, and worked with the Forest Service to prepare the bridge approaches and abutments. The July 27 crew stuck around well after the planned time in order to place the stringers which took pretty much all the manpower onsite.

The August 23 volunteer crew continued the bridge work, closed an undesirable old road access, and prepared for the conversion of an existing section of the Little Raven Trail from old road to singletrack. By the end of the day the approaches were done, the bridge stringers were finished and secured, and the initial bridge planks were down. With the heavy lifting done and the bridge materials in place, the Forest Service completed the bridge the following weekend.

Special thanks to Matt Neidenberg and Glenn Cook from the USDA Forest Service for organizing the youth corps, private contractors and materials for this effort. BMA supplied tools, materials, food, drinks, and 60 BMA volunteers contributed 367 hours of labor. BMA and the CMC also donated $500 each toward the cost of the bridge materials.

See project pictures at Little Raven Project Pictures.

See pictures of the finished bridge at Little Raven Bridge Pictures.

For information about the site and the bridge design check out the files below: