The Beech Forest Trail is in the northernmost section of Cape Cod, near the tip of Cape Cod in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Though sand dunes occupy the shoreline, this magnificent forest abuts the dunes and provides stability to the soil in the area. The hiking trail is a figure eight shape, and the "top" of this figure eight travels over a high knoll as partially seen here. Stairs constructed during the 1970s were in serious disrepair. Last year, a Sierra Club volunteer crew rebuilt one upper section, and this year we tackled the top and the downhill section on the other side.
Along the level top of the hill portion of the trail, Ann, Catherine, Deborah (our leader), and Joe begin enlarging the trail to four feet in width and preparing for side timbers to be installed. The old wood was carried down the hill so it could be removed from the forest since it had been treated with chemicals, and the new timbers and gravel fill were carried up by us. Each day as we worked, hikers passed us and expressed thanks for the work being done.
The most strenuous aspect of the project was carrying the gravel trail tread material up to the top. As shown here, a bucket brigade was utilized numerous times. The National Park trail crew (Donna and Wayne) delivered the lumber and gravel by front end loader after the first attempt by dump truck became stuck in sand a half mile from the project site. In this photo, Catherine, Barb, and Jolene tote buckets as Joe below fills buckets. At times, all ten of us on the project spent an hour or more operating the bucket brigade.
