Narrows Finished!

The narrows project on 414 is finally done. They opened the road yesterday only six weeks past the time they had estimated. I had guessed Dec 1st back in October so I was a bit closer.
It is a far cry from the half falling off road we are used to.
I did notice it makes other parts of the road coming up to this one look much worse. Since it took 20 years for them to really fix this part I am not holding my breathe on anything else getting done.
It got to 51 degrees today in the middle of December. I am not complaining as I am still working on the job at Slate Run, which is only 13 miles from me when the road is open. But once the snow closes the road it will be over 50 miles to go around.

Things are quiet up here as they get once the hunters and tourists go. It is easy to get used to the quiet and not want to be around anyone even in a small city like Wellsboro. But with Lee being gone for over five weeks, I will admit I am looking forward to someone to talk to again. She is coming home this weekend, and I have already been warned that she is not up to working on the first day back. I guess watching a two-year old for 5 weeks tends to wear you out a bit.

So Saturday I have to make the house look like I haven't been living in it alone for five weeks. That will be an all day job...plus the dogs have to all be bathed. No one will escape the cleanup. Lost power this morning for a few hours a tree decided to fall randomly. When trees fall in the woods and you don't hear them; they still knock out the power.

I got the grand kids presents sent, which other than some things I made for Lee is all I am doing this year. It is funny how once you get older the things you want either so small you get them along the way or so big you can't afford them. Course the one thing I wanted the most is Lee to be home for Christmas and it looks like I am getting my wish. After all the holidays are about sharing time with your family, friends and the ones you love. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Progress on Narrows Construction

1st picture from North side of Narrows project looking South

2nd picture at bottom South side of Narrows project looking North

3rd picture South of Retaining wall forms looking North

4th picture North side of Narrows looking at finished part of retaining wall looking South

* This project is larger than it appears in these pictures!

If any of you have been as curious as me about the progress on narrows construction this is the blog post for you. I walked up to construction site today from the North side to see what they have been doing. From the creek it has been difficult to see much except some forms. Wow was I surprised. 

The project is much more involved than it appeared from a distance. The first picture is taken looking the same direction the creek flows to South. They have dug down at least sixteen feet to find something to attach a footing to that was solid. At this point they poured a large footing like slab at least 16" thick and extends from the edge of the drop to creek back to the mountain. This huge slab runs the entire distance which I estimate at around 100 yards.

They formed a thick  retaining wall on top the edge of this footing which you can see in next 3 pictures. This wall has the guard rail post attached to the top of it and drains on the side facing creek. After this wall is finished they will  back fill the entire hole to make the to roads reconnect. If you notice how much they have dug out on the first picture you can see how much they need to fill.

Although, I am impressed with how much they have done on this project. I see a lot more wall to be made. the retaining wall appears about a third done. Hopefully, this last part of pouring this wall to meet the other side of road will go faster than it looks so we can have our road back before winter. At this point I really doubt they will be done in November as promised. Let's just hope I am wrong and the weather stays good enough through December for the job to get done.  Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Happy Aniversary Grubes! Plus narrow work

First I want to say Happy 54th anniversary to John and JoAnn Grube of the Bear Mountain Camp. They kindly shared their anniversary with me and feed me a delicious meal: roast beef, green beans, noodles, gravy and pickled beets with eggs. I will have to say the only thing better than the food was the company and conversation.

The evening reminded me so much of how my grandparents would entertain others at their home. I fear this kind of conversation and fun may be a lost art with the advent of computers, cell phones and texting. We talked about animals, hunting and weather. The three big topics here.

Most might think this is boring, but I never tire of hearing people's stories. John shared one about seeing a hawk attack a turkey while he spotted for deer through binoculars. John said the turkey got a terrible blow at the base of his neck, but turned to defend himself against the hawk and succeeded in scaring the hawk off. John watched the turkey go to roost that night badly injured. Then he saw it come off the roost in the morning to once again walk through the woods. He asked if I had seen many bears and on the way home one ran across the road in front of me as if to say off course she sees bears.

The travel to work this morning was blocked in two spots as I headed to Blackwell. The first being just after I turned on 414 headed north over the bridge at Cedar Run. They were fixing some axel breaking holes on the road and I waited. The next is the work they started on the narrows a month ago. They diverted people down the bike trail(15mph). They are pouring concrete to shore up the side as you can see in second picture. As I got closer a backhoe worked a hundred feet above me(3rd picture) and they blocked the road as rocks fell to the bike trail. The flagperson said she had seen rocks fly all the way into the creek. In the last picture you can see how steep and rocky the cliff is behind the flagger were rocks dropped as I waited. The road is limited to 7' wide which excludes my construction trailer. This makes it difficult to get materials to the Blackwell area as going around adds about 50 miles and another hour. But it will all be worth it to see the narrows fixed. They don't expect to be done any before November.

Thanks again to the Grubes for a great night, great food and great company. Mountain girl, Paula, logging off.

Roads and snow

Yes, the snow is today! We got about 2-3 inches on top of the mountain. It rained down below. Temperatures are supposed to be in 50's tomorrow so it won't last long.
The road from Leetonia to Cedar Run is passable. There are many potholes and a few patches of snow and ice so go slow.
The second picture is out on 414 the narrows between Cedar Run and Blackwell. The State thought they could put in a new guard rail and quickly found out the road is falling into pine creek. So for now they narrowed it even more to one lane. No word on when they might do some real work on it.
It is hard to tell from picture put the road seems to have dipped even more off to the right then it did last Fall. I think if they had drilled in guard posts the road would have just dropped into the creek. It is at least a hundred foot drop and I don't think I will try my luck at surviving that kind of drop. Hopefully, no one else tries it either. Mountain girl, Paula, logging out.

Guard Rail or NOT!

For the last 5 years of living up here I have driven past this stretch of road on 414 between Blackwell and Cedar Run. It is called the narrows by everyone around here with good reason. But one thing always gets me...exactly who went through the guard rail in two places and did they drop the 200 feet down to the creek?

This is a State Road in an area the State promotes as a place for visitors to come, " The Pennsylvania Grand Canyon", yet they leave us with this sort of major road hazard. When will the State put their money were their mouth is and do something to make access to this beautiful
resource safer.

This "guard rail" is more like some wild ride to your death rail and needs fixing and the narrows need widening. Passing any large vehicle on this road especially at this spot is a religious experience. I hope no one important has to die before this road hazard is fixed.

Mountain Girl, Paula, praying for a miracle on 414.