Cathy on the trail near the bench built by last year's National Public Lands' Day volunteers. Our activities sped up a little as we neared the end of our September hosting assignment at Twin Lakes State Park, making preparations for National Public Lands Day on the last Saturday. We did find time to visit some nearby state parks as well. And as we start to think about “what’s next”, we started watching many videos about van conversions and got to talk to some owners in the campground that had either done their own conversions or bought already configured class B’s.
Dave with volunteers installing the split rail fence. Don’t Fence Me In
Despite the increasing threat of rain on National Public Lands Day, we kept making plans for the volunteers to install a split rail fence. As the day approached, we did what we could to ensure the volunteers would be able to hit the ground running.
By watching videos, we created a set of instructions. We worked with the park manager to plan where the sections of fence should go and helped develop the count of rails and posts to be ordered. Once the supplies arrived, we used their actual measurements to lay out the locations of posts and guided the park staff in trying to dig the post holes. When the problems with the augers kept this process from being successful, we re-prioritized the work to have the mostly college-age volunteers dig the holes in what should be softer ground. Working with maintenance, we pulled together the tools needed for the fence, and helped prep a bench kit for a couple of benches in case the forecast rain made it impossible to work on the fence.
Despite the increasing threat of rain on National Public Lands Day, we kept making plans for the volunteers to install a split rail fence. As the day approached, we did what we could to ensure the volunteers would be able to hit the ground running.
By watching videos, we created a set of instructions. We worked with the park manager to plan where the sections of fence should go and helped develop the count of rails and posts to be ordered. Once the supplies arrived, we used their actual measurements to lay out the locations of posts and guided the park staff in trying to dig the post holes. When the problems with the augers kept this process from being successful, we re-prioritized the work to have the mostly college-age volunteers dig the holes in what should be softer ground. Working with maintenance, we pulled together the tools needed for the fence, and helped prep a bench kit for a couple of benches in case the forecast rain made it impossible to work on the fence.
On National Public Lands Day, the volunteers install the fence near the beach. As we made our way to the work site on Saturday morning, a light rain fell. Ignoring the weather, we dug out the first 2 holes on the fence along the beach in preparation for the volunteers’ arrival. The first volunteers took up post-hole diggers and spikes to dig out as many of the dozen remaining holes for this run of fence as time and their muscles could make happen. And while the day remained muggy and overcast, the rain stopped early and didn’t return. After a rocky start, the sections of fence started to grow. By lunch time, we had 8 of 14 sections in place.
Our young volunteers pose for a picture at the end of a hard day's work. One of the complexities of our installation was the use of end posts, which did not allow the rails to pass through, but required them to terminate inside the pole. The rails flared quickly and only about 3.5 inches would seat inside the posts. That meant that our hole spacing for the remaining holes would be off by at least 3 inches all the way down the line. To keep this from happening, we decided to cut down the initial rails to ensure the spans between posts remained consistent. While a chainsaw would make this an easy task, we had to make do with a chop saw and a multi-tool. This was a major reason why the initial sections took so long to put into place.
The parking lot fence was a difficult job to break through the ground. When more volunteers appeared, work began on the parking lot fence. However, this soil was much harder to penetrate by hand. As work ended for the day, there were holes dug for only 4 sections of fence, and only 1 post had been set. But we had assurances that a few volunteers would be coming the next day, so maybe we could get a bit more done before handing the remaining work over to Maintenance.
Cathy with our 2nd day volunteers finishing the beach fence. Sure enough, we had 2 volunteers on Sunday, and they were hard workers as well. Building on the work by Saturday’s crew, we completed the remaining 6 sections of the beach fence and installed 4 more sections by the parking lot. While there are still many more rails to install, we felt good about the 18 sections we were able to get installed, despite the equipment problems that set us back on the holes being dug in advance.
Over 140ft of fencing completed.
Dave has a group of web-footed supervisors as he weeds the planting near the conference center. Side jobs
We made use of our time when not working on the National Public Lands Day for other projects around the park. In preparation for a significant event at the park’s Conference Center, we weeded and mulched a planting just outside the windows. Since a lot of these weeds had taken up permanent residence, we had to work pretty hard to evict them. But we managed to get the job done before the conference was scheduled to begin.
We made use of our time when not working on the National Public Lands Day for other projects around the park. In preparation for a significant event at the park’s Conference Center, we weeded and mulched a planting just outside the windows. Since a lot of these weeds had taken up permanent residence, we had to work pretty hard to evict them. But we managed to get the job done before the conference was scheduled to begin.
A sizable downed tree on the closed Dogwood Loop trail. We also walked the rest of the park’s trails, documenting downed trees that would need some heavier equipment to remove. One loop had been closed, which we discovered was due to not 1 but 4 sets of trees downed across the trail at different spots.
| | And one evening, we made a trip to the Discovery Center to watch Brutus, the park’s copperhead snake, being fed. Cathy made a video that captured the unsettling last moments of the mouse that became supper. |
Side Trips
Last year, we had visited a few state parks nearby that were closest to Twin Lakes. We took one Sunday, to travel a little farther to visit 2 more: James River State Park and Holliday Lake State Park.
Last year, we had visited a few state parks nearby that were closest to Twin Lakes. We took one Sunday, to travel a little farther to visit 2 more: James River State Park and Holliday Lake State Park.
James River State Park sits high above the James River in a remote area of Virginia’s central region. It is an hour drive northwest of Twin Lakes. Its remote location made it a candidate to earn the designation as an official Dark Sky Park. During the summer, it is a popular launching point for rafting and tubing on the James River. We toured the exhibits in the Visitor Center before taking a walk around the nearby Green Pond Trail. After a trip through the campground to check out the campsites, we headed out for our 2nd stop, Holliday Lake State Park.
Holliday Lake State Park - view from the lake overlook. Although this park is only about 30 minutes west of Farmville, we had even less cell signal than we did at James River. Like Twin Lakes, it has a popular beach area, which was quiet on this fall Sunday afternoon. We drove through the 2 campgrounds, but found few sites that appealed to us outside of the Equestrian campground. We took a hike along the lake to a lookout and back along the upper ridge before it was time to head toward home. However, with no cell service and being unfamiliar with the local roads, we weren’t sure how to make our way back. For the first time in a long time, Cathy pulled out her paper map of Virginia and gave Dave directions until Google Maps started working again, which was several miles outside of the park.
Parting Shots
Parting Shots
 Swallowtail butterfly caterpillar |  Orb-weaver spider |
These are some of the park's more colorful natives.
