Into the Belly of the Beast

On Friday, December 12, the area was hit with one of the worst ice storms in recent memory. Today temperatures rose just above freezing, and the work crews had cleared at least the main roads in town, so I carefully ventured out to have a look around.

As I turned off Rt 20 and turned north on to Rt 12, I was pretty surprised that Huntington wasn't touched by the storm. Even South Worthington had missed the brunt of the ice. By the time I got to Worthington Center, tree limbs were down and power was out. I got stopped a couple of times, waiting for power trucks and work crews to load up cut up timbers and clear one lane to traffic.

Crystalline trees gleamed in the sunlight to create a surreal beauty... though to the local residents without power for 48 hours, I don't think they saw things quite the same way I did. Soon enough, I had reached Trouble Street. Some folks had obviously worked hard, there were branches in piles along the way, but the road was sanded and passable, even in my little Matrix.

I didn't dare do anything but back 10' up into the Arunah Hill driveway. The drive was glare ice, and I wanted to make sure I wasn't part of the problem for emergency crews. I wasn't going to risk getting stuck.

I slipped on my crampons and started up toward the hill. I keep a wary eye on the ice-encrusted power lines to the barn and beyond. Some pretty large branches cover the driveway, but nothing a crew of volunteers and a chainsaw won't make quick work of once the footing is safe. We've got some limbs on top of the power lines near where we set up the speaker's tent. VENTURE CAREFULLY if you go up to the hill in the next few days. I'm not sure what will happen to his line when power is restored!

Without crampons the walk would have been impossible, and there were still down branches to walk around, but all in all, the road is in pretty good shape. Once I got up to the clearing, it was obvious we had lucked out, all the buildings came through just fine. Some small limbs were hanging on the old tool shed, but I don't think they are a threat to the building.

Our hiking trails will need a lot of maintenance, the Scouts will be pretty busy come spring time, but I'm sure they will be up to the task. I'm not sure how our lean-to's fared, it's definitely "hardhat required" to be bushwacking out there with so much ice still up in the trees.

I'll probably call a work day as soon as it's safe to do one, but for the mean time there's no immediate needs for maintenance on the hill. We got lucky on this one.

-Ed