Members of the Banadad Trail Association and the North Star Ski Tour Club spent a weekend rebuilding a bridge on the Banadad ski trail in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness recently. The hardworking crew was (L-R, front) Pete Harris, Len Voit, Lee Wenzel, Tom Rice, Steve Lenius, and Lowell Johnson. (L-R, back) Ted Young and Karla Miller.
The Banadad bridge remotely located in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, midway along the Banadad Ski Trail, was rebuilt over the weekend of Sept. 17 by a volunteer crew organized by the Banadad Trail Association (BTA) in conjunction with several North Star Ski Tour Club (NSSTC) members. Grant funds from Arrowhead Electric Cooperative aided the project.
The construction crew included Ted Young of Boundary Country Trekking on the Gunflint and Steve Lenius, Woodbury, MN, both of whom had been involved with the trail’s last bridge construction in 1996 as well as Tom Rice, St. Paul; Lee Wenzel, Eden Prairie; Lowell Johnson, Lake Elmo; Len Voit, Gunflint Trail; Pete Harris, Croftville and Karla Miller, Duluth.
The scheduled project was given special permission by the U.S. Forest Service to enter the BWCA since the Pagami Creek Fire east of Ely had forced the closure of most of the BWCA entry points west of the Gunflint Trail including One Island Lake where the crew launched. While the fire had encompassed over 94,000 acres, cooler weather and slight moisture in the days preceding the work allowed for the crew to proceed.
The construction crew used a series of rollers, levers, pickaroons, a timber jack, cant hook and manual lifting to remove the old bridge and reconstruct the 40-footlong bridge.
The group portaged into One Island Lake from the Moose Trail, two miles west of Poplar Lake, to reach Rush Lake, canoeing to the far east end where the bridge is located, and they set up camp. The project involved removing the rough-cut cedar decking and replacing the rotting 24-foot log support stringers and abutments. The total bridge is 40 feet long and is made up of a 24-foot center span and an 8-foot approach on each end supported by cedar timbers. The cedar decking reinstalled on the replacement stringers was put in place with a series of rollers, levers, pickaroons, a timber jack, cant hook and manual lifting.
The bridge was completed by late afternoon Saturday so the crew also cleared about three kilometers of trail. They returned from the Boundary Waters Sunday morning. Ted Young expressed relief in completion of the repair project, noting, “The bridge previously installed in 1996 was solid until the last few years when the aging support beams rotted out and it became treacherous crossing, especially with the weight of the groomer.”
The BTA (banadad.org) is a non-profit organization formed to maintain and enhance the Banadad Ski Trail system and preserve the history of the forest and trail as well as promote appreciation and care of the BWCA. The Banadad Trail is a 28.8-km. linear ski trail of which 22 km. is within the BWCA.
NSSTC (north-stars.org), founded in 1967, supports non-motorized outdoor recreation and social events with an emphasis on cross-country skiing and the maintenance of trails.
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