Building The Trail
Searing heat in summer, freezing snow in winter, trail building by hand for 2 years with a pick and a shovel!
This was a gruelling test of physical and mental fortitude for Tom O'Brien.
Trail design methodology included strict gradient protocols, minimal disturbance of the landscape and weaving in Historical and Ecological highlights along the journey.
A 27km loop trail, 21kms has been lovingly hand built by Tom and volunteers using picks and spades.
All aspects of the trail including stone bridges and waterways was built by hand using materials sourced on site only.
It took 2 years and 5500 hours to build the trail - opening to the public in December 2014
Tom and his army of volunteers would build between 5 metres - 150 metres per day with between 1-3 people working consistently.
Historical gold mining artifacts were found while digging the trail, a reminder of the men who had dug the water race all those years before.
Building continued through all the seasons with temperatures in Winter getting as low as minus 15 degrees and in Summer rising to as much as 30 degrees.
The trail has been designed with no more than a 5 degree gradient.
