I liked the way the people and the wall are in parallel, the bright colors against the neutral tones of the rock, and the red happy faces. We had a good time doing a good thing.

On a cold November day, about 20 hardy souls volunteered to build a limestone retaining wall for the portage trail at Alden Iowa. This allows canoeists on the Iowa River to pass safely around the dam.

More photos: http://www.pbase.com/gazeboy96/alden

During the high water last Spring, 2 canoeists died at this dam when they put in too close below the dam. This portage trail had been designated in a grant (that I helped to obtain) but had not been constructed.

The project director (Rod Scott) fell off a roof and broke just about everything, but he really wanted this wall built before high water could sweep away the rock slabs.

So we hauled rock and built the wall for canoeists, Alden and for Rod.