JAY — Two women used rock hammers Tuesday to break up large pieces of stone.

The process continued until they achieved the right size pieces to make aggregate, which will be used as a base under rock staircases.

Instructor Jed Talbot, of Off the Beaten Path, a trail construction and training business, said there are five Maine Conservation Corps team leaders learning how to build a trail that will eventually run along the Androscoggin River.

Talbot, of Turner, is working in partnership with Maine Conservation Corps and Androscoggin Land Trust, which has a conservation lease with Verso Paper, to train the leaders who will teach Conservation Corps crews to build trails.

The 116 acres is named the Spruce Mountain Conservation Area of the Androscoggin Land Trust, which is adjacent to the Spruce Mountain Ski Area.

Nearby three men rolled a 300- to 500-pound rock into place at the bottom of a short but steep hill. They were setting it as part of a section of rock stairs. Rock staircases will be built along the trail in steep areas.

The trail is above the flood zone of the river but hikers will still get a nice view of the river.

The five in training at the Maine Conservation Corps Training Academy, Jennifer Wachtl of Brunswick, Augusta Reilly of Austin, Texas, Tyler Keniston of Readfield, Josh Moore of Cumberland, and Tyler Fogg of Wellesley, Mass., are in the second week of the labor-intensive program.

During the first week, they learned about safety and rigging. They strung a line from one tree to another, anchored each end, and used a grip-hoist wench to lift and move large rocks across the ground with minimum impact on the ground, Talbot said.

The trail will go from the main parking lot adjacent to Spruce Mountain Ski Slope and follow the river to eventually cross over the main road on the upper, western section of the property, Talbot said.

He estimated that by the end of the two weeks, the crew will have moved 8,000 to 10,000 pounds of rock.

“This project, a combination of training and service work, has provided an excellent opportunity for . . . trainers,” Bryan Kalleberg, program coordinator for Maine Conservation Corps, said in a release.

Jonathan LaBonte, executive director of Androscoggin Land Trust, said the group is  excited that Conservation Corps chose to work with the Trust along the river in Jay.

“There is so much potential for opening up new hiking trail corridors to complement the miles of multiuse trails in the Jay/Livermore Falls region and this partnership continues that effort,” LaBonte said in the release.

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