Trail Maintenance - February 25, 2012

A cold, blustery day was in store for members of the PATC - Charlottesville Chapter trail crew who assembled at Albemarle High School on Saturday morning. While the weather in town was expected to reach into the 50s, it would certainly be colder in the mountains, though this did not deter these hardy souls.

John Shannon led the small group in two cars to the Riprap Trail parking area, from which we would hike a short distance along the Appalachian Trail to work on Lindsay Brown’s section of the trail. Upon arrival at the parking area Ken Moss noted that the temperature was only 29 degrees and it was quite windy as well, with sustained winds forecast at 15-25 mph. Thus at the median of 20 mph and a temperature of 29, the trail crew, which also included Marian Styles and Don Davis, started working in a wind-chill factor of 16 degrees!

The work John had planned for us was to improve drainage…and thus decrease erosion…on a section not more than 5 minutes from the cars. We scalped off low berms on the downhill slope of the trail to allow water to exit more readily and also scalped off some of the slough which had encroached upon the trail over the years from the uphill side. Hand warmers and even toe warmers were put to use in the frigid conditions.

After the lunch break, which only meant everyone got colder due to the pause in physical exertion, Marian and Ken left as prearranged at about 12:30. Upon arriving back at the car Ken discovered that it was still below freezing at just 31 degrees, so the wind-chill would have still been in the upper teens. Marian stated that it was the coldest work hike she had ever been on. To warm their chilled bones, they stopped by Blue Mountain Brewery on the drive back to indulge in a mug of hot mulled red wine, which warmed them appreciably. John and Don toughed it out on the trail for another couple of hours before finally retreating to the comforts of hearth and home as well.