July 27: A Trail Maintenance Dream Comes True

Reported by John Shannon

It was time, or past time, to cut summer growth along the AT between Rockfish and McCormick Gaps. A few weeks earlier, I had cut some growth at the ends of the trail, but miles of summer growth had remained in the middle.

Cutting light summer growth

Lindsay Brown and Clai Lang set up a car shuttle while I picked up a weedeater and supplies from the PATC toolbox. Lindsay carried a toolbox and cutterhead with blades; he went ahead of me cutting small branches with loppers. Clai followed with fuel for the weedeater and used loppers to cut things too large or too high for the weedeater. She also used her weedeater experience to help me cope with the left-handed thread when changing the head.

At Rockfish Gap, I (carefully) cut some poison ivy again and tried to shave some stilt grass, hoping to reduce next year’s growth. In a few spots, I stopped to damage some bittersweet easily observed from the trail, leaving many plants for another day.

Not long after starting, light rain began falling, which was earlier than forecasts had suggested. Lindsay and Clai were happy to continue working, and because I noticed the rain only when I stopped the weedeater, I was not bothered. A few backpackers passed and thanked us for our work.

Years ago Lois Mansfield decided that the number of rocks on this section of trail made use of a weedeater so difficult that it was no better than swingblades. My support crew and the weedeater’s self-feeding stringhead may be why it proved successful for me.

At lunch, plenty of lemon and berry cake was available—an advantage of a small crew.

In the northern half of this trail section, we saw a few trees down—but easily stepped over—and a leaning tree from a winter storm, which has moved closer to the ground but was still too tricky for us to cut.

Reloading string for the next user

We used the weedeater and loppers the full distance to McCormick Gap, which was as much as I hoped for. Although the trail had been passable, it looked much neater after our work. Plus, we slowed growth of some plants into the trail corridor.

Clai was happy to transport people and tools covered with wet grass back to Rockfish Gap to complete a productive day. Despite cutting poison ivy, no rashes resulted from the day’s work.