Nine volunteers came out to do trail maintenance on the Appalachian Trail in Shenandoah National Park starting from Ivy Creek Overlook and going south towards Loft Mountain on Sunday, October 18. Marit Anderson and Mark Perschel were the crew leaders and the project was formulated to help new trail overseers, Lisa and Molly Swales with their newly adopted trail. Marit, Mark, and Lisa are hiking friends from Crozet, so the inception of a trail work day event occurred as miles were being covered together over the late summer. Lisa and her daughter, Molly, a senior at Western Albemarle High School, love to hike together and now will maintain this trail in the southern district of SNP.
The work for the day included building waterbars and cutting back vegetation. Dave Bowen, PATC southern SNP District Trail Manager, organized a Boy Scout Troop work day along this trail earlier in the year, but there was still more to be done. The mighty volunteers for the included Rosemary Eyre-Brook, Anna Castle, Margaret Helber, Dianne Anderson, Mark Perschel Jr., and Molly and Lisa Swales. Our group met at Ivy Creek Overlook parking lot at 9 am with SNP Ranger/volunteer coordinator, Jessica Kusky, there to do a safety talk, sign liability forms, and hand out hardhats and eyewear. Marit and Mark covered Covid safety protocol and tool safety, then distributed McLeods, pickaxes, loppers, and shears. Two groups were created to ensure safe distancing - a waterbar building group and a vegetation cutting group. The crew set out on the AT following Lisa and Molly to the designated work area. It was a gorgeous autumn day with a slight breeze and leaves adorning the trees in full colorful glory. Everyone was happy to be out helping on the trail on such a day! We worked for two hours, met for lunch at a beautiful overlook, and then worked another 2 hours, switching tasks so that all got to learn how to make waterbars and all got a chance to tackle the overgrowth. We made our way back to the parking lot at 3 pm. It was a very successful day with 16 waterbars created and much vegetation cut back, widening the path. We wish Lisa and Molly best of luck on their new role as trail maintainers!
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