Women's Trail Work Day - Wild East Women/ATC/PATC - October 17, 2020 at Ramsey's Draft Wilderness-West Augusta County

On Saturday, October 17, Marit Anderson and Lynn Cameron (from SSVC) led a Women's Trail Work Day in conjunction with Wild East Women, an affinity group from ATC promoting women on the trails and women to be stewards of the trail.  The focus of the day was to cut back vegetation on Jerry's Run in Ramsey's Draft Wilderness. The group of eleven met at Confederate Breastworks in West Augusta county at 9:30 am, had introductions and a safety talk including Covid protocol, then collected their loppers, hand pruners, hardhats, and eyewear.  Lynn was the leader down the Shenandoah Mountain Trail and then to the worksite on Jerry's Run with a brief stop at the former site of the PATC Sexton Cabin.  We admired the virgin forest, large pines, and hemlocks as Lynn told the story about the timbers of the cabin being moved multiple times and now resting at the Mutton Top Cabin where many of us have stayed. The group hiked along Ramseys Draft, enjoying the fall colors and gorgeous weather.  It was a perfect day to do trail maintenance - cool, but sunny.  We broke into two groups and pruned back the overgrowth, leapfrogging each other until lunch time, then resuming work until 2:15 pm.  At that point we had to hike out and were back at the parking lot around 4 pm.  We hiked almost 8 miles to get to the work site and back, so all got a good workout for the day.  It also made many in the group realize that trail work in remote areas can be quite a task for the maintainers. It was fun to work together, make some new friends and see old acquaintances since the pandemic has kept so many isolated. A very special thank you to the volunteers: Sandra Crawford, Nancy Handley, Jocelyn Prostko, Cheri Acker, Anne Colgate, Linda Beights, Nancy Kern, Barbara Martin, and Angela Cantow.  Mimi Kaylor was not able to make it at the last minute due to an injury.  The women came from as far as northern Virginia to participate.  Special appreciation to Lynn Cameron for sharing her knowledge of the area and guiding us through this beautiful wilderness. We hope her work promoting Shenandoah Mountain as a future National Scenic Area will be successful.  More Wild East Women trail work events will be planned for 2021- Marit is the co-chair for the group and will coordinate with Charlottesville PATC to encourage women to hike, backpack and help maintain the trails.😍

submitted by Marit Anderson, photos by Marit Anderson, Lynn Cameron, Barbara Martin