Trail maintainers in operation - September 2-4, 2011

Although this was a holiday, some members of Charlottesville Chapter were looking after hiking areas.

On Friday, Don D and Andy W drove the PATC field mower to the summit of Little Calf Mountain to mow the cleared area, and what will soon become sections of Appalachian Trail. Part of the road Andy uses to reach the summit will become AT, and is wider than the standard AT corridor to accommodate his truck. Then they went down the hill a little way mowing what will soon be Appalachian Trail, and then at the base of the mountain near Beagle Gap, mowed a path to lead from existing AT to the new section.

On the 4^th, I went to tidy up the ends of the Chapter’s section of AT at McCormick Gaps. At McCormick Gap, the water draining structures have worked, although a couple were full of material washed down the trail, perhaps because the dry weather allowed stones to come loose so that they were easily washed downhill. I removed some newly sprouted invasive oriental ladys thumb, but did not get as far as a previous trip, and continued efforts to make a nearby bittersweet patch look eliminated, until next spring when it will regrow. I did not reach that point, but got closer.

At Rockfish Gap, drains were in a similar state to McCormick Gap, and the first few feet of trail needed some regrading. I was happy with the results of what the chapter has done in the last several years to control erosion at the trail ends. I thinned out some bittersweet, and as at McCormick Gap, noted that nearly all plants were regrowth from roots left in the ground after breaking off when we pulled the rest of the plant in previous years.. It was progress, but not yet victory.

On September 5^th, I learned that Larrry Linebrink recently received a silver service award for 25 years of service to the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. Larry was an early member of Charlottesville Chapter, and District Manager for the Appalachian Trail in the South District. In recent years, we have occasionally seen him at major trail projects. Larry had been actively involved in service to the AT at least since the formation of the chapter. This means that this year, two member of the Chapter, Larry and myself, have been maintaining trails since the Chapter was founded, and recognized by the National Park Service with silver service awards.

Then Flying McLeods Al and Andre Dahler were listed as volunteers of the month in the September PA. Ever since the Flying McLeods started, they have been present every trip but the most recent. Some years ago while living in the area they helped the Charlottesville Chapter with trail work, but after moving to the Shenandoah Valley, they have worked with SSVC.

Posted by John Shannon