UVa Students Put In New Trails At Mutton Hollow

Hey PATC community!

Liz, Erik, Katie, Tyler, John, Kim, Sarah, Brennan, Ben, and Annie

      We are a group of 10 students from the University of Virginia who are members of a student-led organization called Alternative Spring Break (ASB). Each year ASB organizes a variety of service-learning trips all around the world for UVa students to participate in over spring break in March. It provides a fun and meaningful alternative to other traditional spring break plans college students have. We are committed to serving others while also encouraging students to reflect upon the experience with hopes of broadening their perspective. 

Early morning at Mutton Top Cabin

     This year we had the opportunity to work with a branch of your organization! We collaborated with Bill Holman, the District Manager of the Mutton Hollow Trails and spent from March 9th to the 15th living in the Mutton Top cabin close to Charlottesville. During our stay, we cleared two new hiking trails near Mattie's Run in addition to performing other general maintenance throughout the area. It was an incredible experience and we all had a wonderful time exploring the PATC property and enjoying the outdoors for the week. We also picked up some new skills along the way like becoming pros at splitting wood, hauling water jugs, working a wood stove, and avoiding getting sprayed by a family of skunks. We are all coming away from this experience with some great memories and friendships and want to thank Bill for being a great resource and guide throughout our stay!

Before clearing trail

After clearing trail

    

    

Mattie's Run

     We are very appreciative of all the work PATC puts in throughout the year to maintain these areas so that the cabins and trails can remain usable for the public. We were excited to be apart of your mission by expanding the amount of trails and hope that we can continue to work with you all in the future! Many of us are looking forward to becoming members of the PATC after this experience and plan to visit the area more often. 

     Hopefully we will get to visit again soon!

 

Liz Holohan and Ben Campbell (ASB Shenandoah Site Leaders 2014)

Happy campers!