Bear Den Mountain - April 28, 2012

After some people made arrangements to participate in the AT relocation at Little Calf Mountain, the weather changed plans by threatening rain and thunderstorms. Don White, crew leader for the project, had to decide two days in advance to either proceed with the project or cancel to avoid having people working in rain and lightning. He chose the latter. So John Shannon swapped his work tools for hiking boots and led a hike.


We started at McCormick Gap and crossed over Bear Den Mountain, noting both the steep trail sections that have led to a proposal for a trail relocation and the lack of significant new erosion resulting from work several years ago by Flying McLeods and trail maintainers.


We stopped at the famous tractor seats but saw little beyond the nearby small trees. On the other side of Beagle Gap, we took the partially constructed new Appalachian Trail. Halfway to the summit, we found that canceling the work trip had been a good decision as cold rain started falling on us, which combined with a breeze, made us quite cool for late April.


The rain didn’t deter us from continuing to the summit. During the hike back, we heard thunder in the distance, but before we reached the cars, the rain stopped. Although the rain and thunder were short lived, people were wet and chilly, which would have been unpleasant for trail building. As it was, we were able to make an early return to warm, dry houses. The hardy hikers included Joanne and Maynard Davis, Andy Willgruber, Dan Ralston, and Lindsay Brown.

Ramsey's Draft Worktrip - April 21, 2012

The forecast was for rain, but 6 dedicated trail volunteers from Charlottesville joined the Shenandoah Valley Chapter for a joint work trip in Ramsey's Draft Wilderness. Dan Ralston, Eric Christensen, Ken Moss, John Brandt, Bill Holman, and Iva Gillet left AHS and headed over the mountain to meet 10 members of the SSVC PATC for work in the wilderness followed by a potluck.

Valley chapter president Karen Waterman and Lynn Cameron had organized yet another work trip in Ramsey's Draft, which have extensively improved the conditions of this 8 mile Wilderness Trail from constant climbing over huge downed trees to a picturesque hike through the former old growth hemlock forest, now standing dead from the wooly aldelgid invasion. This trail crosses Ramsey's Draft Run multiple times, making timing critical when hauling large tools for trail work. As a wilderness area, no power tools or wheeled vehicles are allowed, meaning that even the trees more than 12 inches in diameter must be cut with hand saws and MAN (and woman) power!

With so many workers, we were able to spread out- Ken Moss and John Brandt forged ahead to asses the needs about 3-4 miles in, as previous work from the Valley chapter had made the first 2 miles park like. Bill Holman, Eric Christensen, and Mike Waterman worked for 2 hours on an 18" tree trunk, later to be supervised by Malcolm Cameron. Meanwhile, Jeff Monroe and Gracie arrived to lend assistance after an early morning shopping trip at REI, as the fanatical gear-head shopper that he is. Some people will drive 140 miles just to save a few bucks!!

Further down the trail, Karen, Lynn, Dan and Iva worked on a downed trees with Corona saws, finally conceding that it would be much faster work with a proper saw, so onward they went. We stopped and joined Nancy Hall, Michael Seth and others for lunch, and since Iva had the hiking cookies, the group was pleased. We then set to tackle a very large downed tree with collateral damage. John Brandt, Dan, and Ken worked engineering processes to move the large limbs and clear a path around, while Nancy, Brian Bruns, and Karen cleared away the debris. Once this was accomplished to the best of the group's ability, and after several groups hiking through expressed their appreciation, we retreated back toward the parking lot.

Bill Holman met us, coming to lend more support to our efforts, but with the darkening clouds, we all decided to head for the potluck. The rain fell, and we donned our raingear as prepared hikers do. Upon joining the rest of the group, Lynn decided that we would use a shelter they had reserved in Churchville for just such weather for our potluck. Good food and a chance to chat with fellow wilderness lovers, our chapters have planned a joint hike in July on Shenandoah Mountain to get together again.

We are pleased that a good day of group work will allow this incredible area to be enjoyed by many more without constantly climbing over downed trees. We were grateful that the rain held off long enough for us to get substantial work done, and we look forward to hiking this area again soon. Go check it out!

Furnace Mountain - April 14, 2012

A beautiful cool morning greeted the 8 hikers for today's outing.  We met at Albermarle High and headed out in two cars shortly after 9am for Shenandoah Park.  The hike began in the Blackrock Parking area at MP 85 on Skyline Drive.  We hiked up the approach trail to Blackrock Summit before descending on the Austin Mountain trail.  

After a short distance we turned onto the Furnace Mountain Trail, then to the summit trail arriving at the peak at noon, precisely as planned.  Not many other hikers out today except for one John Brandt "look a like" and a small group coming up from Madison Run.  

Hikers included the real John Brandt, Eric Christensen, Dan Funkhouser, Sue Tansey, Joanne Davis, Brad Young, Ken Moss, and Hike Leader Lindsay Brown.  The 7 mile hike ended early so we headed to Blue Mountain Brewery for  post hike refreshments.  A pretty good way to spend a Saturday!

Hazel River - April 7, 2012

The literal crunch of Washington-area traffic left Michael Seth without a functioning car, so he was unable to lead the scheduled Whetstone Ridge hike. John Shannon rustled through the archives and proposed the Hazel River hike, which we had not walked for 3 or 4 years. With years to forget the details, and fact sheets left at home, information about the hike was sketchy, but everyone knew that they faced an all uphill afternoon.

Although the calendar said spring, the low temperatures suggested otherwise, and a gale at Thornton Gap felt like winter. However, the long lines at the entrance station and restrooms, plus a full parking lot, indicated that other outdoor enthusiasts thought it was spring.

The falls on Hazel River

Soon after starting the hike, we dropped into areas sheltered from the cold, westerly wind and enjoyed the pleasant temperatures and descent. At one of the trail junctions, John recalled how some years earlier, when the group departed before he arrived, he saw broccoli on the ground and declared, “Leon Gorman was here;” immediately knowing which trail to take.

Most people today chose to make the steep descent to the waterfalls and miniature cave by the Hazel River. We found the scenery was worth the effort but then faced the steep ascent back to the trail.

After another steep descent to the Hazel River and crossing it, we stopped for lunch. Then the ascent started, and people spread out, with coats coming off and water bottles coming out. When Maynard Davis and John Shannon cut part of a tree across the trail, the other hikers enjoyed a little break.

Shortly thereafter, we encountered a group we had seen earlier. The group included a pit bull, whose humans professed: “He’s friendly.” The dog proceeded to growl at three of us. The dog was not on a leash as required by the Park Service, which has listed the deleterious effects of dogs wandering freely in the park. We later warned some others heading down with dogs that they would encounter an unleashed pit bull.

Andy Willgruber and his lucky passengers (John Brandt, Marian Styles, and Dan Funkhouser) stopped at the Little Country Store in Etlan for ice cream and barbecued chicken. Others on the hike included Dave Borszich, Rita Keiffer, Joanne Davis, Lindsay Brown, Eric Christenson, and Barbara Wilson. 

Appalachian Trail relocation on Little Calf Mountain, March 31-April 1

 

This weekend was a continuation of the Appalachian Trail relocation at Calf Mountain which started last September. The website www.southshenandoah.net/ describes the relocation as removing the AT from a steep ascent to the saddle below Little Calf and bringing hikers onto better grades and more diverse backcountry scenery.

Saturday started with a cold wind as we waited for workers to arrive. Charlottesville Chapter volunteers included Andy Willgruber, Lindsay Brown, Connie Wright, and John Shannon; some other chapter members worked on other trails that day.



Moving a rock with grip hoist



AT District Manager Don White assigned some people to a group that started some rock crib work to route the trail around a rocky outcropping that would be slippery when wet. Patrick Wilson, trail maintainer extraordinaire, headed that group (one of the many trail maintenance specialties he is a master of). This group used a grip hoist to move large rocks to make a wall, and then started filling the space behind it with small rocks as well as pieces of large rocks broken by hammer.

On Sunday, with PATC Supervisor of Trails Catherine Kelleher in charge, the work continued and provided an educational moment for some of us: watching the crew move a large rock with the grip hoist.



Mark Gatewood





Andy Willgruber



Most other people built new side hill trail, which is not as steep as the AT section we are replacing. The goal is to build the trail to slope out so that water can run off the trail instead of down the trail, which will reduce erosion. Mark Gatewood, crew leader for the Flying McLeods, guided that group and demonstrated a new tool for tread work. The section we built this weekend is  situated where its construction was more difficult than normal. Building a flat trail surface of solid earth is difficult when you are working in an area of rocks embedded in a mass of fine roots. Nevertheless, we built a good length of trail, and at Saturday’s end, we left tools nearby for those returning on Sunday.

The rock wall

Sunday started with fog. Suspecting others were sleeping off a large dinner prepared by Mary Jorgensen of Dunlodge fame at Schairer Trail Center where most of the crew stayed, John Shannon headed up to the trail construction site, but after a period of moving rocks and trying to find trail construction earth, he thought it was time for the others to appear. Heading down the trail, he met a couple of people going to collect tools. The tread work for the day, besides assisting with the crib work, was to correct the out slope of some trail built last year, where settling of earth resulted in some suboptimal slope. Toward the end of the day, PATC president John Hedrick came to see the state of the work and also the area of a possible relocation on Bear Den Mountain.



For those who wonder, two days of trail work did not leave us physically exhausted. We do not get dollars for digging, and the crew chief does not walk around saying, "Work harder." He does say, "Stop, take a break" and encourages people to work at a comfortable pace, so people feel comfortable stopping for a minute if they want to.