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TRAIL MAINTENANCE 2010 by Richard Sullivan 2008 Maintenance Hours Click on link to view 2008 Trail Maintenance Hours and Awards 2009 Maintenance Hours Click on link to view 2009 Trail Maintenance Hours and Awards 2010 Maintenance Hours Click on link to view 2010 Trail Maintenance Hours and Awards 2009 Maintenance Reports Click on link to view 2009 Trail Maintenance Reports by John Quinlin Report Trail Issue Click on link to report an issue on a trail we maintain ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thursday July 22nd: Today we were in Fires Creek again, on a mission to reopen a trail that has not been worked in a while. We had a GREAT crew, which included:
Richard Sullivan, Bob Stone, John Quinlan, Tom Shope, Don Chesebro, Gene Ford, Jim Pigneri, Dave Richardson, and Jim Morgan. We drove all the way into the far end of Fires Creek to the Shinbone / Sassafras trailhead, and started up the old roadbed/trail. We were very fortunate to have had Dave Richardson, who went out all by himself on Monday and did a recon of the trail and flagged it well so we could find our way up. One group went straight to the top to work down, and the other started at the bottom and worked up. The brush was heavy in spots, but in no time we had the trail in SUPER shape, and it was only around 12 noon. Everyone was still game to get some more work done, so we headed over to the Rim access up from Leatherwood falls, and worked the 2.2 mile stretch up to the 2nd FS road crossing. Thanks to everyone who came out and worked today. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Thursday July 15th: Today we stayed closer to most of our homes, and worked Arkaquah Trail off Brasstown Bald. We had a GREAT turnout, and I wanted to thank everyone who came: Brian Blue, Phyllis Loman, John Quinlan, Dave Richardson, Don Chesebro, Jim Pignery, Mary Patrick, Tom Shope, and Bob Stone. We broke into 2 teams, with one team starting at the top and working down, and the other starting at the bottom, and working up. We were also joined by a "Wilderness Ranger" Robert Smith with the Blue Ridge FS district. There was lots of Lopping and sling blade work for everyone (this is a wilderness area so no power toys), and with all of the help, we got through shortly after 2pm. Thanks to all, and hope to see some of you next week!! _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Thursday, July 8th: With the heat wave hitting the whole East Coast, a group of 5 of us ventured into Fires (no pun intended) creek to get some trail work done. Dave Richardson, John Quinlan, Tom Shope, John Ray, and myself lugged chainsaws, loppers and a brushcutter up shinbone ridge trail to the rim, then worked back to Far bald trail, then down to the cars. John Ray worked on getting the Old Road Gap trail, trying to get some trees off it that had fallen. The day was hot, and the trail had really grown up since our last work trip up here. There were many Rhodo's that had blown down on the trail. With everyones hard work, and a 10 hour day, we got the job done. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Thursday June 17th: Today the crew worked the Wagon Train Trail, and we had great weather and a very good turn-out. As usual we split into 2 groups, Group one with Bob Stone, Dave Richardson, Tom Shope, Gene Ford , Don Chesebro, and Brad Herala started at the Top and worked their was down. They did a great job with hand powered sling blades with the heavy brier growth, along with lopping and hand saw work. Team Two with Doris Pigneri, Jim Pigneri, Steve Sutherlin, Jerry Carnes, and Myself worked our way up from the bottom (after quite a ride up the gated road to the wilderness, boy this road has gotten bad over the winter). We found quite a few trees down and some very heavy lopping all the way up. We also cleaned out all of the water bars we put in on Trail Day '09 with Dave Kuykendall. They are still holding up quite well. We also put in one new water bar further up the trail. We met the crew coming down at the last overlook, and walked back out to the cars. Also a special thanks goes out to John Quinlan, who was nice enough to come out and run the shuttle for us up to the Top, even though he had a medical apt later in the day. Remember, out next work day won't be until July 8th, and we will be headed back to Fires Creek then. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Thursday, June 10th : With rain threatening (seems like that is always the case now) 7 of us left the Ingles in 2 teams headed for Chunky Gal, and hoping for an easier day than we had the last 2 times out. Team one with John Quinlan, Don Chesebro, and Tom Shope headed for Bob Allison campground to work south toward Tusquitee Gap. Team 2 with Bob Stone, Greg Lane, Virginia Lane, and Myself drove in to Tusquitee Gap, and worked north toward group one. We had a few large trees to cut from the trail, but the word of the day was loppping, especially on the Bob Allison end of the trail, lots of Rhododendron ingrowth on the trail. Special shout out to Virginia for both packing the brushcutter in and out, and also running it on the trail, you go Girl !!! With everyone's hard work (and only one brushcutter breaking down) we were able to get these 4 miles of trail cleared and be out of the woods by 1:30 AND beat the rain. Next week we are back in Georgia on the Wagon Train Trail. Thanks to all _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A foggy morn greeted all 6 members of the work team today at Ingles. We quickly organized and split into 2 teams (to try to beat the heat and rain). Team one, with Tom (Donated a pint of blood yesterday) Shope, Don Chesebro, Dave (I went the wrong way again) Richardson, and Pam (Yes that's not a misprint) Sullivan, rolled off to Short Branch access and lugged gear up to the rim. Team 2 with Steve (no cow truck today) Sutherlin and myself went on to Shinbone Trailhead, and began working up to meet the other group on the rim. The Flowers were spectacular, with Mountain Laurel, Flame Azelias, and Cataba Rhodos blooming, it looked like we were off to a scenic day. Just like last week, the brush and brier growth on the rim was out of control. After both groups joined up, we retreated back down Shinbone trail to my waiting car, with cold drinks and homemade cookies. This week we were not quite as lucky with the rain, it started up about 5 minutes short of getting back to the car, and then really came down heavy as we were loading up the equipment. By the time we got back to Ingles, the ground was dry, the temp was 84 (20 degrees warmer than when we left Fires creek in the rain), and the sun was out. Another 9.5 hour day in paradise. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ This was a VERY productive week for the MHH Trail Maintenance team. On Monday May 24th, 4 of us (Tom Shope, Jim Morgan, Bob Kaempfer, and Richard Sullivan) drove up to the second FS road crossing above Leatherwood Falls in Fires Creek. After dodging a logging truck coming down the hill, we got to work on the trail. The brush was quite heavy, Lots of lopping and brushcutting, with a side order of chainsaw work. After 4 hours (and just missing the rain) we had the trail looking GREAT, much to the appreciation of the MHH Short hikers who were enjoying the trail the next day. Then on Thursday, May 27th, we were out again, this time starting at Big Stamp and working east to Short Branch exit. We did not get the turnout that I had hoped for (I wanted 10, but had to make due with only 5, so everyone had to work twice as hard). With Steve Sutherlin as captain of the "cow truck", he took Tom Shope and Gene Ford up the long and tortuous road to Big Stamp. While John Quinlan and Myself drove to Short Branch and started the steep climb to the rim, clearing the choked trail on the way up. On the rim, both teams found VERY heavy brier growth, causing both teams (with only one brushcutter each) to move much slower than planned. Luckily, the temps remained in the 70's and a light breeze blow most of the day, and when both groups finally met at 3:30pm, it was time to beat it out of there. The sky was getting dark, and thunder was heard in the distance. We rapidly backtracked to Short Branch, and headed down. On the drive back to Ingles the skies opened up once again (someone is watching out for us). We got back to Ingles after 6pm, for a long 11 hour day on the the trail. A big thanks for all the help from everyone this week, we got over 7 miles of Fires creek trails cleared this week. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ May 20, 2010: Seven MHHers braved poison ivy and the threat of wood ticks to complete the reroute of the trail at Lake Chatuge. Some final treadway digging and touch-up were done. The major work was the spreading of mulch/wood chips over all of the recently-dug treadway and was accomplished by many wheelbarrow trips down the trail from the two locations where mulch had been dumped near the trail by the Forest Service. The entire trail was also "lopped" and "brushcut" to groom it for the Trail Day event. Many thanks to Dave Richardson for manning the brush cutter, with assistance from Bob Stone near the end. John Quinlan, Gene Ford, Don Chesebro, Bob Stone, Steve Sutherlin and Tom Shope pushed wheelbarrows and spread mulch. Steve Sutherlin also "lopped" the entire trail. David Kuykendall of the Forest Service stopped by early in the day to provide instruction on the mulch distribution and some additional treadway work that was needed. At about 1:15 p.m., the trail reroute was declared completed. Thanks to John, Gene, Don and Bob for bringing the much-needed wheelbarrows. Tom _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Thursday May 13th: Today we worked the Lake Chatuge reroute project, primarily digging new trail bed. We had 6 people who decided to brave the heat and take the task on. They were: Steve Sutherlin, Tom Shope, Bob Stone, Steve Jersey, Don Chesebro, and Myself. Also present were Dave Kuykendall (who was pretty tired after chasing bears around Blood Mtn the last 2 nights), and his assistant Dequincy. We also had a surprise inspection from Dave's boss John Campbell. We were able to complete all of the Trail sidehilling (digging for all of the non-trail-fluent) on this trip. We plan to try to finish up out there next Thursday with some lopping, brushcutting, and possibly spreading woodchips on the new trail surface, as well as finishing any other last minute tune-ups needed. On each of the 5 trips we have made out here it has been surprising to me of all of the local people who walk out here, I know our new trail will get lots of use, and be greatly appreciated. All of this is in preparation for the trail GRAND OPENING on National Trails day June 5th. If you are not already committed that day, come out to the Lake Chatuge Rec Area (NOT Jackrabbit) on Hwy 288 on the south side of lake Chatuge (Look for the Forest Service sign) at 9am and watch with ribbon cutting and walk the new trail with us. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Thursday May 6th: With an early 8am start, and some coolness in the air, the took the long Kubota ride up to the Junction of Chunky Gal trail and the AT, High above Deep Gap, NC. We had a GREAT crew, but had no idea of the long, hard, hot day that awaited us. Starting in on the trail was a cascade of wildflowers (Trillium, Foam Flowers, Squirl corn, Dutchmans Breeches, Showy Orchus, Lousewourt, and the ever present RAMPS). Just walking through the ramps released that strong garlic smell. With Steve Jersey, Bob Stone, Wayne Hamilton, Tom Shope, and Jim Morgan alternating off on the 2 BEASTS (Brushcutter for those not familiar trail maintenance lingo), and loppers, with Phyllis Loman and Jean Caputa cutting hard with the loppers, myself on the chainsaw and John Quinlan helping with the sawing, swamping and swinging the Swedish axe we worked hard down the trail, initially enjoying the views, flowers, and cool air........ Then the heat hit, and the breeze that was so pleasant early on became scarce. With temps reaching into the 80's everyone was feeling the heat. Most of us ran short on water, but our spirits remained high and we got the job done. Special thanks goes out to Phyllis for helping haul the chainsaw up and down those hills, and also to Steve Lohr (for setting up the Kubota's) and Todd Sharkey for taking time out of his busy day to cart us up there. In all we cleared 5.1 miles of rough trail, and put in 90 hours of work in one day!!!! I could not have asked for a better crew to spend a day in the woods with. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Thursday, April 29th: What a great day to work in the woods!! We had 6 great volunteers show up today to take on Chunky Gal. We broke into 2 teams with Dave Richardson, Tom Shope, Don Chesebro, and Jean Caputa going in at Perry Gap and working toward Tusquitee Gap. John Quinlan and Myself drove around to Tusquitee Gap and worked in to meet them at the road crossing at the halfway mark. There was lots of winter debris on the trail, with some chainsaw work, brushcutting, and lopping. After we all enjoyed a lunch on the trail, Dave backtracked to retrieve his car from Perry Gap, while the rest of us worked back to Tusquitee Gap, and then on further north @ 1.3 more miles toward Bob Allison. By then we were all pretty beat, and headed back to the car for Cold Drinks. A big Thanks goes out to all of the workers today. REMEMBER: Next week we have the Kubota trip up to the Start of the Chunky Gal at the AT, then working down the 5.2 miles to Glade gap and Hwy 64. Hope to see you all there!! _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ With good weather this week, we got in 2 very productive work trips: Monday April 12th: With a small 4 person crew (John Quinlan, Dave Richardson, Don Chesebro, and myself) we decided to tackle from Glade Gap to Perry Gap on the Chunky Gal trail in preparation for an upcoming club hike. We hit the trail with chainsaws and loppers, and got the trail cleared well of numerous winter blowdowns, branches, tree tops, and a real Rhododendron rats nest of blown over trees. Then we enjoyed the Great views the club cut in last year on the top of Boeteller peak. The trail looks great now. If you have not seen the new Lake view we cut in last year, take a hike up and treat your eyes to one of the best views of Lake Chatuge!! Thursday April 15th: With a cool early morning start, 5 of us (John Quinlan, Gary Thompson, Don Chesebro, Jerry Carnes, and myself) headed out to the Lake Chatuge trail project to meet Dave Kuykendall for a day of digging in the dirt. It was hard, sweaty work, cutting trail bed, pulling and cutting our roots, digging out tree stumps, putting in cribbing. As the day wore on the heat set in, making all the less pleasant, and not a breath of wind. But after a full day of work we were proud to see what we had done. A couple of more work trips out there and we should have this project done. We have the worst of it behind us now!! Thanks to both of the work crews this week for pitching in and "getting er done" _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Thursday April 1st: Well spring, and possible summer has arrived in the Mountains, with beautiful clear sky, and highs reaching 80 degrees, 7 eager workers showed up to put in a long day on the trail. The team split into 2 groups, with John Quinlan leading the team of Bob Stone, Tom Shope, and Steve Sutherlin up to Big Stamp. Special thanks to Steve for taking the "cow truck" up the always treacherous and kidney busting FS road. They worked their way in toward Will King gap, with heavy Brushcutting, and removal of many downed trees with chainsawing. In route the "bumped into" 2 of the property owners of the 50 acre inholding in Fires Creek. They walked and talked with us for most of the rest of the day, and it was quite nice to put a face and personality with this group of people we have heard so much about. Team 2, lead by myself and included Dave Richardson and Jacob Dorn, went in at the 2nd crossing of FS road 6176, and worked back to Will King gap. Again this team found lots of brushcutting, lopping, and downed trees from the winter. When the 2 groups met at Will King (less Steve and Bob, who went back to Big Stamp to drive the truck down), John and Tom decided to hike down Phillips Ridge trail with our 2 property owner "guests", to their waiting truck 2 miles up Phillips Ridge road, where they were to meet up with Steve and Bob. Being that it was already almost 3pm and they had over 3 more miles to go, the put it in gear and made their way down the mountain, while Dave, Jacob, and myself, beat it 3 miles back to my waiting truck (and cold drinks) on the FS road. It was quite a long day, and the first real warm day back on the trail for us since September. I want to personally thank everyone who came and worked, we got a large stretch of the rim cleared in preparation for the club hike up there next month. _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Thursday March 25: Today with dark threatening clouds hanging low and rain moving in on the radar, we had nine fine folks show up who were not afraid to possibly get wet. With this large number, we were able to break into 2 teams. Team one, lead by Tom Shope, tool guru extraordinaire, lead the "Wilderness Team" to Arkaquah Trail. His team included Jim Morgan, Bob Stone, Darlene Rothenay, and Phyllis Loman. They used all the tools they brought, including hand saws, loppers, and the crosscut to take care of numerous trees and remove pesky limbs. There is still one 2.5 ft tree left near the end of the trail (Track Rock) that we will go back and take out soon. Team two, lead by myself ventured to the federal portion of the Miller Trek, and with 2 smaller teams worked our way around the trail. The others on this team were: John Quinlan, Dave Richardson, and Ginny Smith. There was one large tree at the top that had broken off and "hinged" over the trail that proved to require all of our cunning and resources to take out, but we prevailed. With the weather threatening all day, we managed to stay dry, and get 2 of our trails that he club will be hiking on next month in EXCELLENT shape. Thanks for all who worked!!! Richard Sullivan ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ March 18th: Well the sun finally came out and gave us a great day to work on trails. 7 energetic volunteers showed up for a hard day of digging in the dirt. We out-sloped and rooted over 300 ft of new trail at the Lake Chatuge Trail reroute project. It was a dirty job but we had a great crew to do it. The crew included Tom Shope, Bill Sykes, Steve Sutherlin, Jacob Dorn, Bob Kaempfer, Wes Clonts, and myself. We worked alongside Dave Kuydendall who is a ranger with Blue Ridge FS district and his volunteer Josh who is getting ready to hike the whole AT. Dave provided great instruction on trail construction throughout the day, and eventhou the work with hard we all learned a lot, and saw the fruits of our labor. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Thursday Feb 18th: Well the weather finally turned in our favor, bright, sunny and warm, we had 8 energetic workers show up for a day working with Dave Kuykendall at the Lake Chatuge Trail reroute. The 8 were: Richard Sullivan, Tom Shope, Steve Jersey, Steve Sutherlin, Wes Clonts, Don Chesebro, Jim Morgan, and Bert Kunz. We had a long day digging stumps, rooting, raking, and cutting brush, but now we have the whole trail corridor cleared and are ready to start working on the tread-way on the next Georgia day. A hearty thanks for all those who turned out, and remember we have another Maintenance Day for NC next Thursday the 25, meet at Ingles in Hayesville at 9am. We will be going to Fires Creek Rim, weather permitting. _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ "Thursday, 11 Feb 2010 saw a "Few Good Men", 5 and 1/2 actually, from MHH take to the woods. Specifically the "woods" of the Lake Chatuge Trail in Hiawassee off Hwy # 288. The day started out Very Cold; 18 degrees. We met at the Bread of Life restaurant in Young Harris and were joined there by David Kuykendall and his helper Allen. We pooled vehicles and went to the Trail and after suitable briefings from both John and David began our work. And WORK it was! There was some lopping of branches and long thorny weeds, some little hand sawing, some hard fire raking and dragging of debris, and a whole lot of Pulaski work. David asked that we cut small trees up to some 3 inches about three feet off the ground and then dig out their roots to ensure that no further growth would occur. For this the Pulaski became the tool of choice. There was a lot of hard work and straining in the accomplishment of this task. No one, including the Rangers, "escaped" the heavy duty work. I am sure a whole lot of IBU Profen was consumed by all as they was a lot of groaning and no doubt plenty of sore muscles to sooth. Here is the amazing part: this crew of dedicated MHH'ers was an upbeat bunch the whole day. They are either extremely dedicated or nutty in the extreme! Personally I believe the former though any opinion is OK by me.
The following reported for duty:
Tom Shope-our dedicated tool keeper and club VP who wields a mean Pulaski.
Steve Jersey-does not hike but is so wonderfully dedicated to our trail maintenance effort-a hardy fast mover too.
Bob Stone our rep of a "Few Good Men" who works as hard as anyone and is so damn cheerful throughout it all. I want what he is drinking!!
Dave Richardson who drives all the way from Marietta for our masochistic endeavors and can always be counted on to notice who needs some help.
This last point, about pitching it and not taking the "easy" way is the really most important point about this group. In most groups someone will seek to carry a lighter load or work less. In this crazy group of dedicated volunteers I have never seen this!! Most unusual is the way each assumes the heaviest workload or tries to do so!
Finally, John Quinlan the nominal humble leader and report writer.
Last but hardly least is Jim Morgan. Jim went to a campground on Lake Chatuge. With mixed signals (leader's fault I'm sure) he thought we were going to Jack Rabbit campground in NC and looked for us there. So if you are still following all this he is the "one-half" of the 5 and 1/2 persons I mentioned at the beginning!"
John Quinlan ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Thursday, Feb 4th: Today we had 7 great trail crew show up on a day with threatening clouds. Since we knew rain was coming in for the afternoon, we picked a shorter work trip. One group (John Quinlan, Tom Shope, and Steve Sutherlin) went up FS 7167 and worked down to Leatherwood Falls, they had to cut and move 13 trees / Branches off the road just to get to their work location. then they proceeded down the trail lopping and clearing winter blowdowns. Group 2 (Richard Sullivan, Bob Stone, Jim Morgan, and Steve Jersey), went up Bristol Cabin Trail clearing numerous blowdowns clearing waterbars, and lopping. Both teams finished near the same time and met at Leatherwood for cold drinks!! We made it out just before the rain started. There was still quite a bit of snow in Fires Creek, even at the lower elevations we were at. REMEMBER: Special work trip 2/11 Lead by John Quinlan, Meet at the Old Maryann's (Bread of Life) Restaurant 8:30 for food, or 9am for work. We will be working on a new trail re-route at Lake Chatuge. Thanks to ALL ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Today, Thursday Jan 28th, with warm beautiful weather for a change, 10 hearty MMHer's ventured out to clear trail. We split into 2 teams. Team 1: Richard Sullivan, John Quinlan, Steve Sutherlin, Darlene Rothenay, and Jim Morgan, drove the mile up past the college gate and worked up the trail, clearing numerous winter blowdowns, lopping limbs, and raking and repairing waterbars, also constructing one large new one. They worked up the trail @ 3.75 miles. Team 2: Bob Stone, Wes Clonts, Don Chesebro, Tom Shope, and Steve Jersey Started on a journey to the top of Wagon Train Trail, little did they know the road was closed at Jacks Gap due to weather. But this did not stop this determined group, instead of going for a second coffee, they worked up the Jacks Knob trail for 2.3 miles, climbing over 1400 ft carrying equipment and working the trail, then they proceeded above and beyond the call ALL the way down Wagon Train Trail for an additional 6 miles down to the wilderness boundry and the waiting cars and cold drinks. A hearty thanks goes out to all!! ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Thur, Jan 7th: With snow clouds looming on the horizon, 7 hearty workers ventured out to do battle with the trail. Since it looked like bad weather was going to hit by mid-day, we changed the trip from the all day Fires Creek trip we had planned, to a shorter, lower elevation trip. So we worked the loop from Yellow Mountain trail to Shope gap trail, then down Mill creek trail, and cooper creek connector. We took out a few blowdowns from the Christmas storm. The trail is in very good shape now, ready for Tom Shope's hike next month. But most important, we beat the snow by 20 minutes. My thanks to the folllowing who came out in threatening weather to work: John Quinlan Steve Sutherlin Bob Stone Steve Jersey Don Chesebro Tom Shope Richard Sullivan We are set to go out again on 1/21 !!! _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ "Jan 3rd: On a cold blustery day 6 brave soles ventured out to clear trees that had fallen on the access roads to some of the Trail heads in the Fires Creek area. These trees apparently came down with the Christmas eve storm that passed through the area. While the downed trees were not as bad as feared, we did remove quite a few that were blocking the roadway. My thanks to the 6 that joined us today. John Quinlin Steve Jersey Don Chesebro Bob Stone Tom Shope Richard Sullivan " |
