Appalachian Trail Maintainers News
December, 2006
Remote
for detachment; Narrow for chosen company; Winding for leisure; Lonely
for contemplation;
It beckons not merely north and south, but upward to the body, mind and soul of man...Harold Allen
Published by the Appalachian Trail Maintainers Committee of the Smoky Mountains Hiking Club
Dick Ketelle, Strategic Planning, 865 483-9345; Phyllis Henry, Volunteer coordinator, Special Projects, 865 577-2604; Mac McNutt, Tools Manager, 865 983-3237; Lucinda Turbeville, Outreach and Development 865 945-1441;Philip Royer, Shelter and Campsite coordinator 865 694- 0160; Pete James, Volunteer Data Records, 865 977-0807; Dianne Gruber, newsletter editor, 865 977-0807; Penny Lankford, Secretary, 865 774-1866; John Lankford, Webmail Coordinator 865 774-1866; Jim Lowe, Trail Manager, National Forest 828 479- 9271; Randy Puckett, Consultant.
December 2006
Planned SMHC WORKTRIPS 2007
(all Saturdays)
March 3, 2007- Support for SMHC sawyers in Nantahala National Forest (See note)
April 7, 2007 - Support for SMHC sawyers in the Smokies (See note)
May 5, 2007 - Spring water bar cleaning
June 2, 2007 - Lead a National Trails Day crew or serve on NTD planning team
July 7, 2007 - Cutting vegetation in the Smokies
August 4, 2007 - Cutting vegetation in the Smokies (or the national forest if the trip leaders have a strong preference for working down there)
September 1 & 2, 2007 - Backpacking maintenance trip
September 22, 2007 - Support for SMHC shelter renovation crew
October 6, 2007 - Fall water bar cleaning
November 3, 2007 - Fall water bar cleaning
Note: Volunteers who have been trained and are qualified must do all chain saw work. They need our support in trimming small branches, disposing of cut branches and logs, cleanup, etc
October group work trip
Old hands: John Lankford, Penny Lankford, Lucinda Turbeville, and Steve Higdon.
New Recruits: Jeanine Newman, Becky Lynch, Jim Cunningham
Steve Higdon, John and Penny Lankford, Becky Lynch, and Jeanine Newman dug some sidehill on the Indian Gap to Newfound Gap section just after leaving Indian Gap. Steve Higdon worked with new recruit Jeanine Newman on cleaning waterbars and cutting vegetation from Indian Gap to just past Road Prong Lead. John and Penny Lankford worked with new recruit Becky Lynch on cleaning waterbars and cutting vegetation from Indian Gap to just past Road Prong Lead. Lucinda Turbeville worked with new recruit Jim Cunningham on cleaning waterbars and cutting vegetation from Collins Gap to Sugarland Mtn. Trail.
A.T. Work
9/9 Jean Gauger and Hiram Rogers worked with the Rocky Top crew.
9/21 Jerry Troxler worked the A.T. section between Spence and Russell Field. The section was in good shape overall, but I cleaned some water bars and moved some rock in to some mud holes. I also picked up trash around both shelters and updated the tool inventories. At Spence, I filled the mulch bucket in the privy, swept out the privy, moved more loose rock into the drip line around the front of the shelter, and shoveled out the fire pit.
9/23 Larry Ball worked from Low Gap to Mt. Cammerer junction. He found the trail in good ondition; some small limbs on trail were easily removed. The work done by the Rocky Top crews are big improvements. This section will need little maintenance because of these improvements.
9/29 Dick Ketelle, Jerry Troxler, and Lucinda Turbeville removed hazard trees and blowdowns from Fontana Trailhead to Shuckstack. Also installed 3 new waterbars on a very long section that could still use more and we cleaned a bunch of waterbars to try to help reduce erosion that is very evident on many stretches of trail in this area.
10/02 Jimmy Smith and Jim Lowe sawed out a big locust, almost 30"--double fused stem--down across the trail on a steep slope, difficult to get around, with the root ball holding it. Then they restored the tread where the root ball had gouged it. Mighty good 40' of locust, but it isn't where we might need it and would take a team of oxen to pull pieces up to the trail.
10/04 Mark Hall and Pam Reddoch worked from
Stecoah Gap past Brown Fork Shelter. They cut back brush and cleared 3 small blowdowns. They checked shelter, which was in good shape and report the trail is in great shape. Mark also made a short trip in September and walked the trail. He cleaned some of the brush along trail. We want to thank whoever cleared the large blowdowns on the trail. It made our job a lot easier.
10/10 Bob Hutchins, Ann McMahon, Jim Smith, and Bill Woodrick cleaned 57 waterbars and repaired 3 from Sweat Heifer to Icewater Spring shelter. Cleaned the shelter and firering finding a minimal amount of trash.
10/14 Morgan Sommerville, Mac McNutt, Phyllis Henry, Randy Puckett, Terry Elmore and Marcus Dagley from the OTTERS Program worked with 13 Alcoa Alum. corporate employees for a total of 19 participants. We worked north from Spruce Fir Nature Trail installing steps and waterbars. A total of 36 steps and 2 waterbars were installed and the waterbars were cleaned in the area that we were working. They were a great group to work with and everyone worked very hard. It was a cold blustery day and you had to work hard in order to stay warm.
10/19-20 Morgan Sommerville, Mac McNutt, and Stew Taylor backpacked to Silers Bald shelter to assess trail for future projects. They removed all blowdowns from Buckeye Gap to Clingmans Dome.
10/21 Jeff Mellor and Doris Gove went to Collins Gap and hiked south and removed one large blowdown and a small leaner about 3/4 of a mile from Clingmans. Backpackers told us that the whole section from Clingmans to Newfound Gap was clear except for a small blowdown near the Fork Ridge trail, which we cut back. Backpackers reported lots of large and small blowdowns between Fontana and Spence Field.
10/22 Jeff Mellor and Doris Gove checked for storm damage between Collins Gap and Clingmans Dome. They removed on large and one small blowdown and clipped blackberries.
10/22 Mac McNutt, Todd White, Phyllis Henry, Terry Elmore and Otter participant Majok Wol and 3 Maryville College students, Joey Andrews, Derek Lester, and Zach Simpson carried in 7 bags of mulch to Mt. Collins privy, cleaned waterbars from Sugarland Mtn. trail junction to Spruce Fir Nature Trail and found only one blowdown to remove. Mac, Phyllis, and Todd returned to the mulch pile in the afternoon and bagged 12 bags of mulch to be taken to Cosby Knob privy by trailriders on the 28th of October.
10/24 Steve Higdon walked from Newfound to Indian Gap, mainly to check on impact of windstorm. He reports no significant impact, no blowdowns. He cleaned all waterbars and picked up debris along trail and picked up trash near Newfound Gap. He says it was colder’n a whiz!
10/25 Wayne Williams walked from Clingmans Dome to Welch Ridge. He cleaned the shelter nd privy, refilled mulch buckets, knocked down the cone, and cleaned waterbars almost to Welch Ridge. There were no blowdowns and the trail looked really great, except for the lack of brushing, that didn’t get done this year. He carried out about a gallon of trash from fire pit and fireplace. He says, “The tool box ate my hiking stick. Had trouble opening the lock to get tools and mulch, but finally opened it. Left my hiking stick in there. When I came back it wouldn’t open no matter what I tried. Bring a can of Liquid Wrench if you plan to go out there. Hiked in about a ½ inch of snow, a beautiful day. Drove there in 1½ hours, came back in about 14 hours.”
10/25 Mac McNutt, Stew Taylor, and Phyllis Henry removed one blowdown south of the Sugarland Mtn. Trail junction then drove to Newfound Gap and removed one large blowdown north of the Sweat Heifer Trail junction.
10/28 Mac McNutt, Stew Taylor, Randy Puckett, and Phyllis Henry worked with 15-year-old, Boy Scout Kevin Rumbolt, of Troop #20, Knoxville, who is earning his Eagle Scout. He and his helpers worked on the section between Indian Gap and Spruce Fir Nature Trail. Steps were installed and waterbars were cleaned from work site back to Indian Gap. This section is now finished (all logs have been used plus rocks that Randy found). This section can be officially marked off as being rehabbed completely.
It was a cold raw day, but these kids and adults stayed the course and finished. This was a great group of workers.
10/29 Jeff Mellor, Jim Quick, and Doris Gove cleaned all the waterbar drains between Collins Gap and Clingmans Dome.
11/4-6 Randy Puckett hiked to Spence Field. He cleaned water bars and grade dips from Spence Field (Bote Mtn trail junction) to ¼ mile N of Thunderhead summit, replaced 2 log steps kicked out by horses, cut back saw briers and limbs from Rocky Top to north of the summit. He also installed a rock step on Thunderhead, cut 8 new grade dips south of Rocky Top. On the Monday, he cleaned Spence shelter, replaced the plastic barrel from below the privy, tied it to the privy and filled ½ full with mulch, filled the mulch bucket in privy, and packed out food that had been left on beam. He says he also communed with nature, the howling wind, the little gray birds, and heard the buzzards talk about Mac, Stew, and Phyllis not being all the way dead yet (even though they looked bad) who were down in Hazel Creek.
11/8-9 Todd White and Matt McSpadden backpacked to Cosby Knob shelter and carried up 2 pieces of metal, a rock bar, and a drill to finish up the shelter (we were short on the side where you are suppose to cook). They restacked the left over lumber that is being burned by backpackers and wrapped it in a tarp, filled mulch barrel, knocked down the cone in the privy, and filled mulch bucket. Thanks to these two young guys for doing this.
A special thanks to…
Thanks to the Ridgerunners Mark “Shatter” Tinkham, Jim Mowbray, and Carl Goodman for the incredible amount of work that they accomplished this season. We greatly appreciate all that they did to help us on the section of Trail for which we have responsibility and especially for taking care of the privies. Jim will continue to do periodic patrols over the winter. A special thanks to him for all of the volunteer work that he does to help make the Appalachian Trail a better trail for all users.
The Rocky Top crew had a good season and finished the section to Low Gap. Thanks to all the volunteers who came and worked from all over the country and the world. Thanks to the many trail riders from different organizations who packed in supplies and food and hauled out all the equipment including our “stuff” that we had used for the Cosby Knob shelter rehab. We simply could not do some of these projects without their sup