"Gang Aft Agley" Becomes A Very Good Day

 

 

Winter view through the trees from the AT on the back side of Humpback Mountain.

 

This is the busiest day for hikers on the AT that I've seen all year! The weather was great, the winter views have appeared since the leaves are off the trees and with the cooler temps, it was just a grand day to be out and about on the trail. Our crew saw at least a half dozen thru-hikers (probably more) and with the exception of two, all were headed for Georgia and Springer Mt.! The Smokies in late November and December? Yikes! I hope they don't get any deep snows between now and the end of their hike. One couple was finishing in southwest Virginia so they should be just fine. I didn't count Boy Scouts, but we had lots and lots that passed us on the trail, all headed to spend the night at the shelter ..... other work crews reported seeing groups at the shelter as well (not the same ones we were seeing) so it looks like that was the 'happening place to be' Saturday night.

There's the old saying that "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley" (i.e. often go awry) and we had one of those 'gang aft agley' occurrences Saturday. The original plan was to put in two major waterbars on an eroding section of trail near the upper end of Section 7, but one of the key crew members for a project this big (experience, engineering ability, rock whisperer, etc.) had to miss the trip, so the waterbars will have to wait until another time. The waterbar crew (minus the one) hiked in several miles and then worked their way down the back side of Humpback Mountain, on Sections 6 & 7. Instead of one big project for the day, they took care of all those detail jobs that tend to get put on the back burner because of time and manpower constraints when the section maintainer is working hard just to cover the snipping/clipping and weed whipping work. The total miles hiked for the day were around 6, with 3 of those miles involving trail work all along the way.

Here are a few pictures from our day on Sections 6 and 7. We ran into one of the two sawyer crews that was out dealing with Sandy blowdowns (and got a picture of them just to prove they really were on the AT and not the Brew Ridge Trail ... just kidding guys!) ..... plus we all got to eat lunch together which involved some interesting conversations and was definitely a lot of fun!

A switchback corner that needed the water runout cleared. A few rocks were added because the corner was being 'cut' by hikers. The branches were added to visually aid hikers in not walking down the runout if they weren't paying attention. This view is going up the mountain & turning to the right.

Same switchback going down the mountain and turning left. Water runout is to the far right with a few branches on top to keep hikers out of it.

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Top: the three guys to the left are the sawyer crew that cleared a tree at Dripping Rock, then hiked in to clear trees on Sections 6 & 7, then went to the Albright Loop and cleared trees there - they got in some serious 'leg-stretching'  and saw-toting Saturday .... thanks for your hard work, guys!!
Bottom: the sawyer crew and work crew enjoying their lunch break.

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You would be surprised at how hard it is to get some of these larger grape vines cut and down, but the guys got the job done.

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Here's a REAL mess .... two trees were blown over - one had to be left 'as is' and you can see the stump where the second tree was cut and cleared  by the sawyer crew (view north).

 

Here's the root ball of the big tree that is across the trail and hung up in some other trees. This tree is going to have to work its way down on its own as it is not safe for the sawyers to cut (view south).

 

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The beautiful MacDougall Steps after having the leaves cleaned off. Further down the trail, we had two hikers stop and ask us if we were the ones cleaning the leaves off the steps and when we told them 'yes', they gave us a very hearty "thank you"!

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Raking the leaves out one of the big water bars on Howardsville Turnpike.

Left: the 'leg-dozer' technique for moving leaves when you only have one fire rake and you need at least three!
Right: the log bridge across the largest water bar on Howardsville Turnpike after the leaves that pack up under it every fall have been cleared out.

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A beautiful moss patch that runs alongside the trail in 'The Alpines' on Sec. 7.

 

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A tree with an unusual 'burl' near where we all had lunch on Sec. 7.

 

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Yes, we will work for cookies!! ☺

 

 

 

THANKS to my crew for all the hard work they put in Saturday & the miles they had to hike to do it. I think the only time they weren't busy doing something .... moving rocks out of the tread, blocking cuts-thrus, fixing switchbacks, cutting brush, cleaning rock steps, raking out water bars, etc. etc., was when we all sat down to eat lunch!  ~ Merlot



(All Photos: Merlot)