May Work Trip - Status of Crew Reports

Yellow Lady Slipper

(Photo: Dave W.)

Saturday dawned with rain falling in Richmond, however the radar initially looked pretty decent past Charlottesville. Work trips are rarely cancelled so the crew(s) did go to the mountains to see what they could get done. In looking at the number of club work trips, there are only 8  this year ..... January was the Potluck, February and March were The Wetlands/Presquile NWR (the BRP was closed which limited access to the AT) and there traditionally is no work trip in December.  With so few club trips available for work this year (and the extra help that brings the section maintainers), a little rain doesn't stop the maintainer 'hard cores'!

To add to the weather factor Saturday, there was also a dearth of crew leaders. Four of the folks who typically lead crews were not available - three for medical reasons and one was out of the country. Three of these four crew leaders are also the main photographers for the blog crew reports. Other crew members have taken pictures on past trips, but in looking at the crew group picture (you'll see it when the Trail Maintenance Supervisor posts her Work Trip Report), I didn't see any photographers.  This means that, unless somebody has something they've not sent me yet, there will be no individual crew reports on the blog for the May work trip. This is disappointing, but ...... "stuff" happens from time to time and I'm sure we'll be back to some semblance of 'normal' for June!

In the meanwhile, enjoy the picture of the yellow lady slipper taken by Dave W. in 2012 - they are blooming now on the AT. The Wintergreen Nature Foundation went on a hike a week ago on Sections 8 & 9 and took some good wildflower pictures (including yellow lady slippers) ..... here's the link to those pictures (also on the R2R Facebook Page - look on the blog 'tabs'):

Nature Foundation at Wintergreen Wildflower Pictures (May 14)

See you on the AT in June (work trip date is June 15)!

 ~Merlot

P.S. In the meanwhile, if you're anxious to get to the mountains for some fun, check out the Nelson County Trail Daze event(s), June 1 at the Devil's Backbone Brewery. The club is participating in promoting the AT with hikes, a display tent, etc. and other AT clubs will be there as well:

Nelson County Trail Daze