Rockfish Crew: Waterbar Nirvana?

 

Mark's eyes were closed when the picture was taken because of the

 transcendent state that he experienced when finishing yet another water bar. 

Notice the "spiritual" light of nirvana above his head. :-)

Nirvana: 

a place or state characterized by freedom from or oblivion to pain, worry, and the external world. 

When Lisa B. sent me her pictures, I laughed out loud when I saw her caption for the picture above. Then I got to thinking about it and looked up 'nirvana'. I'm not so sure that freedom from 'pain' figures largely into "waterbar nirvana", but you can most assuredly, if only temporarily, shed some worry and the external world while doing maintenance on the AT, including waterbar work. Thanks to Lisa for probably the most creative caption on the blog to date!

The Rockfish Crew, with Jim S. as crew leader, was going to work on waterbars on Section 1 near Rockfish Gap. Two people (Lisa & Mark) would start on the waterbar work and Jim (a certified sawyer) and Christina were going to take care of a couple of trees that had been reported down in the trail. The first tree was fairly close to Rockfish and no big deal ..... the second tree was a big enough deal that it is getting its own post! The waterbar related pictures are on this post - you can clearly see two separate waterbars in the pictures and tell that lots of hard work went into their construction. 

 

Jim's chain saw was put to good use. Not only did he clear space for a future water bar, but he cleared a 30 inch diameter tree farther down the trail. As you can see, safety first at all times.

 

Mark taking a break after finishing a water bar. 

Update July 25, 2013 (comments from crew leader Jim S.):

The first blowdown had been identified on an earlier work trip and at my request, I asked that it be left. It was locust and was in the general vicinity of a much-needed waterbar. I got Mark and Lisa started on a new water bar and Christina and I went to cut the locust log. Once I got it measured to the correct length, I cut it and Christina and I positioned it lengthwise on the trail. She then started to shave off all the bark - this will help to dry the log and season it for long term use. I went back to help Mark and Lisa and then had them walk to the locust tree. It was extremely heavy and it took all 4 of us to move it into position about 150' up the trail. The log was left in place across the trail and will be ready to install as a waterbar on a future work trip. It was definitely a group effort. I think Mark and Lisa installed 2 new water bars and rehabbed a couple more. Credit to the Rockfish Crew of Lisa, Mark and Christina who put in a lot of work Saturday with excellent results. Thanks, Jim

(Photos & picture captions: Lisa B.)