Trail Report: Music To Our (Maintainer) Ears!

 

One of two trees down south of Dripping Rock.

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Note: A LOT of planning goes into each and every 3rd Saturday of the month work trip. Lori, the Trail Maintenance Supervisor, meets with crew leaders the week before and every report of trail conditions is reviewed as well as projects on the "to do" list from section maintainer requests and assessment reports. Based on the number of crew leaders available, the number of people signing up and experience levels (leaders and crew), and on-the-ground conditions (trees down, etc.), the number of sawyer crews is planned and the trail work crews are developed. As you can well imagine, to receive a report like the one below is "pure gold" from a planning perspective ... plus, it's just nice to hear about a great hike on R2R and the AT in general. A report like this that lets us know the trail is in good shape after all the hard work that is being put in by the section maintainers and the many terrific volunteers who come out on the work trips is certainly "music to our ears"! Many thanks to Craig H. for his wonderful report and pictures  - the sawyers know exactly what they will be dealing with Saturday after next! Trail reports such as this are appreciated and encouraged. Craig was kind enough to consent to putting his report and pictures on the blog which is also much appreciated! ~ Merlot

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Hi Lori,

Can you pass this information along as appropriate?

A friend, my son and I just did a section of the AT this past weekend. One of the sections we covered was our entire distance of the trail that ODATC maintains. We had a great hike. Here are my findings:

The trail is in great shape overall and just about perfect in regards to grass and growth not being on the trail. So I tip my hat to our peeps.

Whoever has the section immediately below Rockfish is doing a good job with the waterbars and the grass. About 5-10 minutes into the walk I did see a small tree down that our sawyers can make short order of next go around.  From there to the shelter was in perfect shape.

 

Tree just south of Rockfish Gap, fortunately it's a "stepover" .

The shelter area looked good. I only saw one beer bottle in the shelter. There was no other visible trash. I walked part way up to the privy, but I did not check it out. I assume it is OK. 

I am happy to say that Big Tree Junior has not appeared to move one inch since May, so I guess it is just a waiting game. I passed under it with ease.

 

Big Tree Jr.

We saw a young bear who was oddly enough brown in color just south of Bear Spring as we put in some additional miles after dinner at Paul Wolfe. He was not exactly scared of us, but he was not interested either. 

The waterbars I helped on are doing their job as they are a bit more developed now.

The next morning we worked our way south. We saw a bit a trail magic near Dripping Rock which was cool. The next section south of Dripping Rock was just weed whacked so it was in extra good shape. 

About a mile or so past the overlook, we saw two downed trees. Again they were not big, but rather the sawyers can get them in short order. It seems that they would be a decent walk just to get to them. I seem to recall that the best way to get them would be to go in from Three Ridges Parking area.

Second of two trees down south of Dripping Rock.

The last section just before the Three Ridges crossing will need to be trimmed soon as some growth is encroaching the trail. Fortunately, I did not brush against our unofficial state plant, aka poison ivy.

The section between Reed's and Three Ridges was in good shape with some growth starting to encroach. That section has got to be one tough one to maintain just due to the vegetation. It is crazy how it grows on the trail there. 

I really was proud of our group even though I have not been a member for very long. I am sorry, but I have a family reunion obligation at the same time as the July trip, but I should be available to do the August trip. 

Happy Trails!

Craig H.


(All Photos: Craig H.)