A Look Back Into History (Sec 3)

 

Russell (with hiking stick) and three of the four Rockfish Crew members.

 

The Rockfish crew ran into an interesting hiker on Saturday:

This is Russell Fitzgerald, who had some great stories about his mother who was born (along with her 9 siblings!) in the Mayo cabin.  Russell told us his mother and her brother had the task of walking a cow down the mountain to Waynesboro to sell.  His grandmother is the "MC Lowe" on the only legible engraved headstone in the graveyard.  Her first name was Minnie, he didn't know what the C stood for.  ~ Christina W.

 

M.C. Lowe headstone in the cemetery along the AT (Sec. 3).

(All photos: Christina W.)

Scouting Trip After Sandy - Nov. 3, 2012

Saturday, a couple of people scouted the AT (Sections 1,2, & 3) from Rockfish Gap down to the Shelter at Mill Creek ..... a distance of about 5 miles, one way.  Christina W.  took the pictures of the scouting trip that you will see in this post. The views are east on this section of AT and you'll notice that it's beginning to look more like winter with views of Rockfish Valley beginning to reappear as the leaves disappear. The sunlight is not so direct at this time of year, tending to angle in, and this gives a different look to the woods and makes for some beautiful photographic opportunities. Some of the pictures won't have captions and will have to speak for themselves since I don't have any narrative. Thanks again to Christina for the beautiful pictures and all the crew members (Jim, Lori, & Christina) for making sure the AT is passable after Sandy's winds roared through the area and also brought some (now melted) snow at higher elevations. ~ Merlot

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 The 'mess' before ......

The 'clear' after ... a sawyer crew will still have to take the main tree down.

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Long Rock aka Jelly Bean Rock marks the end of Sec. 2 and the beginning of Sec. 3

The view from Long Rock in the fall/winter.

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Mill Creek - a good view of the high water stepping stones and more scenic views below.

 

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The shelter and the 'end of the line' before turning around and hiking back out to Rockfish Gap.

Work Trip Pictures (from Aug. 18, 2012) - Sec. 3 Crew

Oriental Bittersweet, an invasive plant of concern because it grows vigorously and smothers vegetation, resulting in excessive shading.  It is abundant in this section of the trail.  It can also hybridize with a native variety of bittersweet. (Photo & caption: Christina W.)

Sec. 3 Work Crew(s) -
Section 3 is the 1.4 mile stretch of AT just north of the Paul C. Wolfe Shelter. The folks working on this section split into two crews and were sidehilling and putting in erosion control features.

Following photos: Christina W.

Some well-worn tools of the trade!

Left: Digging a new waterbar

Right: Finished waterbar - water will divert off to the left in the ditch.

Left: A nice stretch of sidehilling to restore the tread width

Right: Leaves scattered on raw dirt make the rehabbed tread look less 'new'

Grass Spider (Agelenopsis pennsylvanica)  An ambush predator who constructs a non-sticky web with a retreat tunnel.  When insect prey are captured, they are hauled back to the interior of the web. (Photo & caption: Christina W.) 

Following photos: Lori A.

Left: Sidehilling in progress

Right: A long section of tread that has been sidehilled

Left: Scattering leaves on the finished tread rehab project.

Right: The rehabbed section of trail, hiker-friendly once more.

Relaxing at the Shelter after a hard day of sidehilling and before the 2.5 mile hike UP the mountain (with all the tools) and out to the HB Parking Lot and then on to the toolshed.

Work Trip Pictures (from July 21, 2012)

It was a rainy, misty day on Saturday and you will see this reflected in the pictures that were taken; however, that same rain/mist added opportunities for some beautiful pictures that you don't get on a bright and sunny day. The following four pictures were taken on Sections 1, 2, & 3 by Christina W. who also provided the captions:

 At the scenic creek on Section 1, someone had created a neat piece of trail art with rocks and plants.

 Naughty Girl Creek in mist.

 Spiderweb outlined in the rain, section 2.

Headstone in graveyard.

The following pictures were taken on the various rock projects that crews worked on Saturday. Working in wet conditions makes rocks slick and increases the hazards for the crews, but you will see that they did some 'most excellent' rock work! All photos below were taken by Dave W. who also provided the captions:

Checking out the first step that was put in and the finished project: beautiful steps with a nice landing.

A crew member crushing a ton of rock.

New step in and lots of crush levels the path. Steps and path from the other side.

SECTION 3

1.4 Miles

Long Rock (aka Jelly Bean Rock) to Mill Creek

(Paul Wolfe shelter on this section of trail, but has its own, separate maintainers)

 

Long Rock (aka Jelly Bean Rock) - A very large, long rock that marks the end of this section. It's a great place for a picnic lunch. The maintainers initially called this 'Jelly Bean Rock'; however, a relative of the folks who used to live in the hollow south of the rock told us they called it "Long Rock" ... so Long Rock it has been for the last several years.

 Long Rock on the east side of the AT (Photo: Christine W. - Nov. 2012)

 

 

There is a view from Long Rock when the leaves are off the trees (Photo: Christine W. - Nov. 2012)

Cemetery - This is the Lowe family cemetery.

A "Lowe" family headstone in the cemetery. (Photo: Christina W.)

Paul C. Wolfe Memorial Shelter -

Winter view of the shelter (Photo: Lori A.)

Early snow at the shelter (Photo: Lori A. - Oct. 2011)

Shelter interior - luxury accomodations! (Photo: Lori A.)

 

The view from the shelter and the fire pit area.

(Photos: Lori A., Oct. 2011)

 

 

The shelter privy (Photo: Lori A.)

Mill Creek -

Beautiful Mill Creek in the spring (Photo: Lori A.)

Stepping stones across Mill Creek (Photo: Lori A.)

Wildlife, flowers, etc.:

Timber Rattlesnake
 (Photo: Christina W. - April 21, 2012)

A Red-spotted Purple butterfly at the shelter (Photo: Merlot - Aug. 12, 2012)

Oriental Bittersweet, an invasive plant of concern because it grows vigorously and smothers vegetation, resulting in excessive shading.  It is abundant in this section of the trail.  It can also hybridize with a native variety of bittersweet. (Photo: Christina W.- Aug. 18, 2012)

Grass Spider (Agelenopsis pennsylvanica)   An ambush predator who constructs a non-sticky web with a retreat tunnel.  When insect prey are captured, they are hauled back to the interior of the web. (Photo: Christina W. - Aug. 18, 2012)