Green Mountains Trails Assessment Team 2012

Hitch 6 started with us working alongside Danna, a trustworthy and battle proven Forest Service employee. Together we traveled south to perform a Trail Assessment and Condition Survey on the Stamford Pond Trail. This snowmobile trail offered little challenge to the all-star crew. In fact, it had no features, not even a sign.

That night the brave, heroic, all-knowing, loyal, SCA employee, Trevor, appeared to us in the Mount Tabor Work Center Parking lot out of a tiny, white, rental car. He was to join us for the next couple days. Little did he know what was going to happen next.

The next day was Tuesday, the best day for TrACS. So we dove head first into a section of the Catamount Cross-Country Ski Trail. It captured and pulled us into the woods while Dan drove the truck ahead to the day's stopping point. During the day Trevor asked us many questions about TrACS. Obviously our abundance of knowledge stunned him. This trail also lacked features, except for bridges.

After camping at Hapgood Pond, the third day started with a safety meeting headed by Ranger Bill. The personal stories made the meeting interesting. After the meeting was when Trevor was to depart from us. In his time with us, he shared his past experiences with us, which was appreciated. Meeting another SCA employee is always a good experience, and he even shared his knowledge of future opportunities with us.

That afternoon we met up with Mel, who was a seasonal Botanist for the Forest Service. Mel changed the game from TrACS to invasive plants. She taught us the forms and showed us various invasive plants in the area. All of us loved Mel, and it is too bad we will not get to work with her again.

On Thursday the Catamount section was finished. It took us through a few timber sales, and even disappeared for a while, but in the end it was conquered. This was our last bit of field work.

In one more week the season will be over. Things are wrapping up swiftly, and a lot of skills have been learned that can be taken home. Next week will probably flash by quicker than we would wish it, so we will have to enjoy the next week with Larry and the SCA Wilderness Crew, both of whom we live alongside, as much as possible.

Hitch 6 Totals
Trails TrACS'd: 74191 ft
Additional Trails Hiked: 0 ft

As we set out for the fourth hitch, many miles have already been covered in this season of seasons. As we look ahead we wish to enrich our experience, and enlarge our numbers.

The first two days of hitch four were spent primarily in the office. On the eve of the second day we set out for Bald Mountain, where the TrACS was to commence. This day was just to set up the spike camp, though, so we packed up our bags, and backpacked to the top of Bald Mountain. This was the a strenuous trek up a steep grade, but all three of us made it to the top, where one can see for miles. The camp was set up swiftly, and each member got warm and cozy inside their tent.

The next day Danna from the Forest Service joined us on the trail. This day we completed TrACS on the Bald Mountain trail. This trail snaked up the mountain with rocky footings, but breath-taking views. Danna told us about her experiences with the Forest Service, and how she got where she is today. These stories help when you are trying to plan out your own path.

The following day we decided to work on Bear Wallow Trail. This is the trail we used to hike our packs up. The trail felt like it went forever, but we were the lucky ones as Dan spent the day hiking water up the mountain for the three of us. When the top of the mountain was reached for the third time during this hitch, the exhaustion was evident on all of the team.

On Friday, the fifth day of the hitch, the team split. Lucas went to help with a Peregrine Falcon Survey, while Dan and Kayla continued TrACS onto the ridge trail. Kayla and Dan finished the trail, which was around 8 miles long, then hiked back to the spike camp for a total of 16 miles. Lucas went to the White Rocks Recreation Area, where he and some other Forest Service employees sat up on the rocks looking for the birds. The group only saw Turkey Vultures during this survey.

On Saturday, the camp was packed away, and the team departed from Bald Mountain earlier than expected. The rest of the day, after traveling back from the mountain, we worked on paperwork.

Sunday had us go back to TrACS, but only on a short bit of trail. Dan had to find the trail for us, but the trail itself was easy enough to work on. After the trail, and the beautiful view from the top, we continued paperwork and post work clean-up for the rest of the hitch.

As time moves on this summer, words of wisdom from Peter Bauer come to mind. If you are doing something, you might as well do it right. It is important to keep doing first-rate work as the end of the season starts to peak its head around the corner.

Hitch 4 Totals
Trails TrACS'd: 75068 ft
Additional Trails Hiked: 104491 ft

As the second hitch comes around, we find our heroes preparing for a week in the field. Captain Price and Skipper Kimball, assisted by the henchman Perez, have many tasks to complete on this first day. They buzz around preparing the gear and making the shopping list, while Perez makes the maps. The day ends with an epic and successful shopping trip.

On the second day of Hitch two, the heroes and henchman find themselves bravely pursuing TrACS on Corridor 7, the infamous snowmobile trail. People shake in their boots at the very name. This day and the next blend into a blur of endless walking through trees, clearings, and chest-high grass, with no end in sight, yet they manage to survey and survive these tortures. Even the bridges ended up in their paperwork.

The fourth day of the hitch will always remain like a scar in the heroes’ memory. This day they set off without their henchman, and pushed through an arduous task. On this one day, they completed over 11 miles of the trail. Some may ask how such a heroic and thorny deed was done, but we laugh at those who doubt. Plus the Forest Service only needed distance for this section of the trail. None the less, the heroes’ names will be remembered for such a deed (possibly?).

The fifth day was a lot easier than the second, third and fourth. The heroes only had two miles of TrACS to complete. Then the rest of the day was spent in the office, revamping plans for the rest of hitch two.

On the sixth day, tragedy hit. Everybody saw it coming, but unavoidable it was. Like a storm brewing on the horizon, almost. More like a storm brewing on the other side of the mountain ridge. After hiking up treacherous terrain, the heroes heard the noise in the distance. Like the rumbling of GODS! So they pulled together the courage of heroes, and hid in the woods. As the storm got closer, the sky got angrier, and the thunder started to shake the marrow of their very bones. Then the flashes of lightning came, changing the essence of the sky from anger to rage. As the weather continued, and would not let up, the brave heroes did the most heroic thing they could, and fled the mountain like a rabbit flees from dogs. Luckily the thoughtful henchman was waiting at the bottom with hot chocolate and donuts.

The seventh day was more peaceful then the six. Instead of going back to Corridor 7, the heroes decided to do the TrACS on Cemetery Run, which is a nicer trail than the name implies and our heroes did not come upon a cemetery. This day the henchman Perez was with the heroes, helping out like only he can. This short trail went quickly, and then the heroes courageously washed the work truck, and packed away gear from the past week. This concludes the Heroic deeds done during Hitch 2, but please don’t skip out on the vital information below…

The eighth day of Hitch two was spent learning about the invasive plants found in Vermont. We were taught by the Green Mountain National Forest’s Botanist. She was very knowledgeable, and along with telling us how to spot these intruders, we were also taught what to do if we do spot them.

P.S. In all seriousness the sixth day of Hitch 2 made me think back to a program I did last summer called Adventure WV. It is an optional program that West Virginia University puts on for incoming freshman that can be taken instead of an introduction to college class. During Adventure WV, we had an hour of reflection to think about our goals for our freshman year of college. This took place on a ledge overlooking Canaan Valley, WV. I spent my time under a pine tree. As I was sitting under the pine tree during the thunderstorm this hitch, I thought about how much I had done during the last year. I found the perfect major for me, figured out what kind of job I wanted to do, and even ended up traveling all over the country to do conservation and trail projects through the SCA. This makes it impossible for me to imagine how much more I will accomplish in the next year’s time, and where I might find myself at the end of it.

Hitch 2 Totals
Trails TrACS'd: 130946 ft
Additional Trails Hiked: 35233 ft

Training is a vital part of the SCA process. It is what teaches us the difference between right and wrong, good and evil, night and day. This year training took place at a Girl Scout Camp in Carnation, Washington. The first week was a lot of classroom-style learning. The SCA policies were implanted into our brains; these are the rules that define our lives. Another part of this week was the CPR and Wilderness First Aid training. Over these days I saved many from fake injuries.

The second week the Trail Corps teams split from the Army Corp of Engineers teams. On Sunday, we started the day with setting up base camp. We learned how to filter water, tie knots, and use camp stoves. In the afternoon, we were introduced to tools used in trail work and we tried out the ax, jacks, and cross-cut saw.

The next four days we got into the major skill categories which were water drainage, timber, trail design and trail construction. Trail drainage was on my first day, so we went over basic trail terms and looked at drainage on a trail in the morning. In the afternoon, we brushed a trail and worked on the drainage of the trail. Next was timber, and we set right to work building benches. In this station we sawed off pieces of a cedar tree using a crosscut; notched part of the tree trunk; hand-drilled holes; attached the bench together using wooden dowels; and smoothed out the bench surface with chisels. In the trail design and trail construction stations we built a new trail for the camp. Construction was the most strenuous station, and I was at this station the last day. We worked two extra hours to finish, but what was accomplished in these four days was rewarding and worth the effort.

These ten days will always remain in my memories. The SCA training was often difficult and tiring, even tedious at times, but the feeling of accomplishment when you complete a project with your own hands is one that is hard to match. The SCA always draws intelligent, interesting individuals in. Nowhere else have I met people that after only a few days I can share so much of myself. The people you meet seem like they have been in your life for months or even years, and after this short of a time they are people you can talk to about almost anything. Going on from here, I am excited about exploring the Green Mountains in Vermont, the team I get to work with for the summer, and the awesome people that I am sure to cross paths with this summer in New England.

P.S. As I am looking over this post, the end of TrACS training has arrived. During this last week NH and VT TrACS (A.K.A. Super TrACS) trained with the U.S. Forest Service in the White Mountain National Forest, which lies in New Hampshire. This training involved two days of working with the Forest Service, one day of Super TrACS tracking a trail, and a travel day on each end. The end of this training marks the end of Super TrACS for the time being. May the NH TrACS, a.k.a. Moose TrACS, wheel run true until we reunite. Llama TrACS, as the VT team proudly calls itself, will valiantly push on in their absence.

Hey there, I’m Kayla Kimball and I am doing my first stint with the SCA here in the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont. I grew up just northeast of here in Central Maine. In the coming year, I will be finishing up my BS in Geoscience from the University of Southern Maine. My interests span a wide range of activities, so it took me a while to choose a major. I started with Film, Video, and Animation, and then Hospitality Management at Rochester Institute of Technology in New York. I like to spend my time playing sports, writing, traveling, cooking, baking, and painting. I especially like swimming in the ocean and hanging out in Acadia National Park on Isle au Haut, my favorite spot.

For the spring 2011 semester, I studied abroad at the National University of Ireland in Galway on the west coast of the country. I had the opportunity to travel around the country and also go to Northern Ireland and England. Being able to experience another country’s culture and explore their outdoor opportunities was remarkable. Ireland fits the trend I seem to have going in visiting rainy places, such as Costa Rica in high school, and SCA training in Washington was no exception.

This summer, I am excited to be working outdoors and enjoying the wildlife through hiking and camping, and hopefully other outdoor activities such as canoeing, kayaking, and fishing. My career goal includes working to protect the land while sharing it with the public. Eventually I plan on running a bed and breakfast, probably on the coast of Maine.

Hailing from the land of clam chowdah and other dropped R's, I've had the pleasure of traveling far and wide across the US through my adventures in trail building and rock collecting. After discovering early on that geoscience lab periods typically took place outside, I spent the rest of my undergraduate career learning about continental bumper car dynamics and how to distinguish clay from silt by tasting mud in the name of science. In addition to earning a degree in geosciences from Williams College, I've served with SCA for three seasons as a corpsmember in the Mass Parks and Idaho AmeriCorps residential programs and as a high school crew leader in Acadia National Park and Golden Gate National Recreation Area. I am immensely excited to hit the trails in Vermont this summer with my survey team, and looking forward to sharing yet another awesome SCA experience with fellow outdoor enthusiasts!

Happy Trails,
Dan