General Site Information

The C&O Canal National Historic Park consists of roughly 184 miles of "towpath" and canal that runs alongside the Potomac River in the state of Maryland. The idea and construction of the canal began in 1828 with the hopes to expand commerce from the Potomac Valley to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Due to flooding and lack of money, construction of the canal was not completed until 1850 and only reached to Cumberland, Maryland. From 1836 until about 1924, the canal was used mainly to transport coal from the Alleghany mountains to Washington, D.C. The "towpath" is a trail directly adjacent (on the Maryland side) to the canal, where the canal boats were pulled by mules.

A term often heard around the area is "canal people". During the 19th century, families would work and live on canal boats, steering and maintaining the boat, as well as leading the mules along the towpath. It is a fascinating history that is well worth reading about. Following this link will take you to the C&O Canal NHP home page. http://www.nps.gov/choh/index.htm

Today, the towpath runs from Georgetown in Washington, D.C. to Cumberland, Maryland and can be used by the public for hiking and biking along the canal.

Our team will be based out of Oldtown, Maryland, nestled among the Alleghany Mountains on the borders of Maryland and West Virginia. We will be living in a historic home from circa 1865 on park service property, giving the park a sense of presence and keeping the house alive.
During the days we will be working along the canal and towpath to remove harmful vegetation from historic structures, such as locks, lock houses, aqueducts, damns and tunnels, to save their integrity and keep them from deteriorating. It is a wonderful chance for us to conserve history while learning about it at the same time.

If you are interested in learning more about canal structures and how it was operated, take a look at these links.

http://canal.mcmullans.org/
http://www.candocanal.org/
http://bikewashington.org/canal/
http://www.canaltrust.org/

The Umatilla National Forest, located in the Blue Mountains of southeast Washington and northeast Oregon, covers 1.4 million acres of diverse landscapes and plant communities. The Forest has some mountainous terrain, but most of the Forest consists of v-shaped valleys separated by narrow ridges or plateaus.

The landscape also includes heavily timbered slopes, grassland ridges and benches, and bold basalt outcroppings. Elevation range from 1,600 to 8,000 feet above sea level. Changes in weather are common, but summers are generally warm and dry with cool evenings. Cold, snowy winters and mild temperatures during spring and fall can be expected.

From rolling benchlands to the granite outcrops of the Greenhorn Mountains, the rugged North Forest John Day Wilderness provides diverse landscapes. Much of the wilderness is composed of gentle benchlands and tablelands; the remaining of steep ridges and alpine lake basins. A continuous vegetative canopy covers most of the land, including dense virgin stands of conifer species like Douglas-fir, white fir, western larch and lodgepole pine.

This wilderness, which is broken into four segments and traverses two national forests, is known for its big game and fish habitat. Headwaters of the Wild and Scenic North Fork John Day River is in this wilderness, accounting for many miles of steelhead and trout habitat. Dominant wildlife species are elk, deer and some bear. Many small game and nongame species also inhabit the area, as do mountain goats.

Over 100 miles of trails serve both hikers and horseback riders where the lay of the land calls for long-distance trips with many elevation changes.

I was able to go out with the USFS folks we will be working with and see the trail. The trail is extremely overgrown, and they want the trail to be brushed out to their specifications. For us, that means a lot of time with a bow saw and loppers, trimming brush. We will then be following up with some tread work, minor changes in the location of the trail, some rock wall construction and trail reinforcement. Lots of work, but I am sure we can make the trail shine by the end of the crew.

Camp is going to start out at the Oregon/Washington state line, near the banks of Crooked Creek. Work will start downstream, where Crooked Creek joins the Wenaha River. The crew will the progress upstream, ultimately trying to finish eight to ten miles of trail over the course of the summer.

Thanks to Rich and Andy for a great introduction to the forest, and special thanks to the horses that carried the loads.