Hitch 8

Brushing 4miles
Rolling Dips repaired 99
Rolling Dips built 10

Our first hitch on the Chattooga river was fantastic. After spending most of the summer on the rugged slopes of Mt. Mitchell, the mellow grade and opportunities for after work swims were a welcome change.

We spent the first 6 days of our 9 day hitch doing corridor work and drainage repair. We split into two teams; Three of us cruised the trail with loppers and hand saws opening up the corridor, while the other two would leapfrog between filled in rolling dips repairing them, and adding a few new ones as needed. The brushing crew stayed mostly ahead of the drainage crew until the end of the week when they hit long tunnels of rhododendron. The final 3 days we spent with our power tools, the chainsaw and the brusher, and made a final pass through the trail clearing everything the hand tools missed. We cleared several areas where trees had fallen across the trail, and even found a tangle of locust and pine trees that had fallen since our hitch started (The pile was on top of a freshly maintained rolling dip that we had worked on two days prior).

Next hitch we are looking forward to tackling some projects including a set of wood steps, some grip hoist work to remove some hazard trees, and possibly replacing the wood decking on two iron bridges. Even more exciting is our new addition, Richie Moore, who will be joining us for our next and final hitch of the season.