A Day in the Life

580' New Tread Constructed
2000' Brushed

It starts out like any other work day, but would end like no other for the Allegheny Highlands trail crew. Breakfast preparation starts promptly at 5 A.M., eaten and cleaned up in time to head off to the trail at 6:30 A.M. The twilight hike through cool morning mist is more like a dream than a commute to work. The haze is snapped off by a loud rattle; not the kind a toy makes but rather the mid-pitched buzzing of a snake announcing its presence. Congratulations are in order as two adult snakes coil around their eight babies. It’s also the last time the morning hike will go this way.

The order of the day is picking in new trail tread to a width of 26 inches and trimming branches to form an 8 foot wide by 10 foot high walking corridor. Things go smoothly through the first lunch break at 9:30 A.M.

Just before noon a rustling sound comes from the area where tools and bags are cached, but many things go bump in the restless woods and this seems routine. The second lunch break reveals a torn up backpack covered in saliva with every bit of food that was inside strewn about. Bear(s). Grandma’s Cheerio Chex mix is gone, not even the smell remains. All vegetables have been chewed up and spit out. Cleaning up is messy with everything covered in spit and dirt. Unmolested food is redistributed, lunch eaten, and the afternoon’s work is re-covering the edges of the new trail with leaves. The hike-out starts at 3:15 P.M., the cool morning a distant memory as the temperature now pushes the low 90’s.

After dinner at 5:30 P.M. everyone takes up individual activities like jogging, reading, music, writing, and post card making. A little reading of the CDC website leads to a talk about bear saliva possibly transmitting Rabies. Plans are made for a hospital trip and everyone hits the sack around 9 P.M.