Hitch 6 "Don't Stop 'Till You Get Enough"

Progress Report:

Program Name: Pisgah Corps Black Crest Trail Hitch 6
MDA Code: 10_NCAROL1_UFS
Max ID: 10116
Project Leader: Jonathan Kravitz
Dates: 7/26-7/29/10
Corridor Brushing 750 feet
Crushed Rock 20 feet

Hitch 6 was a tough one for the Pisgah Crew. Monday afternoon we all met up at 2 pm to prepare for our approach of the Black Mountain Crest Trail from Bolen’s Creek. The first challenge we met was trying to drive up a steeply graded dirt/rocky road in route to our campsite. The off road excursion proved to be a bigger challenge than we had expected- we had to move boulders and crush rock to prepare the road for proper drivability, which took approximately three hours. We were all very happy when Justin finally made the push to get the truck over what had been a deeply gullied rock outcropping that we filled in with lots of rock and crush. Once the truck made it over this we thought we were in the clear. Next challenge was getting the vehicle up another steeply graded and wet gravel section. We had the unfortunate experience of crunching our tailpipe in the process which meant we needed to stop our forward progress in the vehicle. We huffed it on foot and made camp at a beautiful location between two streams about 20 minutes from where we parked the truck. On Tuesday morning we awoke and headed to our tool cache approximately 5 miles away. The hike took us about 4 hours over steep grade with a 3,000 ft rise in elevation. Once at the tool cache (close to Winter Star Mountain) we immediately began brushing the trail as we had only a few hours to work before needing to turn around and go back to our distant base camp. Jon continued brushing after the members began their journey back and upon his return was notified that two members, Justin and Marion, had left the Pisgah Crew. This unfortunate event left us as a crew of 4 and on Wednesday morning we became a crew of 3 as we lost Patrick too… This experience had left us feeling uneasy at first but we have decided to push on and continue working as planned. On Wednesday Jon got the tailpipe of the truck saw-zawed while Ashley and Josh hiked up to the tool cache to clean and sharpen tools. We met up on the trail and, exhausted from another five mile hike home from work, decided to relocate the next day to a closer camp site. The Black Mountain Crest Trail is beastly and working on it has been a humbling experience. The remaining members are Josh and Ashley. They continue to show perseverance and will power in spite of these unfortunate circumstances. We will continue on the Trail next week and are anticipating less hiking as we have moved our base camp closer to our tool cache.