This hitch was a big one for our crew. If you have been following the Mystery Gang, you’ll know we’ve been dealing with some rocks for awhile now. Well, this hitch we finally busted through the boulder field! This, including the work we did in the clear cut last hitch, puts us halfway through this trail. Speaking of halfway, the 16th was mega hump day, marking the halfway point in our season. For these reasons, we have been referring to this as the mega hump hitch, and it has gone quite well. It’s strange to think that other crews are finishing up their season and we still have another three months to go. Our entire crew is excited to be sticking around as we have much more work to accomplish.
During this hitch, we also saw many guests, both human and animal kind. Both Toji and John, who are project leaders from twelve week crews just finishing up their seasons, stopped by to accompany us for one of our regular bowling trips. Alex, the eastern program manager for SCA, also stopped by and spent some time working with us, sticking around to enjoy dinner and a night in camp. The number of animals we saw was great. There was a wide array, including turkey, fox, deer, lizards, skinks, snakes, a bear, and two pileated woodpeckers, which made one of the oddest sounds I have ever heard. The weather changed often, going from foggy to hot to rainy, but when it cooled off, more animals came out in greater numbers, and we were able to enjoy nature even more.
All totaled, we concurred a good chunk of trail this week. The large portion was trail restoration left over from the boy scouts work a few years back, which we were able to quickly bust out 720 feet of. Along with this, we were able to finish up 208 feet of new tread. Hopefully these numbers will continue to grow as we inch our way towards the end of this trail and on to more places, opening up new outdoor experiences for the communities we serve.
