The George Washington-Jefferson Trail Corps Team finished their final hitch on August 11, but had six more days to complete our end of season chores. This was far more time than we needed to clean our tools and gear, so I arranged to do a little more trail work.
During our season on the Glenwood-Pedlar RD, we had never worked on the Appalachian Trail. We camped near it for several weeks at Maupin Field, and enjoyed meeting the hikers, and the hikers gratefully inhaled our leftovers. Many of us had hiked on the AT during our days off, and come to appreciate the beauty of the Trail, its famous social aspect, and the idea that one can follow those white blazes all the way to Maine or Georgia.
For a final project, I arranged with the Natural Bridge Appalachian Trail Club to do a bit of work on the club's section of Trail #1, as the AT is labeled on Forest Service maps. NBATC President Trudy Philips showed Kevin, Christopgher, and me a section just to the south of Cow Camp Gap that needed some drainage work.
After Hitch #5 was over, our crew, minus the sadly absent Amy, took a day to build walls to prevent hikers from cutting and further shortening switchbacks, and to clean waterbars, per the recommendations of Trudy and NBATC Supervisor of Trails Sam Ripley. I chose this project not only for a chance to work on the AT, but to give the crew a chance to use their skills in a true volunteer fashion.
We arrived at Cow Camp Gap in a thick fog, and met two Forest Service Law Enforcement Officers and an Amherst County Sheriff's deputy, investigating a body found in a nearby shelter. However, our work was not near theirs, so we proceeded to work on the trail. It is hard to describe, but we had a wonderful time, relaxing, working, laughing, and, of course, improving a small part of a national treasure.
And shortly thereafter ended our crew's twelve weeks together, and our ten weeks in Virginia. We are now headed our separate ways, some back to college, some to other SCA crews, and some to jobs and adventures not yet known. We are all grateful to SCA and the George Washington-Jefferson National Forest for allowing us to work here, and to get to know each other.
To be more specific, I would like to thank everyone at the SCA Boise office who set up and helped out with this crew. Trevor Knight, Chris Sparks, Jarrod Ball, and Jill Kolodzne, you are all great, and my job and my members' experience woud have been difficult without your hard work. Thanks as well to all New Hampshire SCA staff who helped us keep things rolling.
At George Washington-Jefferson NFs and Glenwood-Pedlar RD, I would like to thank David Whitmore, District Recreation Program Manager, and Annie Downing, District Ranger for hosting us on their district. Pete Irvine, head of recreation for all of GWJeff, thank you for continuing to work with, and believe in what SCA has to offer your National Forest. Adam Christie, of the Glenwood-Pedlar recreation shop, thank you for your frequent visits, great stories, and at times caustic wit. Thanks to the Forest Service staff at Sherando Lake Recreation area. I know it must have been hard having six extra people living in your territory, but we appreciate you accomodating us.
Finally, I am most grateful to everyone who came to work with us. Many thanks to Mike, Mike, Tim, Jim, and Katraina of SCA's Carolina Wildfire Protection Plan crew, aka the Ragin' Raleighs. You made a hard project go by faster, and we enjoyed teaching you about trail work. Thanks to Jarrod Ball for visiting us during Hitch #4, and adding your muscle, experience, and ideas to our projects. Thank you to Jordan Albright for also coming during Hitch #4. We were glad for your help, and it was great to see someone move huge rocks while sporting a huge grin.
And thank you to everyone who has been reading these updates!
GTC,
Dan Solmon
