Hardcore Trail Days Trail Maintenance 2015

For the last 16 years, Bob Peoples has been organizing and supervising Hardcore Trail Maintenance Crews at Trail Days.  50 current hikers and 50 alumni hikers are recruited at Damascus Trail Days to head out onto the AT after Damascus Trail Days for 2 days of Hardcore Trail Maintenance.  Mom and I jumped at the opportunity to give back to the trail and be a part of such an amazing experience.  And what a two days it was, cutting in trail with Pulaskis, making crush and fill with sledge hammers, moving Big Freaking Rocks (BFRs) and installing cribbing.  It was hard work, but well worth it and we learned so much.  Over the two days we repaired 2 miles of the AT near Hump Mountain in TN.

Hendo's Mom helping to carry in our equipment.

The trail edge had eroded so we cut in a new trail bed and emplaced cribbing (logs) along the egde to keep the trail from washing out in the future.  Step one in cutting in the new trail is to remove the top layer of loam and roots and get down to the clay dirt layer.  Here we are using Pulaskis to cut in the new trail bed and remove the loam.

Once the loam and root layers are removed and we dug down to the clay dirt layer it was time to bring in the crib, or the log which will become the outer edge of the new trail bed.  Cribs are made from downed locust trees which have had all of the bark removed.  Removing the bark will prevent the log from rotting.

A large rock was in the way of where we needed to place the crib, so Greg and I worked to reposition the rock.

The Rock and crib are in position, Hendo held the stake steady using the loppers while Applebutter sledged the stake into the ground.  After using the loppers, Hendo and Applebutter where shown the proper way to steady a stake using a Pulaski.

A Jack in the Pulpit plant along the trail.

 

Another part of our crew worked to reposition some large rocks in order to repair a stairway.

Hendo taking a quick water break while cutting in another section of trail.

Day 2:  We continued work on repairing sections of trail which were washing away.  Here we cut in a section and filled it with crushed rock, which we made by sledging big rocks into little rocks.

Quiet Diet and Rambo work on putting in some stairs.

At the end of the two days Mom helped clean up the tools we had used.  Here is mom with a pair of loppers and a Pulaski.

Damascus Trail Days 2015

We didn't make it to Damascus Trail Days last year, because we were trying to make miles, but this year we decided we needed to experience the festival in all its craziness and what an awesome time we had.  We got off trail on Wednesday 13 May at Front Royal and spent the night at our Trail Angel Deb's house in Harrisonburg, VA.  Thursday we headed south to Damascus, picking up RHOTRA and Tortuga, who we met in the Shenandoah, in Buena Vista and giving them a ride to and from Trail Days. We partied hardy, slept too little, ran into fellow thru-hikers from 2014 and met AT celebrities, it was a great time!!

We ran into Atlas during the Hiker Parade on Saturday.  We met Atlas, a French Canadian, in Maine after we flip-flopped. He stopped and joined us for lunch and ended up spending the afternoon  hearing of his adventures of being interrogated by the US Border Patrol because they thought he was a possible terrorist and discussing how we would fix the world.

We met Chewy last year just north of Hot Springs on Lover's Leap when he joined us for the night at our campsite.  Chewy previously thru-hiked the AT but was section hiking part of the trail when we met him last year.  This year Chewy is thru-hiking with Warrior Hike and we ran into him at the Big Agnes tent.  I ended up hanging out with the Warrior Hike crew for the evening and had a great time at the bonfire and drum circle.

We met Travis/Yukon at Sassafrass Gap in Georgia last year.  He is a former Airborne Ranger and fellow paratrooper and made my day when he came hiking into the campsite rocking his Ranger Panties (short black silky shorts).  We hit it off and enjoyed a great evening of swapping stories, etc.  Hiking the trail has done Travis good and it was great to see him again and in a much better place.

All the former and current AT hikers lining up for the Hiker Parade on Saturday.

The Hiker Parade winding its way thru Damascus.

Hendo, Bill Irwin's wife and Hendo's Mom

Bill Irwin was the first blind person to thru-hike the AT in 1990 with the aid of his Dog Guide, Orient.  Bill passes away in 2014, but his wife was at Trail Days selling Bill's book "Blind Courage" and promoting the making of it into a movie.

Bob Peoples, Hendo, Warren Doyle and Hendo's Mom

Bob Peoples is an amazing maintainer of the AT, having organized the Hardcore Trail Maintenance Crews for the last 16 years.  Warren Doyle is is currently completing his 17th thru-hike of the AT this year, and is well know all along the trail.

Another picture with the wonderful Bob Peoples.  Hikers often give Bob a hard time for the switchbacks he has put in along the trail and the joke is that "Everytime Bob Peoples puts in a switchback, an angel gets its wings".  Well I am a huge fan of Bob Peoples and his switchbacks and was happy to be a part of this year's Hardcore Trail Maintenance Crew.

Dan and Mike St. Pierre founders and owners of Hyperlite Mountain Gear, the maker of Mom's backpack.  Mom was in need of a new lightweight backpack when we flipped up to Maine.  We couldn't find anything in any gear store and were referred to Hyperlite in Biddeford, ME.  Dan graciously met us at their store/factory after hours on a Friday to sell us a pack for Mom.  I am squeezing every bit of life out of my crappy GoLite backpack and can't wait to buy myself a new Hyperlite Mountain Gear backpack as well.

David "AWOL" Miller the author of The AT Guide.  The bible of the Appalachian Trail.  AWOL's guide has everything you need to have an amazing hike along the AT.

Zach Davis, author of Appalachian Trials my favorite book about how to hike the Appalachian Trail and such a great guy in person!!

Shenandoah portion COMPLETE!!!!

Finally, we are done with the Shenandoah!!!!  From the get go Virginia has worked us over and it was no different getting through Shenandoah National Forest, but like the rest of the trail we persevered and came out on top. 

9 May 2015:  After we took Deb, now trail name B.A.M., out for her first overnight we had to go up to New Hampshire to swap out our snow tires.  With regular tires back on we returned to Virginia and got back on at Rock Spring Hut parking area and headed north, stopping at a stealth campsite near the Crusher Ridge Trail turn-off for the night.

Hendo making her way through a rare rocky section of trail.  For a moment we thought we were back in The Whites.

Amazingly this tiny odd ball 5 petaled Bluet caught my eye...must be "That Guy" of Bluets...haha.

We hiked by Skyland Restaurant today, so we had to stop and enjoy the amazing Blackberry Ice Cream Pie.  It was well worth the hike.  We each enjoyed a piece of pie, then some dinner and split another piece of pie for desert.

Mom enjoying her early Mother's Day gift of Blackberry Ice Cream Pie.

Hendo's Mom and Hendo at the highest point on the AT in the Shenandoah near Stony Man.

Little Stony Man Cliffs

Some rock climbers rappelling down Little Stony Man Cliffs to put in a route so they can then climb up.

10 May 2015:  Today is Mother's Day.  Last year Mom and I spent Mother's Day on top of Max Patch, this year I treated her to a hike through Shenandoah National Park with amazing wildflowers all along the way.

A Patomac AT Club volunteer maintainer.  He along with his wife were out on a Sunday trimming the trail and keeping things in order.  Roanoke AT Club, take note, this is what it means to maintain trail.

Hendo and Hendo's Mom enjoying Mother's Day lunch on top of The Pinnacle.

Hendo's Mom enjoying the gorgeous patch of Bluets I "planted" for her...I didn't really plant them, just taking credit for Mom's Day.

We took an afternoon break during the heat of the day at Byrd's Nest 3 Hut and ran into fellow hiker Think I Can, who we met last year in Georgia when we all were staring our hikes.  It was great to see him.  He is still trudging along as well and will finish the trail this year.

Mom in front of Mary's Rock.  We wanted to make some more miles and have already climbed numerous piles of rocks and mountains, so we decided not to scramble up on top of Mary's Rock.

Hendo at Mary's Rock

An Eastern Towhee, they serenaded us all along the trail through the Shenandoah.

We stopped along the trail to check out this clearing for a possible tent site for the night, but then saw that it was already taken by a deer enjoying dinner.

We decided to continue on to Pass Mountain Hut for the night and the deer moved on as well.

Monday 11 May 2015:  Today was a warm one, so we made out way to Elkwallow Wayside where we enjoyed some burgers and ice cream and relaxed in the shade during the heat of the day.  Once it began to cool off we continued on to a stealth campsite hear the Range View Cabin.

And another Patomac AT Club member out maintaining trail just north of the Byrd's Nest #4 turn-off.  Another example for Roanoke AT Club to follow.

A cute little toad along the trail.

We watered up for the evening at the Range View Cabin and then found an awesome stealth campsite under some pine trees.  This is the run-off area below the spring at the cabin, full of a gorgeous water flower I need to get a close-up of so I can identify.

Tuesday 12 May 2015:  Today we hiked from near Range View Cabin to a stealth site in Hogwallow Flat.  This was our last night in the Shenandoah.

Thoughout the Shenandoah there are concrete posts which mark the trails.  Those along the AT have the AT stamped into them.  The metal bands around the top of the posts are embossed with the trail name, arrow of direction and distances.

A closer look at a trail post.

A close-up of the embossed metal band.

An amazing out tree just north of the Piney Ridge Trail turn-off on the AT.  Oh the stories it could tell.

Hang-gliders might be banned on other parts of the AT, but in the Shenandoah they actually have some Hang Glider Launch sites, yep it is true.

Canada Mayapple

Close-up Canada Mayapple

We took a break at the Hogback Overlook, what a great view.

Looking out from Hogback Overlook.

A gorgeous Yellow Lady Slipper, so very rare!!

So we had just passed by the amazing Yellow Lady Slippers when we came upon our first bear in the Shenandoah.  He had jumped over the downed tree and was running away by the time I was able to get the camera on and take a picture.

A zoomed in look at the gear running away.

Bluebead Lily

Star Chickweed growing inside an old stump.

And boy was our luck with us today.  We had just crossed Skyline Drive at Gravel Springs Gap, when we came across our second bear of the day, approximately 50 meters off the trail.  It was enjoying some dinner and didn't even flinch when we yelled at it and banged our poles, so we continued hiking on and left it alone to enjoy its dinner.

A close-up of bear #2.

We found a great stealth campsite in Hogwallow Flats and set up our tent for our last night in the Shenandoah.  A deer sauntered by enjoying its dinner.

And the Shenandoah didn't disappoint.  We were treated to a gorgeous sunset.

Wednesday 13 May 2015:  Our last day in the Shenandoah and last day before we get off for Damascus Trail Days.  We have been doing great averaging 8-10 miles a day, we are getting back into our groove.  Today we hiked from our stealth campsite to Jenkins Gap before having breakfast and were greeted by a group a day-hikers at Jenkins Gap.  The hikers were 25-30 retirees out for a day-hike to see yellow lady slippers.  We had a great time hiking along with them and learning to identify some new wildflowers.

Cinnamon Fern

GoldenRagwort

A miniature type of Yellow Lady Slippers

Mayapple

Hendo and Hendo's Mom at the Northern border of the Shenandoah National Forest...whoohoo!!

Showy Orchid

And another volunteer Trail Maintainer, the third we saw in the 5 days we were out, maintaining trail south of VA 602.

Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute-Front Royal Campus, click here to learn more

Hendo's Mom enjoying a break on a bench along the Smithsonian fence line.  You can't pass up a chance to have a seat.

Hendo taking a break on the bench.

Wood Anemone

A very nice boardwalk over the swampy area just south of US 522 and our getting off point for the day.