Crew 1: Sinking Creek Relocation
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Crew 1 has finished up a highly productive and very exciting Week 9 on Sinking Creek Mountain! We had a full crew this week and were able to get a lot of work banged out on our 2nd last week on the Sinking Creek Relocation.
We had a large crew of mostly seasoned trail builders with a few new people who will plan on coming back after an amazing experience with Konnarock. We were able to divide and conquer on multiple projects from building rock steps, retaining walls, log cribbing, high-lining, and of course, crush making.
Our group consisted of Clark, Sandy, Billy, Matt, Terry, Martha, Abigail, Anastacia, Simon, Michael and Brian along with a few RATC folks (the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club), and Laura, ATC's VP of Conservation and Trail Programs. Everyone gave 100% on the trail and Jerry and I were thrilled to have such an eager and hard-working group of volunteers. We appreciated every single person who came out to do some trail building with us whether it was for a day or the whole week.
The first day after hiking the 1.5 miles uphill, we broke up into groups and put everyone on a specific project. We had volunteers using the rock drill to split more rocks to become steps, people working on finishing the trail through the boulder field, adding steps and rock retaining wall, and fixing a switchback, adding a drain and a bottom rock retaining wall to it.
Day 2, our first full work day, groups continued their work, we started "flying" the rocks that were split to the trail where the steps would be put in. We also flew rocks to be used as gargoyles for the steps so hikers will use the steps and so the rocks will be supported from the outside of the steep section of trail. I was so impressed with this crew and the work getting done in both the quality and the quantity every time I'd make my rounds to check in.
Each evening back at Joe's Trees everyone was chipping in with dinner preparations and then ended the day with a fun game or two of Werewolf (woo-hoo!!). If you've never played Werewolf--come join Crew 1 and learn how to play! It's my favorite!
take photos.
The next day, we were visited by Laura who got to lend a hand on all kinds of fun trail work from splitting rock with rock drills, feathers and wedges, working the griphoist, moving rocks on the highline, and landing rocks. She did an awesome job out there and I'm excited that she plans on coming out on crew for a whole week next year.
We appreciated having her come out to support us and learn some trail building skills! The rest of the crew was hard at work, doing the highline, moving rocks from our big pile we made, putting them along the trail where they would become steps, crushing rock and finishing up the switchback.
Construction of the rock staircase was finally underway our 4th workday and we had 3 mini teams working up and the down the trail. Jerry worked on chainsawing some fallen locust trees to use for a log crib wall needed on a little narrow section of trail to prevent trail creep in the future. I took a group of volunteers and worked alongside RATC folks on this log crib wall while the rock staircase teams did their thing!
There were volunteers hauling bags of crush for steps that were built the previous day. I think we have enough crush for the rest of the staircase with that huge pile! What an amazing group of volunteers we had this week. Many many steps were set, the log crib was built, along with another mini crib, and we had one more day of work left before heading back to Sugar Grove.
We hiked up one last time to get a few more hours of work in on our final day and again I was amazed by the work that the volunteers did in just a short time. Jerry did a final count of our work while everyone helped carry tools and gear back up to stash them for the next few days before coming back one more week.
We took a group photo in front of the Keffer Oak tree on our way back and then headed to Bull & Bones Brewhaus in Blacksburg, VA for a cold beverage and a delicious lunch! A much deserved treat! Got back to base camp for end of week cleaning and celebrated our successful week with dinner and the t-shirt ceremony.
We got 35 rock steps built, generated a large pile of crush we will use next week, finished the boulder field, built 2 log crib walls, built multiple rock retaining walls, a few drains and played many fun games of werewolf! What a terrific week it was!
I can't thank the volunteers enough for the work they accomplished and for making it such a fun week for all! Thank you of course to RATC for your hard work, and Laura for working with us for a day. I had a really great time and am blown away by our crew, the work, the people, everything! Thank you for the jokes and all the new info about Buffalo. I really appreciate it ;)
Thank you to all! And thanks for taking the time to read about our week!
Crew 1! HOO-YAH!!!
--Julia Smith, Assistant Crew Leader
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