Week 1

And we're off!! Crew season 2011 has officially begun! Our first two Konnarock crews put in a lot of hard work and had a lot of fun! Week 1 was based out of our volunteer basecamp in Sugar Grove, Virginia. Both crews headed out each day to work on the Mount Rogers A.T. Club section of Trail near White Top Mountain. The crews installed 20 rock steps, several waterbars and some rock cribbing. They also made crush and fill ans used stepping stones to help harden wet sections of Trail. The crew had a short break from trail work to visit Trail Days in Damascus. They stood with their banner at the Damascus A.T. Community designation ceremony to show their support for the town and even marched in the hiker parade, hard hats and all! Check out some photos from the great week that kicked off the season....

Crew 1 ready for a day of work!

Putting in waterbars

A whole lot of rock work!

Beautiful flora along the Trail

Rock drill fun!

Crew 2 having tooo much fun!

The crew supporting Damascus as at the A.T. Community designation

Proudly marching in the Trail Days hiker parade! Thanks to Martha for sprucing up that banner!

Splitting spoons

Putting in stepping stones

Cleaning up equipment back at camp

Come join us for a week filled with fun!! REGISTER today!

Staff Training & Project Checks

Meet our 2011 Trail Crew Staff:

Crew Leaders: Josh Kloehn and Tori Kuehn
Assistant Crew Leaders: Kathyryn Herndon and Jeff Curtis
Camp Coordinator: David Hebert
(Hopefully we can capture a picture of the 5 of them sometime this season!)


While David worked hard to get basecamp ready for the upcoming season, the field staff did some training around camp and then headed off for a whirlwind tour around Southwest Virginia to visit all of the Virginia projects they will be working on this season. They had chainsaw training this past weekend and are headed south to do project checks in Georgia, North Carolina and Tennesse later this week. It's been a busy, but fun preseason! The staff are getting anxious for the first week of volunteers to arrive in Sugar Grove!! Check out a few photos from the past 2 weeks:

Putting in a few new rock steps on the demo trail at basecamp

Splitting some rock for the steps

Enjoying the view from McAfee Knob -- rough job!

Sidehill digging practice on the New River Relocation

Humpack Rocks

You can hang out with the awesome Konnarock staff and visit some of these beautiful places too! Sign up for a week or more of crew! Food, lodging, tools and training provided! Click here to register!

Clean Up Week

Thanks to all of the great volunteers who came out to help get Base Camp into shape before the 2011 Season begins!

Crew Leader, Josh, checking completed projects off the list

Silvia helping out in the kitchen

Wilbur & Jane changed all of the light bulbs that needed replacing

New stain on the staff pods



Bill filling holes with gravel

Czar (Camp Coordinator) cleaning out the old "toys" in camp ... although I think he kept a few waterguns... so look out!


All of our crew staff have arrived and are out training and looking at the projects for this upcoming season! Check back on the blog in the next few weeks to meet the crew staff and get a preview of what this season has in store!

The weeks are filling up!

We are almost 50% full for the 2011 Konnarock Season! Have you registered yet?! Trail Crew volunteers are provided with food, transportation, lodging, tools, equipment and the opportunity to have a lot of fun! No experience is necessary, only the willingness to work hard and get dirty. You will meet people of all ages, from all walks of life, from all over the country and around the world! We hope to see YOU on crew this season! Click here to register. If you have any questions feel free to call 540.953.3571 or email crews@appalachiantrail.org.

Gearing up for Konnarock 2011...

The 2011 Konnarock season is quickly approaching and the staff here at the Southwest and Central Virginia Regional office are getting excited!! Volunteer registration is open the project schedule is now posted on the Appalachian Trail Conservancy's website - click here to see it!

So sign up now and tell all of your friends to join you for an amazing week of digging in the dirt and working on the beautiful Appalachian Trail!!

Stay tuned for more updates.....

REGISTER NOW FOR THE 2011 SEASON!!

week 12

Crew 1 headed out for a third week with the Tennessee Eastman Hiking Club. This week they continued on a Hardcore relocation project on Beartown Mountain. They put in some rock steps and cribbing and dug over 900 feet of sidehill. They also painted blazes and opened up two new relocations!! What a great week and an awesome way to wrap up the season!

Beautiful flora along the trail!

Picking blueberries!

Lopping roots out of the trail

Digging out stumps

Digging sidehill

The crew watching a beautiful sunset

Crew 2 headed out to Bluff City with the Roanoake AT Club to do some rehab. They put in some rocks steps, waterbars and checksteps. They were also busy making a lot of crush and fill. The amazing folks at Woods Hole Hostel invited the crew over for dinner Friday night and they spent Saturday night at the Corn Boil with RATC. Lots of hard work and lots of great food!!

Using the net to move large rocks

Making crush!

Rock work is fun!

Digging a hole for the waterbar

Sledging some more rock for crush and fill

And that's how they got so many heavy rocks moved!

Digging away!

One waterbar complete!

A few more to go!

What a great crew to end the season with!

Heading out to the worksite

Dismal Falls

Chili con mac.... one of Konnarock's best field meals! Thanks David! :)

The Corn Boil

Woods Hole Hostel

Week 11

Crew 2 heads to Flint Gap to work a second week on the relocation. The crew toughed out the 2 mile hike in to the worksite and managed to build 900 feet of new trail - thanks to a lot of help from the Carolina Mountain Club! They also stopped by Bristol Motor Speedway for a tour on the way home! It was another great week! Only one more too go....

The crew getting pumped up for the hike into the worksite!

Hanging out by the creek at the beautiful campsite :)

Bristol Motor Speedway

Whew... sure glad we shoot for 10% slopes on the AT!

Crew 1 spends a second week with the folks of Old Dominion AT Club doing Rehab near Paul Wolfe shelter. They installed some stepping stones across a stream crossing, put in 3 rock steps, cleaned out 12 waterbars, built a log boardwalk over a drain ditch and defined 600 feet of trail! Another awesome week for Konnarock!!

Working on the boardwalk

KONNAROCK!!!

The crew and some club members

We like to move big rocks!

Using the griphoist to place stepping stones