Week 8: June 30-July 4, 2018

Crew 1: Sinking Creek Mountain Relocation

working with Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club

click here for the complete photo album

Hey everybody and welcome to a little recap of week 8 with Crew 1 (Hoo-Yah!) back from Sinking Creek Mountain! We had yet another amazing week full of fun, laughter, sweat, and great trail building. It was a very eventful week and it was nice to come back to camp to share our stories and enjoy a 4th of July party with Crew 2 and the rest of the Konnarock family.

We had a crew of 5 awesome volunteers this week, Gordon, Kathie, DeeDee, Clark and Sandy. We were joined throughout the week by a multi-week volunteer, Simon, volunteers from the RATC (Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club), and ATC's Josh Kloehn, so we were able to get some solid work done in spite of hot and humid weather conditions.

Morning of day one, we packed up our gear and drove away from the Konnarock base camp full and happy from a hearty and delicious pancake breakfast, ready to take on a new week of trail crew.

About 2 hours later we found ourselves at the trailhead, stretched, inspired by new jokes and words of wisdom, ready to hike up the mountain to get a half day of work in. A shout out to second year volunteer, DeeDee, who took some weight off my pack and carried my water bottles up so I could carry the rock drill! Teamwork makes the dream work!

Right off the bat, Crew 1 jumped right into the work, getting a great deal of work done in a half a day. We separated into two groups with one squad working on a long retaining wall and some rock steps while the other worked on a crib wall and created a trail through a rock field. I feel fortunate to work on the Sinking Creek project and I think the volunteers do as well because of the unique work we're doing and the tools we get to use in the process.

Gordon, our newest volunteer this week, earned his K-rock T-shirt doing a bunch of rock drilling and persevered through some frustrating hammer drilling for 2 days straight! A very large rock that had not been weathered at all, right in the middle of the boulder field where the trail is to go through, needed to be chiseled away and it really did take a lot of patience, time and sweat. Thanks to Jim Webb from RATC who also worked tirelessly on that rock.

Returning to Joe's Trees that evening, volunteers set up their tents and we had our first very hot evening with the sun beating down on our kitchen porch as we ate dinner. We fell asleep to distant sounds of dogs barking and early 4th of July fireworks.

On the hike in the next morning I found myself walking amongst a huge herd of cows who wanted to enjoy the trail as well. Once we got to the project site, the work commenced with two groups again working on their separate projects. Rock drilling, crushing rock, building a better trail out in the woods, where else would you rather be? 

DeeDee was hesitant to try using the rock drill but gave it a try to split a big rock to get it out of the way and also use it for crib wall to hold the trail in. After holes were drilled, feathers and wedges were used to split the rock all the way through. She did a great job and was happy to have finally used the drill!

Sandy, Clark and Kathie worked diligently on their project down below. Every time I would go check out how the work was going and take a few photos, I was amazed by their progress. They did a really great job on the crib wall and the rock steps there.

The next work day was another hot day of rock work. Both groups continued giving back to the trail, working hard to get the projects completed. We were joined by some RATC members who also wanted to lend a hand and help get this relocation done. Thanks for coming out and working with us!

Our last full work day we had one group continue the work through the boulder field and the rest of us headed down to the highline that was set up Week 7 to move ("fly") more rocks down to the steep section of trail we will be building steps on next week.

Josh and I went shopping around the field of rocks for potential steps while Kathie and Clark split rocks that were slightly too big to fly with the drill, feathers, and wedges. And by "fly" I mean putting a rock in a sling, attaching it the highline, wenching it up in the air with a griphoist, then sending it down the line to where we will be building steps, about 150 ft away. 

The work came to a close for the week and we walked away from Sinking Creek, sweaty, proud, and ready for a much deserved treat that followed the next day. We had some issues with the van this week and had to jump it every single time it needed to be used. One day we got to ask some locals for their support in helping us get the van jumped to return to Joe's Trees for dinner. After a few tries we were finally helped by a local guy who was more than happy to help and show us the snake that was in the back of his pick-up.

The following day, the 4th of July, we cleaned up at Joe's Trees, and honored America with the singing of the National Anthem in front of the flag. Then we made some fun stops to Woods Hole Hostel, Dismal Falls and then Moon Dog Brick Oven for some pizza. Woods Hole is described as the "Latte over the coffee" type of hostel experience and I will say that I would stay there in a second. A labor of love that creates a very unique communal experience for hikers, and visitors alike. A beautiful place and somewhere you should stay if you are hiking the AT!

Dismal Falls was so nice and refreshing, I never wanted to leave.

We returned home to base camp, cleaned up from the week and enjoyed a very nice 4th of July grill out/dinner celebration to end on a high note. It was truly a very very great week and I can't thank the volunteers enough for coming out and putting every ounce of energy into making this trail. Awesome trail building, stories, laughs, meals, fellowship and celebration. Thank you to the folks at RATC for your support and your work out there this week. We return to Sinking Creek for 2 more weeks to try to finish up this relocation and get it opened up for the hikers.

Crew 1--HOO-YAH!

--Julia Smith, Assistant Crew Leader

Week 7: June 22-26, 2018

Crew 1: Sinking Creek Mountain Relocation

working with Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club

click here for the full photo album

More than halfway through the Konnarock season and week 7 offers yet another successful week of triumphant trail building! Crew 1 headed back to Sinking Creek Mountain near Blacksburg, VA, where we continue working on this multi-year relocation project.

We headed for the trailhead on day 1 and loaded up our packs with as many tools as we could carry. This week, carrying tools was a longer and more difficult process as we had heavy drills, power tools, griphoist equipment and the usual tool cache for rock work and trail building. With heavy loads for all 8 of us we hiked the 1.5 miles up to the work site for a half day of work. 

We were met in the field by Josh who delivered a much needed tool for setting up a highline for the week, which is what we started to construct first. 

The first 2 days of the week we also had the help of the amazing Fred Lashley, who is a professional in all things rocks, rigging, splitting, dragging, flying, etc. She came during our pre-season training to do some griphoist workshops as well and I love that she comes to share her knowledge and skills with us in the field! 

So we started setting up a highline, which is a really awesome way to move a lot of very heavy rocks in an efficient and safe manner. It took some time since highlines are a lot of work to set up and we also had a poorly timed downpour of rain. But the time is worth it for the amount of rocks we are able to move and use for rock steps. 

That evening we welcomed Davis Wax, who was a former crew leader with Konnarock, currently a crew leader for S.W.E.A.T trail crew in the Smokies. He came out and worked 2 days with us so a BIG shout out to Davis, who not only did fantastic work but he also took one for the team and carried Artie's rock drill up the mountain, like a champion. 

Another returning volunteer, Simon, also helped the cause and carried the generator up the mountain and ended up carrying the drill back down at the end of the week. Thanks Simon!

The next day we continued on the highline and had Artie (Jolly Rovers Trail Crew extraordinaire and Konnarock alum) and Clark (also a Konnarock alum) start on building the trail through one of boulder fields on this relocation. 

Crew members Ruth and Mike were no strangers to Konnarock either, both of whom were open to using new tools and learning new trail building skills and did a great job all week. 

We had 2 groups working on quarrying rocks, splitting rocks, setting steps and making crush to solidify everything. After clearing some trees and moving the highline to the perfect spot to "fly" rocks we put some smaller "test" rocks on the line to start off with. We had volunteers on a haul line that was set up to pull the rocks in, and a belay line to control the rock as it flew down the line. 

We got some rocks moved down the highline and then started working on splitting rocks that were too big and heavy to fly into smaller rocks to use them for steps in the coming weeks. Volunteers got to try out new trail techniques and tools, like using a rock drill, and feathers and wedges to split a rock. 

The following days were full of similar but very fun tasks, moving huge boulders, making steps, sending rocks down the highline, and making a beautiful rock staircase. Our last work day we were visited by ATC's Regional Director, Andrew Downs and Kathryn Herndon-Powell, the Education Outreach Coordinator from the Roanoke office. It's always nice to have ATC staff come out to work and spend time on the trail with the volunteers and the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club. 

The meals were all on point this week, with the Spicy Thai Noodles as the favorite of the week. Jerry couldn't let a crew week pass without cooking his delicious grits, eggs, and spam breakfast. Yummy!

The crew enjoyed the views and a pavilion to sit under every morning and evening at Joe's Trees Christmas farm where we stay for the week.

The boulder field got finished and it is some of the most beautiful rock work I've ever seen! Really amazing work done by all the volunteers there. The before and after pictures are pretty amazing. We were able to fly 27 rocks on the highline to use for rock steps. A very successful and fun week!

On the way back to camp on the last day we stopped for bagels and coffee and then went bowling!! We should make a Konnarock bowling team--these guys were good! Ate lunch at the bowling alley in Blacksburg and headed back to camp for the cleaning and end of week celebration.

Thank you to each volunteer for coming out to work on the trail with us and to RATC for your work and support and everyone who came out and joined us this week! A great time was had by all!

Crew 1! Wazzzz happenin?!!

--Julia Smith, Assistant Crew Leader

Week 7: June 22-26, 2018

Crew 2 : Gooch Gap/Justus Mountain

working with Georgia Appalachian Trail Club

click here for the full photo album

Yet another adventure in trail-building has come to fruition as the month of June draws toward its end. With the completion of Week 7, Crew 2 has officially finished up the third and final tour of its southernmost project in Georgia for the 2018 season. Working in the Chattahoochee National Forest and partnering with the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club (GATC), the crew once again split its time between Gooch Gap and Cooper Gap to complete a variety of structure-building on trail relocation projects.

The primary focus of the week was on the locust log staircase that had been started at Gooch Gap during Week 6. This ambitious project had involved the use of saddle-notches to lock steps and crib logs together. This method results in an elegant and durable structure, but requires some technical finesse and lots of time to get right.

Volunteers definitely got to brush up on their woodworking skills this week. The construction of the staircase required a variety of steps, including sharpening loads of wood stakes, debarking locust logs, transporting the logs from the road access to the project site via GATC’s signature “Zebmobile” contraption, and digging trenches to set the logs appropriately.

The most involved part of the process was making the custom-fit saddle notches on each log. This required the use of a divider to scribe the proper notch shape on to the log - a task that involves a lot of attention to detail. Next, with the help of a chainsaw, the crew leaders cut a series of “kerf cuts” into the log according to the line scribed on to the log. Crew members then used a combination of axe and chisels to chop out the notches and smooth them out so that one log will then fit snugly on top of another, in a “Lincoln Log” fashion.

As with any trail structure, the log steps require huge amounts of crushed rock in order to cement the components into the ground. Several crew members were always occupied with sledgehammers on this integral task. Some people love the meditative exercise of smashing rock after rock after rock, while others find the task unspeakably tedious. In either case, crush-production is an absolutely essential part of sustainable trail building.

As the staircase project drew closer to completion, only a few crew members could be involved in the tight-quarters area of step installation. The rest of the crew and club volunteers dedicated substantial time to “junking” up the downhill slope on the outside of the staircase.

Since hikers often instinctively avoid walking on steps, it is important to provide subtle psychological nudges to push hikers on to the steps - therefore on to the most sustainable trail surface that is most resistant to erosion. The junking process involved carrying in some very big rocks with the rock net, as well as plenty of smaller rocks, branches, and brush. By the end, the staircase looked by far to be the most appealing path up the trail.

It took two work days (slightly shortened due to afternoon thunderstorms) to complete the staircase. The result was an impressive structure that Crew 2 can rightfully be proud of. Georgia, being at the most popular starting point for thru-hikers, sees an enormous amount of hiker traffic every spring and this staircase will definitely mitigate their impact on this steeper section of trail.

The remaining day of the Konnarock week was spent back at Justus Mountain, a half mile in from Cooper Gap. The goal for Justus was to install some more rock steps on a section that had been started the week before. This switch from logwork to rockwork was a nice way to mix things up within the same crew week, and the team worked very well on this project.

All manner of rock work tasks were on display at the Justus work site. These included using the porta-wrap to belay some particularly huge rocks safely down the hill slope, smashing prodigious amounts of rock into crush, and wielding the rifting hammers to shape a huge slab into the perfect step rock. By the end of the day, Crew 2 had installed a total of 9 rock steps. More might have been installed if it wasn’t for the rapid arrival of a fearsome thunderstorm which darkened the sky and soon began pelting the crew with rain as they packed tools out from the work site.

The sounds of wind and thunder mingled with the sounds of machine gun fire and mortar explosions emanating from nearby Camp Merrill - the mountain phase training camp for the Army Rangers. It was quite a dramatic scene, but it wasn’t the only time Crew 2 experienced the influence of the military.

 For the third week in a row, the crew stayed the grounds of Camp Merrill, staying in the gymnasium building and enjoying the flushing toilets and showers - in addition to the plentiful noises of artillery and landing helicopters. On one morning, the crew was eating breakfast when several hundred fully uniformed Ranger students filed through the breakfast area to attend church services - definitely not something that happens on a typical crew week!

Week 7 included a couple more fun sideshows along the way, like a visit to two separate waterfalls, a stop for ice cream at Blue Creek Farmhouse Market, and some intense evening games of basketball in the Camp Merrill gymnasium. Of course, no week in Georgia would be complete without a party at Tom Lamb’s house. Tom is the Trail Supervisor for GATC and always opens his home to Konnarock at the end of the project week. Though a thunderstorm prevented the traditional Etowah River tubing trip from occurring, volunteers still got to enjoy Tom’s beautiful home and legendary hospitality. A fantastic spread was provided for dinner, board games were played, and a screening of a Georgia documentary, Deliverance, topped off a fun and relaxing evening.

Crew 2 enjoyed Tom’s home-cooked breakfast of eggs, grits, biscuits, and tomatoes in the morning before heading out and beginning the drive back to VA. The crew made sure to prolong the drive just a bit with a stop for lunch at a Konnarock favorite, Rocky’s Hot Chicken Shack in Asheville, NC. After indulging in fried chicken of varying spice-levels, the tired but well-fed crew completed the last leg of the journey and arrived at Base Camp in Sugar Grove.

As always, a gigantic thank you to all of the volunteers who came out to spend a week doing hard manual labor on the A.T. - the work is hard but rewarding and it would not be possible without willing workers. Thanks as well to the members of GATC for coming out to help with the project work, supporting the crew by cutting log steps ahead of time, and of course for hosting the crew on the last night. The value of the unique partnerships between the ATC and the trail maintaining clubs has been fully evident during the weeks in Georgia this year.

 An additional thanks, as well, to the U.S. Military staff at Camp Merrill Army Ranger Camp for allowing the Konnarock Crew to enjoy luxury accommodations and an unforgettable “camping” experience the past three weeks. The contacts at the Camp did everything possible to make sure the crew’s needs were addressed and this is greatly appreciated.

And with that, another blog post comes to an end. Another unforgettable Konnarock adventure is forever chronicled for posterity. Although the season is now more than halfway over, that still leaves 5 more action-packed weeks of trail work to supply plenty more tales. Keep an eye out for the next exciting account of Crew 2’s escapades. In the coming weeks, the crew will spend some time in North Carolina, digging brand new trail for a relocation. Until then, be sure to share the blog and tell your friends to volunteer for Konnarock!

--Assistant Crew Leader Josh Reynolds

Week 6: June 14-18, 2018

Crew 1: Highcock Knob Relocation

working with Natural Bridge Appalachian Trail Club

click here for the full photo album

Konnarock has hit the halfway point of the season with Crew 1 ending Week 6 on a very high note! After 4 years of work, Crew 1 leaves newly painted blazes on the opened relocation on Highcock Knob, near Natural Bridge, VA!

It was an exciting end to the project for Crew 1 and for the week for the volunteers who helped in finalizing the new trail. Opening a new section of trail and painting a new blaze is a rare opportunity and the crew and myself were feeling extra grateful for getting to experience it.

We had a terrific group of volunteers this week, with only one who was with Konnarock for the first time. The rest of the crew were seasoned trail lovers and maintainers that made for a fun, successful week. As always, we were joined by the dedicated local club, NBATC (Natural Bridge Appalachian Trail Club) who were just as excited to be finishing up this relocation as we were. We also had a visit from the one and only, Josh Kloehn (Resource Manager for ATC), who came out and worked alongside us for a day.

Day 1, we got back to Petites Gap, started with a stretch circle and made the first hike up to Highcock Knob with the new crew. We worked a half a day trying to finish putting in some rock steps, an armored drain and the trail where the old trail meets the new relo.

While crew set up camp, Jerry went and picked up one more volunteer and jumped right in with everyone upon arrival.

By the end of day 2 the rock steps, drain, and the trail at southern end of the relocation were all completed, junk walls and lots and lots of crush, later.

While we had half the crew completing those tasks, we had club members and the rest of the crew, along with Josh K, working on cleaning up the sloughed trail that had been dug years prior and digging the beginning of the relocation in to connect with the current AT.

By the 3rd day the entire crew was working at the beginning of the relocation, spread out on different tasks. We had volunteers working on rock steps, we moved some large rocks out of the trail and filled in the voids with plenty of crush. We also had a few solid crew members digging a "borrow pit" away and hidden from the trail to get some good dirt to put on the crush and make a nice trail surface. The pit soon became a "pit of despair #2" like the pit from the previous year.

Everyone stayed busy and worked hard until we tooled up and headed to the Falling Water Cascade waterfall, right off the Blue Ridge Parkway, for a refreshing "shower." The water was freezing but was enjoyed by all. The treats didn't end there, we decided to get some ice cream at the Peaks of Otter Lodge. The staff was a little confused at first that we came to the restaurant just for dessert but ended up with a room all to ourselves (for the good of everyone there). We enjoyed having a secluded room, although it got a tad chilly being in the AC with wet suits. The crew enjoyed some cherry cobbler, and apple pie with ice cream. Yum! I was happy to be in the sun again after that.

The next day, after a great breakfast of Jerry's grits, eggs, spam and country ham, was the most exciting day of all, as it was time to officially open the relocation, paint blazes and close the old trail. Everyone that had never painted a blaze had the opportunity to do so and it was a monumental experience. We had crew members who have worked on parts of this relocation in previous years and it was clear this was a big deal to them to paint a blaze and see it get opened and become a new part of the Appalachian Trail. How cool to have people walking on the work we have done for years and years to come!

We worked on closing the old trail, making it look like it was never there. We built check dams along the entire length to slow water and erosion down. There was a ribbon cutting ceremony at the other end of the relocation with happy cheers and celebrations.

We ended the day with a bigger celebration, with the club who came to Watson's Pond and had dinner prepared for us. There was grilling, side salads, homemade desserts and ice cream. A huge thank you to Natural Bridge Appalachian Trail Club for working alongside us these past few weeks and for showing your appreciation to us as well. We appreciated having NBATC out there with us and would not have been able to open the relocation this week without there skills and dedication. Thank you!

Our final day we packed up at Watson's Pond one last time and headed to Thunder Ridge for a view, the James River footbridge (the lowest point on the AT in Virginia) the Brontosaurus in Glasgow and a final lunch at The Pink Cadillac (delicious!).

This crew was a lucky crew to get to open a new trail and I hope people enjoy it as much as we do. This crew was nothing short of great with Konnarock veterans and one new volunteer who fit right in and did a fantastic job. Thanks to each of you for coming out and working hard on crew 1 this week and for helping finish this project of 4 years! I had a blast this week and was so thrilled to open this new relocation!


Crew 1- HOO-YAH!!!!!



--Julia Smith, Assistant Crew Leader