Click image below to see a slideshow video of this project
We Rock Your Trail
Our first crew outing for 2017 was on April 7th.. We had hoped to start 2 weeks earlier but because of a late season snow storm which left two feet of snow on the trail, we had to wait. Our first project this year is to rehabilitate a section of the Appalachian Trail, high up on West Mt. Our work site is a very steep and eroded section of the trail. First we will need to quarry a large amount of big rocks. Once all the rocks have been quarried and moved into the staging area we will begin building the steps. On our way up to the worksite we noticed several area needing some warranty work. These sections show water damage from several recent rain storms. The sections needing repairs were rehabilitated in 2014 by our crew during dry weather. With the problems now visible, we can build better water management features that will alleviate the problem. We continued moving big rocks, making crush and building our way up the mountain. It took our crew a total of 15 days, (that’s five 3 day weekends) to get to almost the top. By loosing out on our first planned outing we are now just a little behind and we will have to return to finish it all. We have other projects already lined up to go, so we carried all our tools back down the mountain and left West Mt. for the time being. After we finish our other projects we will return to West Mt. and complete the rehabilitation.
The Appalachian Trail is always changing and evolving. All along the A.T., work crews, like LDTC constantly relocate and rehabilitate portions of the trail to protect nature and to enhance the Appalachian Trail hiking experience.
This project has taken a lot of effort and as always, it was all done by volunteers. Our experience crew and crew leaders are eager to teach volunteers of all abilities the skills needed to build hiking trails.
Speaking of volunteers, not everyone could make it everyday and that’s OK with us. Some volunteers came for all 15 days while others could only make it to 1 or 2. Don’t feel that you have to commit to an entire project or even a weekend, any help is appreciated and being a volunteer you can come and go as you see fit.
In addition to my pictures this photo album has pictures from Sandra Jackson, Dr. David Booth and Lissa Westbrook. Thank you for your contributions
If this looks like the kind of activity you want to be part of, please come on out and join in, we're a community of volunteers who build, protect and maintain hiking trails. We invite you to join us. You’ll be glad you did.
Long Distance Trails Crew
We Rock your Trail
LongDistanceTrailsCrew.org - our website
crew@LongDistanceTrailsCrew.org - our email
NYNJTC.org
Trail Conference website
NYNJTC - Connecting People with Nature since 1920
Worksite GPS Location 41.29277 -74.01647