Trail Work Plans - Recap From the 26th

Good Morning Fellow NCTr's:

Running a little late on getting the plan for this week out - I was trying to get a handle on the weather forecast before deciding on what we should attempt. I won't complain too much because we could certainly use the rain they're calling for today and tomorrow. Here's the plan for Tuesday and Thursday mornings:

Tuesday, September 28th, we'll go back out to the Mines and Meadows section, leaving from Jata's in Wampum at 9:00 AM, and spend some more time putting in some more Carsonite posts and maybe a "kissing gate" or two to try to keep the motorized vehicles off the trail. We'll park at the upper campground area at the ATV resort. Come to Jata's earlier for breakfast if you'd like. Pouring down rain - we won't go out. A little rain here and there - we'll head for Mines and Meadows.

Thursday, September 30 we'll meet at the Sterling Road trailhead at PA Gamelands 285 at 9:00 AM and spend a couple of hours working on digging new sidehill trail away from Indian Rock hill and back towards the trailhead. I'll bring the tools - it should be a beautiful, sunny, autumn morning on the North Country Trail.

We had a good trail work session at the Gamelands last evening, with Eleanor Fairbanks, Rick Ostheimer, and I getting thirty-five yards of quality sidehill put in towards the trailhead. My thanks to those guys for coming out. The ground there seemed to be pretty tough, with rocks and clay to contend with, but the positive side of that is that the trail is going to be durable and hold its shape. A couple of pics from yesterday (starting towards the bottom of the page) are here http://community.webshots.com/album/577334854UNgKrW?start=180

The coolest thing about yesterday's session is that we got to meet two different sets of hikers using the trail. Five years ago I'd be excited to meet up with one or two people over the course of a year out hiking at the gamelands. This season, I've encountered people just about every time I've been there. The new shelter at Watt's Mill and the trail at Indian Rock are making a positive impression and word is getting out about what is going on with the North Country Trail. Also, in the limited time I've been out to Cemex this year I've encountered a couple of walkers and signs of a lot more trail usage. Appreciate everything that everyone does to keep this venture moving forward!

Thanks again - hope to see you on the trail this week,
Dave Brewer