Short Notice Hike At Gateway 12/31/10

Good Afternoon Fellow NCTr's:

Short notice for sure, but just came out the other side of the Christmas week(s) working in retail - woke up this afternoon and saw that the weather forecast for tomorrow is looking too darn good to pass up the opportunity to take a hike. If you'd like to join me I'll be taking a recon/blowdown and branch litter clearing walk from the Route 18 trailhead in Wampum up through Gateway, Mines and Meadows, and Gamelands 148 tomorrow morning (Friday, 12/31) starting at 9:00 A.M. This walk -out and back - usually takes two to three hours, depending upon work or scenery encountered. Come earlier to Jata's for breakfast if you'd like.

Dave Brewer

COLD Trailwork At Cemex

It was a beautiful and sunny, but COLD morning to be out on the North Country Trail today, but things warmed up with the walk, work, and conversation* as your trail crew made their way along almost a mile and a half of our pathway at Cemex. That section of trail is now in great shape - thanks to those guys for coming out with me for my much-needed escape to the woods! Winter sure did come on hard and fast this year!

Denny Duda, Bob Cody, Doug Turner, Lee and Eleanor Fairbanks, and I started off from the eastern Snake Run Road trailhead and headed east towards Sankey Hill, clearing the branch litter, cutting back multifloral rose, taking out a couple of small blowdown trees, and dragging down one potential widow-maker - finishing up with an exploration of the area around the haunted house.

I thought that it was especially neat that during our walk we were able to put into exact words an old trailwork axiom, being, "If you are walking along, and you are hit in the head by something, that something should probably be pruned, lopped, or sawed out of the way." Love it!

Some photos from today start here.

Thanks for all you do for the trail and have a Merry Christmas!!

Dave

* Topics of conversation today included, but were not limited to: Firetrucks, Santa Claus, gold mining, wine, other hiking trails, our website, precision tree removal options, kids coming home for Christmas, the unfortunate ease of removing fingers with power tools, roadwalk blazing, frozen beer, Marcellus shale and gas wells, finding old abandoned stuff in the woods, how much deer and other animals like to walk on the trail, arson, herbal remedies, coal mining, Google maps, the desire to build new trail in Lawrence County next year, limburger cheese and the dire effects it has on your digestive system, the marketing potential of a printed newsletter, and the danger of falling into a 20' deep well and not being found. Something for everyone!

Walking the Chainsaw - Saturday, December 18

Good Afternoon Fellow NCTr's:

Well, the weather certainly took a turn for the worse the last couple of days, but the brief periods of sunshine we're getting this afternoon are encouraging. My chainsaw has become stir-crazy from being stuck inside the last week or so, so I thought I'd take it for a walk this Saturday morning, December the 18th, out on the trail at Cemex.

The plan is to leave from Jata's in Wampum at 9:00 AM and travel to the Snake Run Road (East) trailhead to spend a couple of hours checking for blowdowns, kicking off the branch litter, taking a look at the condition of the trail along that stretch, and generally enjoying this winter wonderland. Come earlier to Jata's for breakfast if you'd like.

Hope you can make it out on Saturday morning - it's going to be a bit chilly so dress appropriately and remember to bring water to drink.

Dave Brewer

Painting the Trail Town

This blog post isn't about the North Country Trail, but about our trail town of Wampum, PA. Gail Blakely and JoEllen Sokoloski have attended some meetings about the town's "Streetscape Program" which is in the planning stages, and Andrew Bashaw has been putting some emphasis on the NCTA's "Trail Town" program. There's already been some activity in regards to the appearance of the downtown, I think unrelated to either of these things, but a seperate, positive part of the overall picture.

An investigative reporter I'll never be, but this fall when Bob Cody pointed out the paintings that have been done on some of the buildings there I did ask a few questions and got some tidbits of information about what was going on. A painter was hired to do some work on the outside of some buildings. If you haven't been to Wampum lately, you can check out these photos here showing some of the work that's been done. I'm sure some of you have ". . . the rest of the story."

"Erin the Painter" http://www.flickr.com/groups/erinthepainter/pool/with/3651746347/ does some interesting work - some paintings in Wampum and some others in Mahoningtown, near New Castle.

Check it out at these links, or take a drive out to see them in person. Good stuff!

NCT Chapters of PA Party Time Change

NCT Chapters of Pa. Xmas Party
This Saturday, Dec. 11
Arrival - 1:30 - 2:00 PM
Potluck and Party 2:00 - ?
Jennings Environmental Center near Slippery Rock.

Remember: Bring something for potluck dinner.
(I will provide paper goods, coffee and pop)

Remember: Gag gift or real gift
(Having gag gifts and real gifts make it funny and more fun!!!! (Use your judgment on price value but we could say around $10)

Remember: Reply back to me, not your chapter email person, because I need to know how many chairs and tables to set up.
Joyce Appel
joyceappel@windstream.net
724-526-5407
(Directions to Jennings below.)

Directions:
From 422 or Butler, head north on Route 8 till you get to the Old Stone House on your right. Make a left onto 528 and then another left into Jennings parking lot. (About 12 miles from Butler or 422 to Old Stone House and Jennings)
From Interstate 80, head south on Route 8 till you get to the Old Stone House on your left. Make a right onto 528 and then a left into the Jennings parking lot. (About 14 miles from Interstate 80 to Old Stone House and Jennings)

12-1 Trailwork Recap - WATER!

Good Afternoon Fellow NCTr's:

Lee Fairbanks and I headed out to Watt's Mill this morning and quickly knocked out a long-standing project on our "to-do" list - installing an ATV barrier at the trailhead to keep riders from skirting the gate posts. The digging was easy today (easiest I think we've done all year) and we had it put in in less than an hour on a cold, wet morning. These kind of days makes one appreciate the hot and sunny weather more.

Lee mentioned that the rain guage at the Fairbanks estate in Chippewa indicated that three inches of rain had fallen in the area on Monday, and we could see that the North Fork of Little Beaver Creek was booming at the bridge crossing at the road, so we wondered what was going on at the shelter area. There were no hunter's vehicles about so we donned the orange and walked into the shelter area to take a look. Wow! There was a lot of water roaring past there, and the creek was out of its banks, but the shelter was high and dry. Dennis Garrett picked the right spot! The base of the platform is probably two to two-and-a-half feet above the high water mark, and there was plenty of dry ground all around the area. Good placement.

We also knew that over the past several months, at the Sterling Road Trailhead at GL285, the pond just below the parking area had been overflowing the dam/roadway at times, causing some erosion on the down-stream side. The roadway is the current North Country Trail route so we thought we'd drive over to take a look at that situation. Yep, lots of water coming across, two to three inches deep in some spots, and eroding the roadway away on the down-side. It is walkable yet, and not dangerously swift, but it will only be a matter of time before it washes all away. It's just not our issue, however, as that is how the Game Commission gets all of its vehicles and equipment into that end of the gamelands, and how everyone (hunters) access that area. We'll see how that works out. Some photos from today start here.

We had a hankering to walk out the new Indian Rock section of trail to see if any of it was under water too but the Sterling Road parking area looked like the long-term parking section at Pittsburgh International - many vehicles, so we decided to pass on antagonizing any of those guys (and/or gals) during their hunt. We'll check it out in a couple of weeks. Much more precipitation to come over the next several months, I'm sure.

A little long-keyboarded this afternoon and I do apologize. Hope to see you Monday evening at the Chapter Christmas party at Hitoe's. Thanks for all you do for the trail!

Dave Brewer