Tuesday, August 30, 2011

Tuesday Recap - Wednesday 8/31 Plan



Good Afternoon Fellow NCTr's:

What an excellent morning to be on the North Country Trail, and my thanks goes out to Jake Erhardt, Doug Turner, Jim Rarick, John Rarick, Denny Duda, and Lee Fairbanks for joining me at Cemex. We had an awesome session, cleaning up and smoothing out the trail from the old dump site near Tony Dytko Rd. down to about 3/4 of the way to River Road. We took out rocks, roots, and branch litter, pruned back all of the overgrowth, and leveled out and redefined the pathway along this section of trail. In addition, all of the blazes down to the road have been repainted and/or replaced. The plan is to work up from River Road next week to where we finished off today to put this issue of the trail being logged to rest.

Now the bad news: Everyone was working so hard and diligently, getting this section of trail into fine hiking shape, and they were such good trail company, that I felt obligated to triple everyone's usual rate of pay for the morning. The budget, I fear, is now shot. Thank you again to this morning's crew! Some photos here.

Also, here's a link to a posting put up on the North Country Trail Facebook page yesterday about the Davis Hollow Cabin. The timing on that was interesting, I thought. You don't have to belong to Facebook to take a look at the article and comments.

My available time for trailwork is somewhat limited this week due to other obligations, but I am planning to spend a couple of hours with the DR mower and saw at the Kirkwood Farm on Wednesday morning, August 31. My plan is to be at the new Hodgson Road trailhead (Right above Crawford's Camping Park) at 10:00 AM and work until about noon mowing and preliminarily clearing our new section of trail along the top of the hill - it'll be a start.


If you'd like to join me I'd welcome the company.

Map

Apologize for the short notice - kind of a weird week and just playing it by ear at this point.

Hope to see you in the morning - thanks for all you do for the trail!

Dave Brewer
Trail Work Coordinator

Monday, August 29, 2011

Wampum and Butler Hike 8/28



They travelled thousands of miles (Actually, it was only a 2.5 mile hike with a shuttle back to your vehicle set up, and you could, if you wanted to, drive your car right up and park by the grill if you weren't going to do the hike), across deadly terrain - crossing lightning-struck mountains, raging rivers, and the lifeless tundra (No, that beautiful section of the North Country Trail through woods is in excellent hiking shape thanks to the maintaining efforts of the folks from Butler), braving the severest of elements (Really? That was PERFECT hiking weather - blue skies and perfect temperatures), amongst their murderous fellows (Come on! Those thirty-or-so attendees who came out for the event were great company. Trail people are the nicest people in the world), to arrive at their spartan, wasteland of a destination (You have to be kidding me! The Davis Hollow Cabin is a beautifully maintained NCT facility, reknowned along the 4600 mile trail route! Those volunteers who maintain that facility put a lot of time, effort, and pride into that place), to find only subsistance rations to survive on (All-You-Could-Eat hot dogs, beans, lemonade, marshmallows, and desserts in reality), and having to endure the subjugation by and the oppression of their cruel masters (Ahh, Jim Houk and Dave Wright did an EXTRAORDINARY job of putting this hike together and making sure everyone was taken care of, so thank you to them and everyone who helped out! A good time was had by all!!).

https://picasaweb.google.com/105725471641034380528/ChapterHike82811MoraineStatePark#

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Trailwork Pics and Upcoming Dates


Good Morning Fellow NCTr's:

We made some major progress on trailwork projects over the past five days - finished up the reroute below Indian Rock then worked on constructing new trail at the Kirkwood Farm (on our way!), got some paint blazing and reblazing done, and made a major improvement in condition of the treadway near Tony Dytko Road at Cemex. Thanks to Bill, Lee, Dennis, Maa, and Jake for making the trip(s) out to the woods. Some photos start here.

Two Reminders -

Sunday, August 28th Jim Houk and Dave Wright are leading our Wampum Chapter monthly hike at Moraine State Park and we'll be walking the three miles from Link Road to the Davis Hollow Cabin. We'll be hiking with the folks from the Butler Chapter that day and it will be good opportunity to get acquainted. If you are coming out to hike meet at Link Road (on the North Shore) at 1:30 or, if just coming out for the hot dog roast and North Country Trail comaradarie join us at the cabin - we should be walking in by 3:00 or 3:30.

and,

Monday, September 5th is the deadline for the Wampum Chapter Honor Award nominations. I am in need of your thoughts on who should receive the 2011 award, so please work on that and get it to me.

Thanks for all you do for the North Country Trail! Hope to see you Sunday at Moraine.

Dave Brewer
Trailwork Coordinator

Thursday, August 18, 2011

Trail Work, A Hike, and Some Pics



Good Morning Fellow NCTr's:

Some updates on the trailwork schedule, a planned hike, and also some photos:

Trailwork Friday, August 19th 2 PM to 5 PM - I'll be heading out to Gamelands 285 to spend a few hours to try to finish off the reroute below Indian Rock/Painters Knob. If you'd like to join me I'll be leaving from the Sterling Road trailhead at 2:00 that afternoon. Come when you can and stay as long as you want as all help is appreciated. There's about 75 yards (easy, flat terrain) left to grub out and also some paint blazing left to do on this project.

Trailwork Sunday, August 21 4 PM to 6 PM - Meeting at the Sterling Road trailhead at 4:00. If the IR/Painter's knob project is finished off we'll instead head over to the Kirkwood property to start working on our new trail section there. Can't wait to get this restarted!

Trailwork Tuesday, August 23 9 AM to 11 AM - Leaving from the front of Jata's Diner in Wampum at 9:00 and heading to Tony Dytko Road at Cemex. We'll spend a couple of hours working eastward from the old dump site, cleaning up the mess left by the loggers on the treadway. Rocks, roots, and pathway redefinition to deal with to get this section of trail in better condition. Again, tools provided - bring your favorite bug repellent (I found out yesterday that those 'squiters at Cemex are hungry!!). Come earlier to Jata's for breakfast if you'd like.

Monthly Hike, Sunday, August 28th at 1:30 PM to ? - Jim Houk and David Wright are leading a hike on this Sunday afternoon on approximately three miles of the North Country Trail at Moraine State Park, followed by a hot dog roast at the Davis Hollow Cabin. Meet at Link Road (on the North Shore) at 1:30 where vehicle shuttles will be set up and the hike will start off. It should take a couple of hours to walk to the cabin - although there are several different route and mileage options for the hike. Hot dogs and beans are on the menu for the post-hike feast - if you don't want to do the walk then just come on out to the cabin for some North Country Trail comaradarie. The hike is open to anyone so spread the word and let's get some folks out to experience this great section of trail.

North Country Trail Calendar


Photos from a couple of different places - I have some posted, starting here from the past couple of weeks, and there are some on National's Facebook page from the Conference in Dayton, which can be seen here.

Hope to see you "on the trail" - thanks for all you do!

Dave Brewer
Trail Work Coordinator

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Baker UltraChallenge

Call for help for the Baker UltraChallenge. Volunteering for these events is always fun.


fyi - this part of the Baker Trail follows the section that the NCT uses to get from the ANF to and through Cook Forest.


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Patty Brunner
Date: Tue, Aug 9, 2011 at 11:13 AM
Subject: Baker UltraChallenge and Cakewalk Volunteers needed August 27
To: Patty Brunner



I hope the summer has been relaxing and fun so far!
Saturday, August 27th is the Baker UltraChallenge. We are looking for volunteers for aid stations and the finish line. The following web link shows all the aid station with directions and time that the station is open. Or, if you would prefer, call me and I'll put you on the schedule where requested.
http://www.rachelcarsontrails.org/bt/ultrachallenge/uc11/volunteersThis year we are starting at the Northern Trailhead of the Baker Trail on Vowinkle-Muzzete road (McDonald road). The Cakewalk will end at the Fire Tower in Cook Forest. The UltraChallenge will continue on the trail to Summerville where it will drop off, cross Rt. 28 and wind over to the Redbank Rail Trail. The Redbank Rail Trail has worked extremely hard and has completed the necessary bridge work to allow us to follow this corridor into Brookville. Many, many thanks! We will again end the event at the Brookville YMCA.
Please consider spending a couple of hours all day or all weekend.

Also Saturday and Sunday August 20th and 21th will be a trail maintenance. Dewaine and his work parties have been extremely successful and are down to the last tasks. If interested in going up for the day or camping let either Dewaine (412-719-9904) or Patty know.

As always, the trails can not exist without volunteers. We do appreciate all that everyone has done in the past and hopefully will do in the future.

Thanks!
Patty Brunner
412-609-8422

Friday, August 5, 2011

Trail Therapy August 6 and 7


Good Morning Fellow NCTr's:

The paying job demanded much this past week so it is time to get out for some North Country Trail therapy over the next couple of days. The weather forecast is iffy but we should be able to squeeze in some trail work around those (nice, refreshing) sporadic showers that are being predicted. Here's the plan:

Saturday morning, August 6, we'll take off from the front of Jata's Diner in Wampum at 9:00 AM and head to the old dump site on Tony Dytko Rd. to replace a couple of damaged Carsonite posts and do some rehab on the treadway that the loggers messed up. We'll plan to stay out for a couple of hours that morning. If the weather looks reasonable we can also replace some of the missing paint blazes through that section. Come earlier to Jata's for breakfast if you would like. I should be there around 8:15 tomorrow morning.

Sunday afternoon, August 7, the plan is to meet at the Sterling Road trailhead at PA Gamelands 285 at 4:00 PM and spend two hours working on our reroute through the Indian Rock area. We've made great strides on this section over the past couple of weeks and a good, solid session should just about get us to the finishing point. Got the tools sharpened up and the grubbing should go easy!

In other news, Tammy Veloski sent me a note that she and her sons, Kyle and Dale, did a maintaining walk-through on the two miles of trail from Watt's Mill Road to Sterling Road last Sunday and as a result we're in good shape out there. Appreciate their work on another warm, humid summer day. Tammy also takes great photos so I took the liberty of posting them in our chapter's 2011 album. Those, and a couple of others from last week's excursions can be seen starting here.

Lastly, here's a link to the NCTA calendar. I've been trying to get events posted on there in advance so folks can be "in the know" ahead of time. Our monthly meeting scheduled for the 15th of August is on there, as is our next planned hike and cookout on the 28th. You can also see what the other North Country Trail chapters across the seven states have going on.

Have a great day - hope you can make it out sometime over the next couple of days to enjoy some "trail therapy" with me. Thanks for all you do for the trail!

Dave Brewer
Trail Work Coordinator

* Photo is by Tammy Veloski - Kyle and Dale walking through one of the hemlock sections at Gamelands 285.