Thursday, Dec 29th:  Today we worked on a new trail for us.  We got a request (through Steve Jersey) to help clear the Smith Creek trail from Unicoi SP to Anna Ruby Falls.  They had alot of trees come down in the spring storm, and no one has been over there to clean it up.  Since this a nice trail that MHH does a few times a year, and since it gets fiarly heavy use we decided to tackle the project.   We broke into 2 teams with Tom Shope, John Quinlan, Steve Jersey, and Virginia Lane,  starting at the WaterFall end, and Mike O'Brien, Bob Stone, Pam Sullivan, and I starting down in the Park near the campground.  It turns out that the WaterFall team did most of the cutting and the campground team did most of the walking.  By the end of the day we cut about 30 trees off the trail and did alot of lopping.  One of the blowdowns involved 6 or 7 trees, all with multiple limbs that was totally blocking the trail, it was so bad and so hard to get around that most of the hikers were crawling on their bellys for 20 feet under the massive obstruction.  The trail is now fully cleared and ready for the next MHH hike.  Thanks to everyone who came out.
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Thursday, Dec 15th:  Today was a Georgia day and we had 7 turn out to work.  I sent Steve Jersey, Tom Shope and John Quinlan to High Shoals Falls where they cut 4 trees out, lopped, cleaned out water bars and picked up trash, while Mike O'Brien, Bob Stone, Pam Sullivan, and I went to Desoto Falls where we cut out one tree blocking the trail, lopped, and cleaned out lots of water bars.  It was a fairly short day due to everyone having to get ready for the Club meeting tonight.  No work trip next week (some of us have chainsaw training).  There will be  the last work trip for the year on Dec 29th, details to follow.
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Thursday Dec 1st:  With the temps below freezing and a heavy fog bank lying over Hayesville, 6 of us showed up for the work trip this morning (John Quinlan, Tom Shope, Steve Jersey, Jim Morgan, Gary Bryant, and I).  With the rain we had we could not safely cross Fires Creek to Bald Springs trail, so we elected to go up Trail Ridge Trail (my favorite) to the rim and then work down Rockhouse Creek Trail.  The climb up Trail ridge was long and steep, but we were rewarded with great views of the cloud bank lying over Hayesville and the lake, as well as both sides of Fires Creek Rim (we even saw the area that is up for possible development).  As we ascended we ran into about an inch of snow on the trail from 2 days ago.  The trail was in pretty good shape overall, and looked to have had some hiking activity on it in the last few months.  When we reached the Rim, Tom and John went back down Trail Ridge for the cars, and the rest of the crew worked on down Rockhouse Trail to be picked up at the bottom by Tom and John.  Rockhouse was in worse shape than Trail Ridge, and needed quite a bit of brushing out and chainsaw work.  It was a beautiful day to be out in the mountains, and we got 5 miles of trail cleared.  Thanks again to all who came out.
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Thurs Nov 3rd: Today was the big Tusquitee Bald Trip.  We sent Dave R around to Bob Allison and the rest of us worked up to the Top of Tusquitee from the Fires Creek Side (Far Bald).  Once on the
bald, with weather closing in, Mike O'Brien, Jay Noe, Steve Jersey, and I worked down to BoB Allison, and met Dave on the way, while Tom Shope and John Quinlan worked on clearing a route to a water source and signing
it at the CG and FC junction.  In the end we all made it down safely and got the job done.  Thanks to everyone who came out and worked today, and now we have ALL OF CHUNKY GAL cleared this year.
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Thursday, Oct 27th:  Today we went out to Fires Creek to do the last remaining section of the Rim Trail we had not worked this year.  We had great weather and a great turnout.  After meeting at Ingles, we split into 2 teams with  Jay Noe and his bevy of beautiful babe's (Joyce Peterson, Dana Roger, Irene Klaw, and Mary Kellowy),   Dave Richardson, Steve Jersey, Jacob Dorn, John Quinlan,  and Tom Shope, headed up Bristol cabin trail to Carver gap, to work eastward on the Rim Trail, while Bob Stone, Mike O'Brien, and I went up Little Fires Creek trail and worked west on the rim.  The overall condition of the trail was OK before we worked it, and excellent when we got done.  We cut out some trees, brushcut, and threw limbs off the trail and lopped.  After Lunch Jay and this bevy backtracked to his truck at Bristol Camp, and the rest of us  met at Cold Springs Gap, and then went down the escape hatch  to the FS road where the cars were (anyone who has done this route off the rim will know what I am referring to).  The 0.3 miles off the Rim down to the road drops 800 ft, and with the newly dropped leaves on the ground it made it VERY slick.  On the way out, Tom, John, Mike, and I stopped at Leatherwood falls to install 4 new directional trail signs for the Rim trail that Tom had made (these were needed and long overdo). The Leaves and the Views from the Rim were beautiful today.  Thanks to everyone who came out and worked today, it was a hard day, but it was rewarding, WE GOT THE RIM FINISHED!!!
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Thursday Oct 20th:  Well winter is officially here, and 3 of us didn't get the notice.  John Quinlan, Tom Shope, and I foolishly showed up for the work trip today.  It did not seem too bad in the warm restaurant in Young Harris.  It was a different story when we arrived at the top of Brasstown Bald parking lot.  There was 1/4 inch of snow and ice on the ground, it was 31 degrees with a 20-30mph wind blowing.  We bundled up the best we could and started down the trail (which was in the clouds), and worked with loppers and slingblades the best we could.  After working in for nearly 1 mile, and with no break in the weather, we decided to call it quits.  It sure feels much better now sitting around the fire with hot chocolate.  Maybe next week will be better!!
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Thursday, Oct 6th:  Today we worked on the Chunky Gal trail between Hwy 64 and Perry Gap.  We had received a few reports of downed trees and heavy brush, and we had 2 hikes going out on this trail in the next 2 weeks (to see the great fall leaves from Boteller Peak).  We split into 2 teams with John Quinlan, Tom Shope, Pam Sullivan, Jim Pigneri, and Jay Noe,   Headed up the gated FS road to the second set of stairs.  From there they worked their way to Boteller Peal, brushcutting, lopping, and cutting out many downed trees.  Dave Richardson and myself drove into Perry Gap, and worked the trail back toward Boteller peak with loppers and chainsaw, also cutting out a few trees.  We had a great lunch at the Vista, and boy the leaves are really sarting to POP at that elevation.  I would advise everyone to get up there in the next few weeks for the fall color show.  After Lunch, I walked back out to Perry Gap to get my car, while everyone else worked the trail from the lower stairs to Hwy 64.  We got all 5.4 miles of the trail cleared.  Thanks to all who came out to help.
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Thursday, Sept 29th:  What a day, and what a work trip.  With the combination of great fall weather, nice work location, and the promise of GREAT food after the trip, we had a record 26 people show up for the work trip today.  The workers and chefs extraordinaire were Pam Sullivan, Michael O'Brien, Candy Retter, John Quinlan, Tom Shope, Dave Richardson, Steve Jersey, Kyle Jersey, Sandy Jersey, Janet Faist, Renate Diebold, Phyllis Loman, Anne Corco, Mary Partick, Jean Caputa, Virginia Lane, Bob Stone, Judie Kean, BJ Foster, Gail Lanney, Michelle Maloney, Frank Maloney, Naomi Nelson, Nancy Shofner, Cathie Stallings, and myself (I was NOT a chef).  With that large of a  group we broke into 4 teams to tackle the 7 miles of trail we maintain in Cooper Creek WMA.  All of the 4 teams included a sawyer, a brushcutter (you have to see the photo's of the women running the beast), multiple loppers, and a blaze painter. John lead a team that went in at Addie Gap, and worked the upper end of the Yellow Mtn Trail.  Tom Shope went in with his team at his namesake gap (Shope Gap), worked down to the Yellow Mtn Trail, and then on down to the Campground area.  Dave Richardson took his team to the top of the Mill Shoals trail and worked that trail down to the Campground, including the Cooper Creek Connector Trail.  And I took my team to the Eyes on Wildlife Trail and worked that loop.  There was plenty to keep us busy and we got all 7 miles of trail looking great!!  After we finished up we had a wonderful picnic at the DNR check-in Station.  The food was wonderful, and plentiful.  It was great to catch up with old friends and meet new ones.  I hope we have instilled the love of trail maintenance into a few more of our hikers.  Next week we will be working on the stretch of Chunky Gal that includes Boteller Peak (between Hwy 64 and Perry Gap), come join us,  I can promise a good time (but unfortunately not the food spread we had today).
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Thursday, Sept 22:  With the sky dark and threatening, and light drops of rain coming down, 6 of us (Mike O'Brien, Jay Noe, John Quinlan, Tom Shope, Wes Clonts, and myself ) headed out to clear a short section on Chunky Gal trail.  For a short while I was thinking that maybe the women were right in canceling out today (I could see my wife still in bed, listening to the rain), but within 45 minutes of starting up the mountain, the sky was clearing.  With everyone's hard work we cut through heavy brush, and took out 12 trees that were blocking the trail.  We were done and back at the Ingles by 1pm. 
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Monday Sept 19th:  Since we canceled last Thursday's work trip due to weather, a few of us decided to go out today.  We had some reports about quite a few new trees down in the first 2.5 miles out of Leatherwood in the clockwise direction, so 4 of us (Jay Noe, Steve Jersey, John Quinlan, and myself) started up FS 6176, and once again had to cut our way up this road to get to the trailhead.  Once there we worked North on the trail for about 20 minutes, taking out 4  sets of trees, one was a large group of 4 or 5 trees that had all come down at once.  Then we backtracked and went down the Rim Trail toward Leatherwood, cutting out 2 large Oaks which had fallen almost straight down the trail, both of these required MULTIPLE cuts (glad I had a new chain on the saw!!).  We also cut out some smaller trees that had fallen.  If you are a regular reader, you probably realize that this is the 4th trip since Jan that we have had down this section of of trail which seems to be cursed with blowdowns and brush.  The loppers were also quite busy on this outing.  Once down at the falls we did some close looking around with "fresh" eyes, as we have hikers state that this section of the Rim trail is poorly signed, and we agree, so we will be putting up 4 more directional carsonite signs to guide Hikers on the correct way up the trail.

Thursday, Sept 8th:  Today was the day of a "lost maintainer" and a "lost trail".  We started and finished 8 strong, but lost track of a few on the way.  We had to cut our way up the road to Far Bald trailhead, that should have been a warning the day would not be smooth.  At the Far Bald trail we dropped off Mike O'Brien, Tom Shope, Jack Dugger, Dave Richardson, John Quinlan, and Steve Jersey to slug up the 1.8 mile and 1,400 vert Ft to the rim, while Jay Noe and I, drove all the way around to Little Fires Creek Road, and up the gated road once again cutting our way up, to the end of the road, and then worked up the 1.5 miles and 1300 vert Ft to the Rim.  By 2:20 pm, we had met Mike who was the lead worker with the First team.  The plan was for all of us to hike back out on Little Fires Creek trail, down to the 2 waiting trucks.  Mike continued on back down the trail Jay and I had worked, and was supposed to turn down at Little Fires Creek.  Jay and I waited for the rest of the team to work down, and helped them take out a large blowdown where we met them.  Then to complicate things further, Dave and Jack decided they were up for more  of a challenge, so they backtracked to the Bald Springs trailhead on the rim, and were going to work down that trail to FS340 where we would pick them up later.  The top 3/4 mile of that trail has not been worked in > 7 years.  Well, Mike walked past the little Fires Creek trail and continued down the Rim trail.  When the 5 of us (John, Tom, Jay, Steve, and myself) reached the truck and Mike was NOT there, we kind of freaked out realizing that he was still up on the Rim working.  There was no cell phone service, so we had to come up with a plan.  We left Jay, Tom, and Steve at the base of Little Fires Creek ( hoping Mike would realize he had gone too far and backtrack back to the truck), and John and I went to pick up Dave and Jack, who in the meantime had "lost" the Bald Springs trail and were bushwacking down the mountain.  Thoughts of having 3 workers 'missing' in 2 separate areas of Fires Creek at 5pm in the afternoon were dancing through all of our heads, and after a LONG hard work day, none of us were to eager to hike the 1.5 miles and 1300 vert Ft back up to the Rim to look for them.  Then, suddenly all 3 missing workers showed up within minutes of each other, Dave and Jack having refound the Bald springs trail and walking down, and Mike backtracking with his brushcutter to Jay's truck.  It was 6pm by the time we got back to Ingles.  What a day, and I am glad it's over and everyone is safe.  We did get over 6 miles of trail cleared today.
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Thurs, Sept 1st:  Today a small group of 5 (Jay Noe, Steve Jersey, Dave Richardson, Tom Shope, and Myself) went to Chunky Gal Trail to work the 1.4 miles from Bob Allison CG to the "Big Buckeye" tree.  As we were working in we noticed that 2 sections of trail in the first 0.2 miles were "slipping down the hill into the creek".  We continued to work the trail to our turnaround point.  The trail was in great shape and did not require much work.  Since the day was still young, on the way out we decided to tackle the disappearing trail.  We used some downed trees on site and built some cribbing on the collapsing side of the trail, reinforcing it with rock, and then dug the trail bed back out of the up hill side of the trail.  We worked 2 stretched, one about 40 ft and a second about 15 feet, and go them both straightened out and looking good again.  Next week we will be back at Fires Creek, come join us.
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Thursday Aug 25th:  Six of us (Tom Shope, John Quinlan, Jack Dugger, Phyllis Loman, Jay Noe, and myself) showed up to work today, hoping it would not be too hot.  We decided to tackle Bald Springs trail which is @ 3miles long, and gains @ 1,800 ft elevation.  This is a new trail for us and other than a brief scouting mission last December, the club (to my knowledge) has never worked it.  My goal was to get 1/2 of the trail done.  It is a beautiful trail that goes up an old logging road to the Rim, not too steep, but in spots quite rocky.  There was quite heavy brush, lopping, and quite a few downed trees.  By 12:45pm the temps were really starting to increase, and we decided to start back down.  With everyone's hard work we got almost 2 miles cleared (2/3 of the way up, which far exceeded my goal).  Thanks to all who came out on a hot day.  Everyone in on the trail crew are wishing for an early fall.
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Thurs Aug 18th:  With a small crew today, we were able to work 2 trails.  First off, High Shoals trail is TEMPORARILY closed due to bear Activity, so we could not get out there to work, so the 5 of us ( John Quinlan, Jay Noe, Tom Shope, Bob Stone and Myself) headed over to Coleman river trail and worked it into great shape.  Then on the way home Bob, Tom, and I stopped at Helton Creek falls to pick up trash and do some lopping.  The observation deck there is still closed from spring storm damage, but at least now the trail is in tip-top shape.  Next week we will be back out in Fires Creek
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Thurs, Aug 11th:  Today we went out to finish up a few loose ends.  We sent Tom Shope, Steve Jersey, and Jim Pigneri up short branch to the rim, and they worked east to Sassafras trail cutting heavy brush and two large blowdowns, while John Quinlan, Mike O'Brien, and I went up Ompus Ridge to the rim, clearing all the way up.  we were through by 12 noon and on the way out, a short day, but we got alot done.  Hopefully the weather will start to cool in the next few weeks so we can tackle the tough section between Far Bald and Carver gap. 
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Thursday, Aug 4th:  The word for today was HUMID.  Luckily we had 7 workers who did not get that memo.  The crew today consisted of  Tom Shope, John Quinlan, Mike O'Brien, Jay Noe, Phyllis Loman, Steve Jersey, and myself.   We decided to work a "less strenuous" section of Fires Creek (some people think that is a myth).  We set a car a Leatherwood, and then shuttled up to Bristol Horse Camp.  After 1.1 sweaty miles and 700 vert ft we were on the rim, where we discovered the humidity was lower, and we had a nice breeze.  With everyone lopping, and cuttin brush, we were back down to the hot, still and humid valley floor slightly after noon.  We got 3.8 miles of trail cleared, and it really looks great.  Thanks to all who came out and worked in the heat.  Next week, back to Fires Creek to finish up a few short sections of trail.
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Thursday, July 28th:  Heat and clear skies greeted all 10 folks who showed up for the work trip today.  We set a car at the bottom, and then drove around to the top, and broke into 2 groups with Joan and Gene Ford, Tom Shope, John Quinlan, and Steve Jersey heading one direction, and Dave Richardson,  Doris and Jim Pigneri,  Jay Noe, and myself going the other way.  We did lots of brushcutting and lopping, and cut 2 large trees and a few smaller ones.  We were back down to the resort by noon before it got too hot.  Since it was early, and I had reports about some trees down on the Lake Chatuge trail, 6 of us ( Jim Pigneri, Tom Shope, John Quinlan, Steve Jersey, Jay Noe, and myself) went out there to take care of that.  We ended up cutting 7 trees on that trail, and 4 of them were quite large.  We had quite a good day, and cleared 7.5 miles of trail in one day (possibly a record).  Thanks to all who came out and worked in the heat.  Next week we will be back and Fires creek, and could really use everyone's help!!
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Thursday, July 14th:  Today with the threat of PM rain and High temp warnings, a very dedicated group headed out to tackle one of the toughest sections of trail that we maintain.  That group included John Quinlan, Tom Shope, Jim Pigneri, Mike O'Brien, Jack Dugger, and myself.  It was 9am before we go to the Shinbone trailhead, where we installed Signs for  both Shinbone and Sassafras trails, then up the trail we went.   By the time we covered the 1.7 miles and 1400 vertical feet to get to the rim, we were already tired, but on we went.  This section of trail was not as badly overgrown as some of the other sections of trail we have worked recently.  Lunch was at the Signal Mtn overlook, and we watched the clouds roll in.  By the time we got to the Chunky Gal intersection with the Rim the thunder was starting to boom.  We made a rapid retreat down Far Bald trail, while still working it, to the cold drinks in the truck.  The rain started with about 10 minutes of trail left.  We got 3.5 miles of trail cleared today.  Thanks to everyone who came out and work hard in the heat today.  No work trip next week (I will be in FL).
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Thursday July 7th:  Today was billed as a "short" work day, since we were only working 2.2 miles, it was all downhill, and we had worked this stretch in April.  What we did not expect was the amount of heavy brush and trees down on the trail.  We had a good turnout, and got an early start with Steve Jersey, John Quinlan, Doris and Jim Pigneri, Jay Noe, Irene Klaw, and myself on the crew.  We drove up to the second FS road 6176 crossing of Fires creek rim trail, and started down.  The amount of growth on this section in 3 months was amazing.  We finally got back to the Ingles by 2pm (so the short day was shot) but the trail looks great now.  Thanks to all who worked hard in the heat today.
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Thursday June 30th:  Today we had a small but very hard working crew consisting of: Tom Shope, John Quinlan, Mike O'Brien, Jay Noe and Myself.  Not having enough help to split up, we all worked together and got alot done.  We Drove back to the far corner of Fires creek, and went up Sassafras Ridge trail to the rim working the brushcutters, chainsaw and loppers hard.  Once on the rim, we turned right (east) and worked the mile over to county corners and the Shinbone trail, where we ate lunch.  Temps were still cool when you stopped working, and there was a nice breeze.  While eating lunch, we had a Father and son dayhikers come by on the way to Tusquittee Bald.  After lunch we encountered heavy lopping and some patches of heavy brush going down Shinbone.  All in all, just the 5 of us cleared 4.2 miles of trail.  Thanks to all the hard working trail crew who came out today.  Next week we will have an easier and shorted trip back to Fires Creek.
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With afternoon showers threatening in the forecast, we were able to lure 8 hard workers to Fires Creek to work the Rim Trail. As usual, we split into 2 groups, sending John Quinlan, Dave Richardson, and Mike O'Brien up the hard way on the Short Branch work trail.  after they worked their way to the top cleaning up the trail, they took off on the rim toward Big Stamp (west).  The rest of the group: Jay Noe, Steve Jersey, Doris and Jim Pigneri, and myself were motored to the top in style in Jay's powerful truck.  Working in from the west, the briers and blackberry vines were thick and required alot of time to cut them, even thou we were running 2 brushcutters.  The loppers and chainsaw work was also particularly heavy.  The Laurel and Flame azelia were still in good bloom as were as Fire Pink and some wild raspberry.  By about 12:30 both groups met in the middle, and worked our way back to the cars.  By then we had gone through over 1.5 gallons of gas in our power tools, and we were all pretty drained.  The trail looks GREAT now, and the ice-cream at Mickey D's really hit the spot!!!!  No work trip next week, as many of us have other plans, but we will plan on working on the 23rd and 30th of June to make up for the play day.  Thanks to everyone who came out and worked in the heat today.
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June 2nd:  Today we truly had a GREAT turnout.  We had 16 able eager workers and we overwhelmed the trail at Sosebee Cove.  After our safety briefing by Dave Kuykendall with the FS, I sent the Ladies ( Renate Diebold, Phyllis Loman, Linda Kaempfer, Candy Retter, Virginia Lane, and Joan Willis) around the trail on Lopping and Firerake duty.  Then after they were done with that, they still had boundless energy, so Tom Shope took them off to Desoto Falls to lop and clear water Bars.  Dave Richardson and Jay Noe, realizing that we had too many worker and too little space on the Stairs project, took off to brushcut some bad weeks on Chunky Gal trail from Hwy 64 north toward Boteller Peak.  That left the rest of the guys ( Michael O'Brien, Tom Shope, John Willis, Jim Pigneri, Jerry Carnes,  Bob Kaempfer, Greg Lane, and myself to tackle the stairs.  After some on the spot readjustment in design to account for more rise in the hillside than the original plans called for, we went to diging, cutting, and pounding in the 6X6 steps.  Twice we ran out of material, only to have Dave K return with more (so much for the early day some of us hoped for).  By 4:30pm we had once again run out of wood (and steam) with only the top step missing, so we called it quits, with plans for some of the group to return in the morning to finish up the job.  I will send some Photo's of the Job as soon as I get them from Tom.
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Thursday, May 26th:  With a very light turnout today (probably due to the approaching rain storms), only 4 of us went out to work Ravens Cliff Falls trail.  The four were:  John Quinlan, Jim and Doris Pigneri (welcome back from FL), and myself.  With Loppers, a sling blade, Swedish Axe, and Hand saws we started up the trail, we did quite a bit of lopping, but also ran into a suprising number of trees that were blown down from the spring storms.  By the end of the trip, we had probably cut 8 to 10 trees that had fallen across the trail.  We had a nice lunch and break at the falls, and were back down to the cars by 1pm.  The trail is in great shape now.
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Thursday, May 5th:  With nice cool weather that moved in overnight, 6 of us went out for a day to work the trail.  We had some special help today,  Travis Decker and Jed Green,  with the USFS, Brought us up to the start of the trail (at the junction with the AT) in Kubota ATV's.  It was a nice trip up, now I know how the other half lives.  On the trail, there were lots of wild flowers and ramps, and we had a few blowdowns to cut, one quite large, but the lopping and brushcutting were not too bad.  Even with just the 6 of us we were able to make it down to Glade gap by 2pm.  The next scheduled Maintenance trip will not be until May 26th, and that will be the MHH Wild Womens Work trip (men are welcome also).  Thanks again to everyone who came out, and to the FS for the ride up.
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Thursday April 28th:  After the severe storms last night, I did not know who would show up or what to expect on the trail,  but as usual my stellar crew showed up in force.  The target for today was the Wagon Train Trail, from Brasstown Bald parking lot, down to the college.  We split into 2 teams, with John Quinlan, Phyllis Loman, and Jay Noe headed up the rutted road to the trail head at the bottom of the wilderness area (thanks Jay for taking your truck up the terrible road!!).  They primarily lopped, cut some blowdowns, and worked on clearing and installing waterbars.  The other crew, consisting of :   Tom Shope, Michael O'Brien, Brian Blue, Steve Jersey, and I, motored up to the top in surburban style, and worked our was down with slingblades, the crosscut saw, and loppers.  There was LOTS of water on the trail, it felt like walking in a river bed some of the time.  We cleaned out lots of waterbars, and water diversion breaks, and helped get alot of water off the trail.  As for wildflowers we saw Frazier Magnolia's blooming, and  Pink Ladyslippers.  After we met up with the up hill party, we trecked back to the truck for cold drinks.  On the return trip to Brasstown parking lot to get Tom's Suburban, we ran into George Owen, who had shown up later, but was able to work in for a few hours with a Pulaski, doing a much better job or clearing out some of the waterbars at the top.  Thanks to everyone for  all of their hard work!!!
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Thursday, April 14th:  With the blessings of Mother Nature, and another beautiful day in store, 7 of us ventured out to clear trail in Fires Creek.  With a Long rough bumpy truck ride ahead of us, all 7 of us piled into Steve's "Cow Truck" for the drive all the way up to Big Stamp.  Once there,  John Quinlan, Tom Shope, Michael O'Brien, Jay Noe, and I headed west on the Rim Trail (toward Will King Gap), while Steve Sutherlin and Gordon Ottinger (who use to lead up the NC maintenance team for MHH years ago) moved the truck back down and around to Phillips Ridge trail (also a very long bumpy 4WD road) and began moving uphill to meet us.  We hit a moderate amount of brush and brambles, but not many down trees.  There were also wildflowers starting to come out (Spring beauties, Blood Root, Dutchman's Britches, Yellow Bell wart, and our favorite RAMPS!!!).  The Views from the Rim back down toward Andrews and Lake Chatuge were great today.  With everyone hard work  we cleared 7.3 miles of trail, and we were back at in Hayesville and eating Ice cream by 3:30pm.  Special thanks to Steve and the Cow Truck for getting us up and back out of some pretty bad roads.  Next week is a Georgia week, and (weather permitting) we will work Wagon Train Trail, come out and join us.
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Thursday April 7th:  Today we went out to clear roads and work trails after the large wind storm we had Monday night.  The main road into Fires Creek just past Leatherwood falls was blocked with a Land slide and trees after the storm, so we changed our plans somewhat.  All 6 of us cut our way up FS road 6176 all 5 miles until we hit the 2nd crossing of the Rim trail.  I then sent John Quinlan and Steve Sutherlin downhill 2.2 miles back to the falls to clear all of the blowdowns from the storm (I had scouted this on the club hike on Tuesday).  Dave Richardson, Tom Shope, Jay Noe, and I took the harder option and went up hill working the trail.  There was heavy briars, seasonal growth, and blowdowns that we took care of, and made it just shy of Will King gap.  When John and Steve made it down, then took Steve's Truck and went to see if they could get through to Big Stamp.  By then the road was open, and they were able to make it most of the way up without any further blockages, so we are on next week for the Big Stamp trip.  Hope to see everyone there.  Today, with only 6 workers we were able to get 5 miles of trail cleared, and it was a beautiful day to work outside.
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Thursday March 24:  With a brisk wind blowing and surprisingly cold temps (44 degrees), and bright blue Carolina skies, off we went to work on the trails we all love.  Today we had a smaller group than usual, only 6 but we were still able to split into 2 teams to work on Chunky Gal Trail.  We all drove up to Tusquitee Gap on the long gravel road, and then Steve Sutherlin, Dave Richardson, and I headed North (toward Bob Allison CG) and Michael O'Brien, John Quinlan, and Tom Shope headed South (toward Perry Gap).  Each team did plenty of lopping, chainsaw work, and brushcutting working in 2 miles in each direction.  After a quick lunch, we all met back at the cars and cleaned up a large bag of trash left by hunters, and put back up a missing carsonite trail sign, then called it a day (we all wanted to get cleaned up for the MHH membership meeting tonight!!)
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Thursday March 10th:  With the weather cold, gloomy, and with the threat of rain, a group of nine of us gathered and went out to do a special project at Lake Winfield Scott.  We were asked by the Blue Ridge FS district to construct a Boardwalk/Bridge over a small creek on the Trail around the lake at Winfield Scott.  Dave Kuykendall (Ranger with the BR District) provided the supplies and plan for the project.  Tom Shope, Michael O'Brien, Eldean Olson, Jacob Dorn, Steve Jersey, Bob Stone, Virginia and Greg Lane, and Myself went into the construction mode, and built the simple bridge shown in the photo below.  Special thanks to Virginia, Bob, Michael, and Eldean who also lopped the seasonal growth from the trail
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Thursday March 3rd: Today we went out to do what we were rained out on last week.  With a great spring day, we had 8 folks show up to work.  We all went in to Perry gap to work the Chunky Gal trail.  We  split into 2 groups: Phyllis Loman, Bob Stone, Michael O'Brien, and Dave Richardson, went toward Boeteler peak working the trail, and  Steve Jersey, Tom Shope, Jacob Dorn, and myself headed north past Tate gap.  Both groups encountered a fair amount of limbs on the trail, and 5--6 new trees down in each direction from winter storms, as well as the usual lopping.  Both teams got great views of the lake and surrounding mountain peaks from our high ridge walk.  In total, we cleared 4.5 miles of trail today.
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Thursday Feb 17th:  On this warm, clear spring like day, we had 10 folks show up to work the trail.  The target was Arkaquah Trail off Brasstown Bald.  We split into 2 groups with Tom Shope, John Quinlan, Steve Jersey, Candy Retter, and Pam Sullivan starting at the top and working their way down, they did quite a bit of lopping, and some crosscut saw and slingblade work.  They had quite the time and many stories about getting around the steep narrow rock face about a third of the way down the trail, there was ice on the rocks still making for quite a scary trip down with work equipment!! (ask Candy about the details) The second group with Rod Whitefield, Bob Stone, Dave Richardson, Michael O'Brien, and Myself, worked our way up from the bottom with hand saws, loppers, and a slingblade.  The 2 groups met near the half way spot on the trail and then walked out.  Overall the trail was in pretty good shape before, and now is in tip top condition.   If you have not seen the new signs and improvements at the Track Rock area, stop by and take a look, the Forest Service has done a nice job with improvements here in the last few months.
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Thursday Feb 3rd:  With the clouds breaking, and a small window of good weather between storms, 10 of us gathered to clear some trail.  We broke into 2 teams:  Team 1 with Steve Sutherlin, Pam Sullivan, Jack Dugger, Tom Shope, and John Quinlan took the "cow truck" up to the upper set of stairs on Chunky Gal headed north out of Hwy 64.  The put up some new trail signs on both of the sets of stairs on this section, repaint the orange blazes up to Boteler peak, and clear brush, lop, and cut out the winter deadfalls that had come across the trail between the peak and Hwy 64.  Team 2 with Steve Jersey, Dave Richardson, Michael O'Brien, myself, and newcomer Candy Retter started out headed to Perry Gap, to work up to Boteler from the other side to meet team 1.  Well the FS gate up that road was locked and we could not get there, so plan 2 went into effect.  We headed over to Bob Allison Campground and worked south on Chunky Gal 2.3 miles to the old road and stairs, doing quite a bit of lopping, brushcutting, and tree removal from the trail.  Even with the setback, we got a great deal of trail cleared, and I wanted to Thank everyone who came out and helped!!
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Thursday, Jan 20th:  Today we had great weather and a great turnout, and we got 3 trails cleared.  John Quinlan, Tom Shope, Dave Richardson, Steve Jersey, and Phyllis Loman worked the Coleman River Trail in Chatooga district, and did light chainsaw work, lopping, and inspected the bridges that were fixed (well 2 of the 3 were done).  Bob Stone, Michael O'Brien, Pam Sullivan, and Myself worked High Shoals Falls Trail, and also had some chainsaw work, lopping, and garbage pickup.  Then both teams rendezvoused at the Lake Chatuge Rec Area trail and had 4 large trees to remove from the trail and we also picked up a large bag of trash.  A very good day in all.
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Thursday Jan 6th:  With a cold ?? clearing sky a small group of only 4 headed out to Fires Creek to get some work done.  We could see that there was snow/heavy frost at the upper elevations of the Rim from Hayesville, but we were working on some lower elevation access trails today.  We wanted to hit 2 trails to do a winter tune up on both; The rim access out of Leatherwood up to the second FS 6176 crossing, and Huskins Branch, so
John Quinlan, and Steve Jersey headed to Huskins, and Rod Whitefield and myself went to the Rim Access.  At the end of the drive up, we hit the snow line, but on the trails, we descended out of the snow in the first few minutes of hiking.  There was mostly winter downfalls, and limbs to clear from the trails with some light lopping.  We were done by noon, and had a quick lunch at the falls, then we decided to tackle a reported blowdown on Miller Trek on the way home.  Thanks to everyone who came out.  No work trip next week (Pigeon Forge bound), the the 3rd Thursday will be a Georgia day.