blackage82
Posts: 7
(7/23/03 2:05 pm)
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Work Weekend Write-up and pics- July 18-20, 2003
Attendees:
Mark Hall
John Blackmore
Matt Smith
Rob Mahanes
Darrell Pawson
Scott Fields - SFWDA Representative
Greg Glatz
Don Custor - Carolina TrailBlazers
I arrived at Arrowhead at about 10:00 Friday night with Matt following and Rob riding with him. No one was at the campsite so we went up to Janet’s and hung out for a while. Eventually we got back up to camp and set up our tents and hung out for a while before bed.
Saturday morning’s plan of leaving the campsite by 9:00 didn’t quite go as planned. Darrell met us at camp before any of us had woken up. After I climbed out of my tent I ran up to the Outpost to get some biscuits for everyone. Ian Garner came by with a reporter from a local paper and spoke to us about what to do if you get lost in the woods. Although it was brief it was a good reminder of the things you should keep with you and what to do when you cannot find your way home.
We eventually got out on the trails and went in through the bottom of Dutch John and went to the bottom of the hill to repair/ replace some fencing that had mysteriously been destroyed. We put up a few sections by salvaging some fencing that had been torn down. We all concluded that it wouldn’t make much sense to fence the higher parts of the hill because the trail is so cut down into the earth. We didn’t think that people would attempt to climb up either bank to get off the trail. After we finished a few sections we sat around our trucks and all grabbed lunch. We were joined by some other members of the Carolina Trailblazers who were just passing through.
After quite a while we loaded up the back of Mark’s Ranger with fencing and headed back out the way we came in. We were planning to put up some fence where dirt bikes and ATV’s had gone off the trail and had made a few mud holes and had been riding in the creek. About halfway to the location for our next work all of the wood slid out of the back of Marks Ranger. So we all got out and loaded it back up and put a strap on it this time.
We unloaded the fencing and Matt, Rob, Greg, Scott and I started installing the fence while Mark and Darrell went back to the bottom of the hill to get more fence. I was running the auger, Scott, Greg and Rob took turns placing the fence and Matt was nailing the rails in once we got them in place. We were done with probably about 10 sections by the time Mark and Darrell got back with the rest of it. We installed the rest of what we had but it was still not enough. We called it a day and made plans to return Sunday morning to complete the rest of that section.
We all headed back to camp for dinner and showers. After debating for a while we decided to go out and ride the trails some before bed. We chose Rocky Mountain Loop because we wanted to see the almost vertical rock face in the trail just before Kodak Rock. Matt decided that he wanted to try and get his Jeep over it and after a few tries he was successful. Then I decided I would try. Since my truck in a bit longer than his I had to work at it a little harder. I was hitting my transmission skid plate and that was stopping my forward movement. Somehow I also managed to plug up both of my dual exhaust pipes and nearly choked my engine off. This was somewhat humorous because I eventually had to get a stick and pick the mud out of the pipe. After trying to “bounce” a little on it and trying a little more momentum I was waved off the obstacle. I got out and looked at it once more to see if there might be a slightly different route to take and I was successful. We headed up to Kodak Rock and each of the three initially took a different route to the top. Once we were all at the top I came back down and then followed the way Matt had gone up. There are so many different ways to go right there. We headed back to camp for a few hours of sleep before working again in the morning.
Sunday morning we got up and headed over to the storage area to fill the trailer up with fencing. We once again headed to Dutch John to install the fencing. We first repaired some fencing near the trail entrance. This is an area where people have been camping and have torn down the fencing that our group put up at one of the work weekends last year. We next went about 200’ further on the trail and installed probably about 100’ of fencing where people on ATV’s and bikes had been taking a shortcut through a switchback. After a short break we headed further into the trail to finish up Saturdays work.
We finished putting up about 5 more sections of fence and the soil was tough as nails. Matt got to run the auger because that thing nearly tore my arm off on Saturday afternoon. Mark and Rob and Darrell helped place the fence, tamp the holes and I was nailing them together.
Once we were done with packing up we dropped by Janet’s to say goodbye and then we all headed up to the Outpost to air back up and get gas/ snacks for the ride home. We left Uwharrie about 7:30.
I think we got a whole lot done. We really had enough help and enough motivation that this weekend went very smoothly. If I had to guess I would say we put up close to 400 feet of fencing if not more. Thank you to all those who came and I hope to see everyone plus more people at the next one!
   
  
Edited by: blackage82 at: 9/8/03 3:47 pm
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