blackage82
Posts: 4
(7/3/03 7:55 pm)
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Work Weekend at Uwharrie National Forest - June 27-29, 2003
Work Weekend at Uwharrie National Forest - June 27-29, 2003
Attendees were as follows:
BadBowtieMHall- Mark
Four20blazer- Aaron
Blackage82- John
Shorttruck- Bruce (Carolina Trailblazers)
Haley- Haley (Carolina Jeepsters)
We sure had a lot of work to do this weekend. We were asked to fence off the top of the big hill on Dutch John and to fence about 6 feet off of the bank of the trail up both sides of the hill. We planned on installing the fence all the way down to the open turnaround area at the base of the hill.
Friday night I got there about midnight and was greeted by Aaron and our fearless leader Mark who introduced me to Haley. After I set up camp we sat around and talked about what the plans were for the next day. We were also waiting on Austin (rollfactor) to show up late. Eventually with no word from Austin we went to sleep to prepare for our long day ahead.
We woke up Saturday to on and off rain that wasn’t too hard but enough to be annoying. We decided that we would wait in camp for Mike (Matchiso) to show up because he was supposed to meet us at camp around noon. By the time we got ready to go we would have gone out on the trails and had to come right back to meet Mike. We hadn’t heard anything from either Austin or Mike by about 1:00 so we went out on the trail to get some work done.
Mark drove his Ranger with the tools in the back and Aaron rode with me. Haley drove his Jeep with his half sized passenger. We parked at the top of the hill and unloaded the equipment. After checking out the old Cherokee that had been dragged of the hill, we finally got to work. We started at the top of the hill and dug 12 holes. The soil was pretty rocky and that auger will really twist you up when it hits a rock. I ran the auger on Saturday and my knee reminded me of that for the next few days. Bruce (shorttruck) also showed up to help us install the last few sections on fence. Aaron got pretty good at tamping the dirt in the holes. Mark was already good at nailing the boards in, and Haley helped lay out the fence to measure the next one. He also helped hold the auger on the rocky holes and hold some rails while they were being nailed.
As we were finishing up we had a guy come to the top of the hill and ask for some help. His old Cherokee had flooded out about halfway up the hill and he couldn’t restart it. His wheels were turned all the way to one side. Haley maneuvered his Jeep partially down the hill and set his snatch block. He tried pulling the Cherokee up the hill enough to get his wheels straightened out. Success. They unhooked the winch cable and the driver of the old Cherokee got in his truck and for some reason put it in neutral. For those of you that know this hill you can see what happened next. He flew down the hill backwards gaining speed as he went down and at the last minute tried to swerve and follow the turn in the trail. He’s lucky he did so because that swerve put him right into a tree. Better than going further down the mountain. He got out and was shook up but luckily walked away. His truck on the other hand had the rear bent to match the shape of a V. It was bent in close to 2 feet. After some more help from Haley and Bruce they got his truck straightened out enough that him and his buddies could make it back the way they came. We talked some more but didn’t get back to working for the rest of the evening.
We then went back to camp for dinner. Nothing eventful happened that night. We were joined by Janet (Uwharriehost) and Bruce as we sat around and relaxed. We were also waiting on Jeremy to show up but eventually without any word from him we went on to bed after some much deserved showers.
Sunday we got out on the trails about 10:00. We put up a few sections at the bottom of the big hill and repaired some sections of the fence that had either been torn out of the ground or broken. We put up enough fence to block the ATV bypass on the side of the trail. Just as we were finishing Haley showed up with a friend of his that had come up to ride with him. He saved the day by giving Aaron, Mark and myself 3 ice cold Gatorades. Thanks again Haley, those really hit the spot. Hopefully these sections of fence will last longer than it has previously. We came back off the trail about 1:30-2:00 ish so Aaron could make it home.
We got back to camp and Aaron departed shortly thereafter. Mark and I chatted with Janet and packed up camp and policed up the campsite.
So overall we got a lot of work done. There is still PLENTY to get done. I would personally like to see more involvement in our trail cleanups. Its hard work when only 3 or 4 people show up. There isn’t enough people to pass the jobs around to and less hands to get the job done. The more people show up the faster and more efficient we become. Next cleanup you can count on us leaving camp at 9:00 in the morning both Saturday and Sunday. Less waiting and more working.
Thanks to those that came to help. Hopefully next time we will have more help. Special thanks to Haley for the ice cold Gatorades on Sunday and for coming to help the S-10 guys even though he was driving a Jeep. We couldn't have done it without ya!
I have some pictures of what we did that I will post soon.
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