Camel Gap Trail to Mount Chapman (about 7 miles)
We had 7 people total: 2 Crew Leaders, 5 volunteers
Tools: 5 Swing Blades, 1 McLeod, 3 Fire Rakes, 3 Pulaski’s, 3 small hand saws, 1 large hand saw, 1 lopper, 2 hand snips.
Saturday June 8, 2013 – Hike into base camp was about 9 miles. We took the Snake Den Trail to the A.T. from Cosby Campground where we left the van in the front parking lot. We had a little rain near the end of the hike but, it let up enough for us to get camp set up camp and begin cooking. It took about 7.5 hours to do the hike.
Sunday June 9, 2013 – It rained all night and in the morning. We cooked breakfast under the shelter. We had a slow start getting everyone motivated to work in the rain. It was not heavy enough to call of work. We began hiking about 10 am to Camel Gap. One crew leader stayed with 3 volunteers near the Snake Den Junction while one crew leader took 2 volunteers down to Camel Gap. Vegetation was light between Snake Den junction and Camel Gap, we were able to cover most of this and dig out drains.
Monday June 10, 2013 – The Day was very straight forward and the weather was great. No injuries. Most people had wet feet from the day before so we made sure to double check everyone.
Tuesday June 11, 2013 – Again, very good day. We removed a couple small snags over the trail.
Wednesday June 12, 2013 – Final day, lots of drain cleaning and heavy annual brushing. Many Spruce saplings were removed.
Thursday June 13, 2012 – We hiked out in about 5 hours, just before the storm. Break down was smooth.
Week Summary
We did not finish all of Section 7; about a mile of the southern end was left. We should be able to tack that on to section 6. I am happy with the results of the crews work, especially for the first week and the weather. The annual brush removal was very good in some sections, but could improve in others. I spent the last two days focusing on spruce trimming and sapling removal; I also cut a lot of 2- 4 inch spruce out of the corridor. The drain digging went very well after a couple days of practice. We were not able to give the drains a lot of attention because there were so many and we had so much ground to cover. In the future, I would like to make them bigger if time permits.
Total Measurable Accomplishments
Improved/Cleaned Drains: 58
New Drains: 8
Water Bar: 1 rock
Miles Brushed: 6
