5/19/06

Today I helped two of the north district trail crew guys clear the Pine Hill Gap Trail from the park boundary to a little past Short Hot Mountain Trail. The access road to the park boundary in the valley was quite a culture shock the way some people lived there. The one place was full of trash and basically a collection of tarps hung over a vehicle that an old man lived in...

We parked the truck on edge of this single lane road and began the day hiking up a steep trail. We had two corona saws, an axe with a wedge and a large crosscut saw that was probably 100 years old. Since this was wilderness area we couldn?t use chainsaws.

We made slow but steady progress up the trail a couple miles gaining something like 1200 feet elevation. The final count was approximately 60 trees that we cleared with some a couple feet in diameter. Right now, my arms and shoulders are dead, but at least it was a good time and I gained some experience with a crosscut saw. Luckily, I have three days to explore the park before I start work again on Tuesday.