Volunteers work on Appalachian Trail

By MIKE GANGLOFF/Staff

Volunteers labored high on the slopes of Brushy Mountain last weekend, working to shift a section of the Appalachian National Scenic Trail away from an eroded downgrade and onto a smoother path.

Gordon Burgess, who traveled from Winston-Salem, N.C., to help coordinate the effort, explained that around 3,200 feet of trail was scheduled to be moved to avoid a steep partially washed out section. The stretch that's being abandoned had around a 43 percent pitch - a bit much for hikers with heavy packs. It'd just take one slip, Burgess said, and "it'd all be over."

Most of the crew, which numbered up to 20 at times, spent five days on the job. They stayed on the trail north of Ceres, operating from a base camp at Knot Mole shelter - though workers said the sign should read "Knot Maul," after a creek that flows nearby. Two trail clubs, The Sugar Grove-based Konnarock Crew and the Winston-Salem based Piedmont Appalachian Trail Hikers, combined efforts to get the work done though the actual volunteers came from much farther afield.

"I think it's real, real meaningful," said Janet Gibbons, a native of England who now lives in Atlanta. She said she came north to offer assistance because of her appreciation for the Georgia-to-Maine trail and because of the enjoyment she'd gained hiking it. "The old corn pone stuff about helping out is real nice," Gibbons said.

Two area members were from Germany and others were from across the United States.

Sandy Leibolt of Lindenhurst, Ill., said she and her husband were spending their vacation volunteering on the trail. Two years ago they started hiking the trail in sections but this year, they decided to work instead.

Nine-year-old Trevor Cope of Houston said this was the second summer that he and his parents had worked on the trail. He claimed membership in both the Konnarock Crew and P.A.T.H. and explained that he gained his trail name, "Dances With Roots," through his prowess in clearing new paths.

"I killed a lot of roots," Cope said between swings of a digging tool.

Burgess said that when a section of trail is relocated, workers first use a clinometer, an instrument that measures the changes in elevation to plan a new path. They try to hold the grade on new sections of trail to no more than about 8 percent, he said. Workers then clear a level walkway, digging through the "duff" or surface dirt down to solid earth. The walkway should be as wide as the length of a digging tool, Burgess said, and when finished, shouldn't settle or channel water to cause erosion.

Though trees may be cut and brush cleared, the trail has to dodge around various protected plant species, added Ken Rose, who came from Greensboro, N.C., to take part in the project.

Once the new section is finished, trees along its route are marked with the trail's white, rectangular blaze and the blazes along the old section are wiped out, Burgess said.

He said the relocation should be completed this week. Other projects on the volunteers' list include working on a switch back along the north side of Big Walker Mountain and cutting new steps near the Ceres Ruritans Club's picnic shelter.

Both the Konnarock Crew and P.A.T.H. regularly work on the sections of the Appalachian Trail that cross through Bland, Smyth, Wythe and Tazewell counties.