Sunday, October 26, 2008

Bridge Building near Boiling Springs, PA

The local Carlisle paper, The Sentinel, did an article on our project this week. Check it out!





Ted prepares tools for the upcoming week.

We'll be building a bridge this week not too far from base camp at Mount Holly Springs. We'll take two trees down for stringers and carry planks out to the site for boards. The crew was excited about this project and it turned out great. Since we were working so close to home we stayed at Scott Farm this week.





The crew looks ready and able to build a bridge.



Hiking into the work site.



Beautiful colors this time of year.



Crowning off a turnpike.



Adam skins one of the logs that will be used for the bridge.



Steve's finding the angle.



Maggie and Steve continue debarking the log.



Moving the stringers from where they were fell and stripped to where they needed to be was a big teamwork effort, including this stream crossing before we got to the actual stream crossing for the new bridge.



Getting there with the help of the grip hoist.



Riding the stringer.



Make shift rollers to help get the stringers across.



It's starting to all come together.



Jason helps guide the stringer across the creek.



Walking into the site.



Welcome to our office.



Club members come out to help the trail crew.



Nearby at Boiling Springs, the trees turn brilliant colors across from the ATC Regional Office.



Autumn's optical opus.



Sunset from the trail next to Scott Farm.



Steve wheelbarrowing supplies to the site across a bridge our trail crew built a previous year.



Nap time after lunch.



All rested up, it's time to make it happen.






Everything looks level.



The reason we're building a new bridge.



The old bridge had some serious streambank erosion occur undercutting its structural integrity. We made this one a little longer and placed it across a straighter section of creek in hopes of it lasting a good while.



Old bridge with new one in progress in the background.



Steve's serious about this bridge.



Making a smooth surface with the chisel.






We're almost there! Quality work.



And now for the final product!






The local Carlisle paper, The Sentinel, did an article on our project this week. Check it out!

Sand Spring, Virginia



Yet another fine looking crew, ready to embark south for the first time this season, going to Sand Spring, Virginia. We'll be working on a trail relocation, making new trail from scratch so an old section can be closed down.



We stop for a quick peek at the ATC Headquarters in Harper's Ferry, West Virginia, en route to our work site.



Terry getting down in the dirt.



Catherine makes crush and fill for a rock step.



Enjoying the luxury of the Blackburn Center, our base camp for the week. Thanks to Chris and the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club for their help, hospitality, and a great meal.



Sunrise from the Blackburn Center. We got trail to build.



Maggie removes a stubborn stump and roots from the new trail route. Cheers to our volunteers from England.



Smoothing out the new trail.



Maggie, Steph, and Kerry enjoy the lunch break.



Digging new trail.



Kerry paints a fresh white blaze.



Steph approves the newly dug trail. Look at that flow.



Catherine looks proud of her steps.



Chiara looks happy to paint a blaze on the Appalachian Trail. She was our 5 week super volunteer from Italy whose cooking and good humor we miss.



A box turtle near the relo.



Thats a wild fungi.



The sun setting on another great week of trail crew.