The Trail Crew typically schedules a mid-summer lunch for August in the hope it'll be a warm day that will make wrapping up work early even nicer. Our August 9th workday was just that day.
The Saddle Mtn weather station at the south entrance to the park said it was 94 at noon and though it was likely a little cooler in in our work area on the lower stretch of Pine Mtn Trail, it was still warm and a good reason to call an early end to the work portion of the day.
Orange-Campground Crew
Yellow-Hihn Hammond Crew
With a large turnout of 24 and a short day, we decided to break into two crews with one resuming work on the section of Pine Mtn Trail immediately behind the old Blooms Creek Campground while the second crew made the short hike along Hihn Hammond Rd to the Pine Mtn Fire Rd where they picked up the East Ridge Trail that will intercept the first crew.
The campground crew meanwhile also focused on follow-up from previous work, but also moved ahead and removed the remnants of a small wood foot bridge from Blooms Creek and then placed several logs across the waterway to help with access to the area further up the hill.
Even with the short workday, a surprising amount of ground was covered as we headed to lunch as scheduled at noon.
The crew put in 106 hours and thanks to Daryn Bieri, Nan Bowman, Jim Brooks, Rory Brooks, Karen Cheeniyil, Santhosh Cheeniyil, Tom Condy, Talu Gonzalez, Drew Granzella, Cammie Hunt, Andrea Lee, Janie Leifhelm, Jack Marshall, John Martin, Salome Navarette, Mike Peasland, Dale Petersen, Aaron Shaw, Marc Shaw, Devdtt Sheth, Brian Washburn, Bruce Washburn, Kris Kiefer-Woolery, and Chris Young, for helping celebrate our mid-summer break.
by Mike and Jeff
photos by Bruce, Mike, and Nan