Big Indian Branch & Laurel Branch Trails

The Laurel Branch Trail and the Big Indian Branch Trail are two trails which go from the Cherohala Skyway down to the North River Road, each about 3 miles long. These two trails can be combined as a round trip hike. Both are quite steep as they approach the Skyway.

Thursday, July 1, 2010: Big Indian Branch Trail and Laurel Branch Trail - We started the day with breakfast and attending the monthly safety meeting. We had a large work group of 7 so we decided to split up into a saw crew for each trail and a brush out crew for the lower end of Laurel Branch. We logged out 26 trees off Big Indian Branch and 44 trees off the longer Laurel Branch Trail. This work trip completed logging out both trails. The brush out crew cleared and mowed about 1 mile of the lower end of Laurel Branch. Other spots on both trails were brushed out as workers had time waiting for the sawyers to complete trees. We had to leave one large tree just off the Skyway at the upper end of Laurel Branch Trail. Tazz reported it was about 36" in diameter and too big for our chainsaws. This tree will need the big Stihl saw with the 36" bar! Here are the volunteer hours for a good work trip:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Ken Jones	1.5	8	9.5
Bobby Mitchell	1.5	8	9.5
Tazz Reid	1	8	9
John Kalabus	2	8	10
Roger Taylor	1	8	9
Philip Gooch	1	6	7
Jim Sirman	1	6	7
Totals	9	52	61