Cherokee Hiking Club
198 Crews Drive, Benton, TN 37307

Benton MacKaye Trail
Trail Maintenance
Benton MacKaye Trail - Section 11
Big Frog Section

Big Frog Area Map and Trail Listing

This section of trail runs from the GA/TN state line at Double Springs Gap to US64 near the Ocoee Whitewater Center and is mostly in the Big Frog Wilderness.

Saturday, September 13, 2008: BMT section 11d Rough Creek - Rick Harris, George Owen, Gary Smith, Suzanne --- and Jim  --- hiked this section and cleared several trees across the trail and a lot of brush on the upper elevations. Overall, the trail was in quite good shape and is now in perfect condition.

Sunday, June 14, 2009: BMTA Walkthrough BMT Section 11d from Rough Creek Trail to FS 221. James Anderson and Randy Morris. Report attached.

Wed-Thu, July 8-9, 2009: BMTA Walkthrough BMT Section 11 from Double Springs Gap to US64. Jeff Hunter and Rick Harris. Report attached.

Sunday, August 30, 2009: BMT Sections 11d-e. Rick Harris, Richard Sullivan and Tom Waters cleared 8 trees and brushed out the BMT from FS45 to the Ocoee River. The we cleared 6 trees off BMT section 11d within the first half mile of FS221. Section 11d is low logged out all the way to the wilderness boundary. Volunteer hours for this trip are as follows:

 

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Rick Harris	2	4	6
Tom Waters	2	4	6
Richard Sullivan	2	4	6
Totals	6	12	18

Saturday, November 21, 2009: BMT Section 11e - FS221 to Thunder Rock Campground. Tom Waters, section maintainer, responded to a report of a tree across the trail with many branches preventing easy passage around the tree. He went up to the area about halfway between the campground and FS45 and cut out branches with a handsaw to make the trail passable until we can get up there with a chain saw. Volunteer hours are below:

Tom Waters, travel time 3 hours, work time 4 hours, total hours 7 hours.

Saturday, June 26, 2010: BMT Section 11b - Big Frog Mtn - Bill & Diana Ristom brushed out their section  and removed the tops of two trees with hand saws. Volunteer hours are below:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Bill Ristom	2.5	10	12.5
Diana Ristom	2.5	10	12.5
Totals	5	20	25

Friday, July 23, 2010: Blazing on BMT Section 11e by Darcy Douglas -  Friday and Saturday I painted until the heat got to be too much.  Work hours 10.5, travel hours 7, total hours 17.5. Painted from the Thunderrock Campground to a little past FS221.  There is a sign there now with 4 other trails listed on it, one I hadn't seen before.  I went a bit down the road which is where the trail is, after that.  Both directions should be well marked on this section.  There are a couple of smallish trees down - the trail was pretty clear and open except for that.  The steps need cleaning off and some rebar either removed or shoved in farther.  There were 2 spots folks slid down the sidehilling - I saw a sign in the Smokies I liked - it said "This is not the trail." and was carefully placed exactly where folks were crossing the switchbacks.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010: BMT Sections 11b-d - Big Frog Wilderness - A crew of eight attacked the BMT from FS 221 to the top of Big Frog. One crew of 4 went up the Big Frog Trail to the top of Big Frog, then worked downhill to a short ways past the intersection of the Big Frog Trail and the BMT at the start of the Fork Mtn Trail. The other crew of 4 went in from FS 221 on the BMT and finally met up with the crew coming down hill. About 40 logs were cleared off the trail and the trail was brushed out in its entirity using non-powered tools since this is all wilderness. Volunteer hours are below:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Rick Harris	3	8.5	11.5
Ken Jones	2	8.5	10.5
Richard Foster	3	8.5	11.5
Bill Lundin	2.5	8.5	11
John Kalabus	0.5	8.5	9
Ernie Engman	4	8.5	12.5
Kenny Robeson	0.5	8.5	9
Steve Biatowas (USFS)	(0.5)	(8.5)	(9)
Totals Volunteer Hours	15.5	59.5	75

Monday, June 6, 2011 - BMT Section 11d - Big Frog Area - James Anderson (section maintainer) and Rick Harris logged out James' section with chain saw and crosscut saw on this 90+ hot day. We entered from FS 221 and went down the West Fork Trail, cutting out a few small trees, then along Rough Creek cutting out a couple large trees and few smaller trees. A third large tree was too big for our one man crosscut, so we trimmed it as best we could (see picture). It is very passable, but we will have to sometime make a separate trip with a two man crosscut to finish the job. Once we crossed Rough Creek, there were a few extra small to moderate sized trees we cut out, reaching the intersection with the Fork Ridge Trail a little after 3 PM. We also threw off many branches and trimmed back some overhanging branches with loppers. We then hiked back to our 2nd car out the easy way along the Rough Creek Road FS 221G where it intersects FS 221. As we returned to Rough Creek coming down the steep hill, we heard a lot of loud tree branch-breaking by some creatures, possibly a couple of bear, though we never saw them and they never growled or made other noises to give their identity away. They ran up the opposite hill, we think. Except for the dead hemlock too big to cut with our one man crosscut, this section of trail is clear of blowdowns and generally in very good shape. James plans to go back in a few weeks and brush out the trail after the brush has had more time to grow.

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
James Anderson	2	7	9
Rick Harris	3	7	10
Totals	5	14	19

Thursday, October 13, 2011 - BMT Section 11c-d - Big Frog Area - This was the third day of the 2011 AHS Volunteer Vacation. We put up 5 signs along the BMT in the Big Frog area and did tread work on the West Fork Trail along the sidehill heading down toward Rough Creek. The new signs were put up at the Fork Ridge Trail / Big Frog Trail intersection, the Fork Ridge Trail / Rough Creek Trail, the Rough Creek / West Fork Trail intersections (2), and the intersection of the old road section with the single track trail along the West Fork Trail. The signs were routed by Marty Dominy and mounted on 4x4 6' posts. The weather was off and on sprinkle but overall very tolerable. We even had periods of sunshine.

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Rick Harris	0.5	9	9.5
Steve Biatowas - USFS		(9)	(9)
Larry Dunn	2	8	10
Jeff Hunter	2.5	9	11.5
David Blount	3.5	9	12.5
Bob Ruby	3	9	12
Rick Foster	1.5	9	10.5
Eric Randall - VV		9	9
Kathy Stege - VV		9	9
Sarah Slover - VV		9	9
Betty Gill - VV		9	9
John Carmichael - VV		9	9
Tina Stambaugh - VV		9	9
Bill Twitty - VV		9	9
Totals	13	116	129

Sunday, January 29, 2011 - TN/NC BMTA Worktrip SAW-A-THON - Several groups went to various sections of the BMT to take care of specific problems, as below. The workers also filled out the Annual Walkthru Reports on the sections they covered. Afterwards, several of us met for dinner at the Mexican restaurant in Copperhill. Fahitas seemed to be the diet of the champions.

BMT Sections 11c-d - Big Frog Mountain Area (Ocoee-Hiwassee District) - Jeff Hunter, Caara, and Bill Hodge tackled this very difficult job with crosscut saw. There were reports of a big tree across the trail about a half mile south of the Fork Ridge/Big Frog Trail intersection which had brought down some other trees with it. The crew spent about 2 hours clearing this complex downfall after climbing half way up Big Frog Mountain. They also cleared about 10 other trees off the trail except for one tree they left on the section along the edge of Rough Creek, a pine about 18 inches in diameter. The branches have been cleared to make this passable, but the trunk still needs to be removed. Also, there is a second tree about a mile further up the trail which needs to be removed sometime in the future, but it is an easy walk-over at present.

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Jeff Hunter	3	8.5	11.5
Caara Fritz	3	8.5	11.5
Bill Hodge	2	8.5	10.5
Totals	8	25.5	33.5

Friday, February 3, 2012 - BMT Section 11e - FS 221 to Ocoee River - Four of us logged and brushed out this section. It is now in tip-top shape. We also did the walk-thru report.

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Rick Harris	2.5	3	5.5
Rick Foster	2.5	3	5.5
Richard Sullivan	1.5	3	4.5
Tom Smith	2	3	5
Totals	8.5	12	20.5

Saturday, March 31, 2012 - Licklog Ridge Trail - Two members of the Cherokee joined with three members of the Chattanooga Hiking Club and a Forest Service representative to perform clear underbrush from the Licklog Ridge Trail on the back side of Big Frog Mountain. After hiking in (almost all uphill) about 2.5 miles, we were able to clear approximately 0.5 miles of the trail which was very overgrown on the upper end of the section we were able to work. Since it is a wilderness area the work was done with loppers and swing blades. The weather cooperated nicely with a beautiful spring day which afforded us great views off the mountain of Ocoee #3 lake and the surrounding mountains. We also enjoyed viewing some beautiful irises and a few trilliums along the way. This was a great joint effort between the hiking clubs which enabled some good work to be done on a beautiful trail that had been neglected for quite some time. I also want to express my appreciation to the SAWS group (Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards) who had already brushed and logged the bottom 2.5 miles of the trail and have plans to come behind us and finish the job.  They are doing the vast majority of the work and deserve much credit—so way to go Bill Hodge and group! We also want to thank USFS employee Steve Biatowas for his hard work on this trip and what he does on an everyday basis in keeping the trails in good shape. Enjoying the day and the hard work were Betty Petty, Donald Box and John Rowland of the Chattanooga Hiking Club, Steve Biatowas of the USFS and James Anderson and Randy Morris (reporting) of the CHC.

Saturday, November 10, 2012 - Big Frog Mtn - BMT Section 11b-c - A total of 10 people, including Sheila Bailey, Randy Morris, and James Anderson (hike leader) worked on the Big Frog Trail doing some trail maintenance.  Several folks from TN Wild and Steve Biatowas from the Forest Service also joined us.  We brushed out quite a bit of trail while some worked on trail tread repair.  There is still much to be done, so we are thinking we may have another work day sometime in January.

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