Benton MacKaye Trail Section 12 - Ocoee to Hiwassee River

Saturday, December 13, 2008 - TN/NC BMTA Work Trip - Section 12c: Kimsey Highway to McFarland Road FS 23. Five volunteers with chain saws and gas powered brush cutters completely logged and brushed out this section of the BMT. It is estimated that about 18 large trees and numerous small trees were removed from the trail bed by Ken Jones and Rick Harris. The trail was cleared to standards with the gas powered brush cutters by George Owen and Butch Horn with Liz Carter using loppers. Rick and Ken also continued south of FS 123 clearing logs up to the old gated forest service road, about an additional half mile. George also cleared some of this section with the brush cutter.

Rick Harris, Travel time 3 hours, Work time 5 hours
Ken Jones, Travel time 2 hours, Work time 5 hours
George Owen, Travel time 2.5 hours, Work time 5 hours
Butch Horn, Travel time 2 hours, Work time 5 hours
Liz Carter, Travel time 2 hours, Work time 5 hours

TN/NC BMTA WORK TRIP

Friday, March 13, 2009

BMT Section 12e - White Oak Flats Road (FS 103) near Lost Creek Campground to near Reliance (Total distance about 4.0 miles, but only about 2.7 miles will require maintanence). We will go in from the White Oak Flats Road trail crossing near Lost Creek Campground and log out and cut brush to standards with chain saws and gas-powered brush cutters as far down the trail as possible, hopefully all the way to the point where we meet the forest service road near Reliance, a distance of about 2.7 miles. The first 0.3 miles along White Oak Flats Road and the last mile along FS 173 will not require any work since it follows a roadbed which is kept clear for vehicles. Much of this section is on an old unmaintained roadbed along the banks of Lost Creek which horse riders often help clear out for their use, so we should be able to make it all the way through. We will end our day at the maintained forest service road 173 near Reliance where we will have shuttle cars parked.

MEETING LOCATION: We will meet at the railroad trestle by the canoe livery in Reliance at 8AM and park some cars as far up FS 173 as we can go, then shuttle to the Lost Creek Campground on White Oak Flats Road, arriving there about 9AM. We may be able to have some people meet us at the Lost Creek Campground at 9AM without first going to Reliance. We will work this out once we know who is coming.

LEADER: Rick Harris, 423-253-6358 (home); 513-260-1184 (cell), HarrisRi@aol.com. Please notify Rick in advance of the work trip of your plans to come and what tools you will be bringing.

BRING: Chain saw if chain saw certified. We need gas powered brush cutters as well. Also, loppers and swing blades can be used. Bring gloves and safety glasses and a helmet if you have one. We have a few helmets to loan out. Bring lunch and water.

POST WORK-TRIP REPORT:

Rick Harris, Butch Horn and Liz Carter did trail maintenance on Section 12e, rescheduled from late Feb due to heavy rains. In spite of a 60% chance of rain, we had none other than a few sprinkles. We went in from the Lost Creek Campground end of the section. Rick cleared the entire section to the forest service road near the Hiwassee River of about 20 logs across the trail with chainsaw. One tree which is easy to get under was left as it due to the danger of trying to remove it. There was clear evidence of heavy horse traffic, in spite of this trail being closed to horses. Liz and Butch brushed out the first mile or so of the trail with loppers and a gas-powered brush cutter. Thus we need to go back in the next couple of weeks to brush out the 1.7 miles from the forest service road at the north end of the section up to where we stopped today. This should be fairly easy to accomplish with 2 or 3 people with brushcutters. This will then complete maintenance of the entire section of the BMT from Kimsey Highway to the Hiwassee River.

Rick Harris, 5 hours work, 2 hours travel

Liz Carter, 4 hours work, 2 hours travel

Butch Horn, 4 hours work, 2 hours travel

Total volunteer hours 19 hours

Wednesday, April 29, 2009: Rick Harris and Bill Hodge (maintainer for this section) brushed out about 0.8 miles of Benton MacKaye Trail section 12e along Lost Creek upstream from where Little Lost Creek merges with Lost Creek. The trail is in great shape with no blowdowns between Lost Creek Campground and the Hiwassee River. We need to go back and finish brushing out from Little Lost Creek to the Hiwassee River. Hours worked are as follows:

Rick Harris, 5 hours, 2 hours travel
Bill Hodge, 5 hours, 2 hours travel

Total volunteer hours 14 hours

Sunday, May 24, 2009: Benton MacKaye worktrip to BMT Section 12e from the Hiwassee River 1.0 mile upstream along Lost Creek to the point where Little Lost Creek enters Lost Creek. This was a spontaneous trip after the decision was made to reschedule the two day work trip into the Heart of Darkness due to competition with family activities over the Memorial Day weekend. Rick Harris, James Anderson, Bill Hodge and his 15 yo nephew George completed brushing out the Lost Creek segment of the BMT. Bill and his nephew backpacked from Kimsey Highway to Lost Creek Campground on May 23, then met us at the canoe launch on May 24 at 9AM for this work trip. Then they left to go up to the Wolf-Laurel Trailhead in Joyce Kilmer to backpack up to Bob Bald for the night. We met several people on the trail including some long distance trail runners and several backpacking high school students from Chattanooga's Hixson High School. There was also lots of evidence of horse traffic on the trail, even though horses are not permitted on this section of the BMT. Hours worked are as follows:

Rick Harris, 4 hours, 2 hours travel
James Anderson, 4 hours, 2 hours travel
Bill Hodge, 3 hours, 0 hours travel
George Wilhite (Bill's nephew), 3 hours, 0 hours travel

Total volunteer hours 18 hours

Saturday - Sunday, May 23-24, 2009: BMT Sections 12c-e Walkthrough by Bill Hodge and George Wilhite. Report attached.

Thursday, May 28, 2009: I finally got around to installing the sign post that we had previously discussed on a past monthly work trip for this section of the BMT. The sign was placed about 1 ¼ miles northbound from the McFarland Road crossing point, at a location Gayle Jones proudly displaying her very plumb sign where a timber haul road goes straight ahead and the BMT follows FR 1173-1 to the right. For this work trip I had a first time guest volunteer helping me by the name of Gayle Jones. She provided valuable supervision and made sure that the post was plumbed to vertical with a bubble level. This post has a routed sign for northbound hikers with a right turn arrow. For the southbound hikers there is a diamond with a number 2 and a left turn arrow routed into the post. This post should solve the problem of missing this turn since there are no longer any large trees to blaze. I have attached some pictures of the finished product.

This was the last of my routed hardwood signs that were provided by Marty Dominy. The real problem on this section and others in the area is that the blazes have faded in the last 4 years, and small vegetation has grown up to obscure the blazes. It is time to go through and re-paint all of the blazes with special attention to cutting back the growth that is blocking the distant views of the blazes, especially in key locations.

Here are our volunteer hours for sign routing, preparation and installation:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Ken Jones	2	2	4
Gayle Jones	2	2	4
Totals	4	4	8

Saturday, May 30th - BMTA Walkthrough BMT Section 12a-12b from US64 to Kimsey Highway. Bill Kamm. Report attached.

Friday, Nov. 13th - BMT Section 12b - Drypond Lead Trail to Kimsey Highway. Rick Harris checked out the condition of this section and brushed out the section from the intersection with the Drypond Lead Trail to the wilderness boundary, 0.35 miles. There are 3 trees across this section, all easy to get over. Rick also brushed out the Drypond Lead Trail from the wilderness boundary down to the Kimsey Highway, 0.4 miles. There are 5 trees across this section of trail, none of which are a problem. George Owen and Sul Sullivan (the new maintainer for this section) may go back next week to paint blazes in this section and possibly to brush out the trail in the wilderness area with primitive tools heading toward the powerlines.

Here are Rick's volunteer hours:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Total
Rick Harris	3	4	6

Friday, Nov. 20th - BMT Section 12b - Drypond Lead Trail to Kimsey Highway. Sul Sullivan, section maintainer, worked from the Powerline trail access point to the right for 0.35 miles brushing out heavy growth with swing blade. He cleared two small blowdowns in this section as well. He also cleared brush for 0.15 miles to the left from the Kimsey highway crossing. There is a large blowdown about 0.15 to the left from Kimsey Highway which needs to be cleared with chainsaw. Sul plans to return next week for more brushing out on his section and at a later date with Darcy Douglas to repaint the blazes. Rick Harris will join him probably one day this next week to clear the big blowdown as well as a few near the Drypond Lead intersection.

Here are Sul's volunteer hours:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Total
Sul Sullivan	2.5	3	5.5

Monday, Nov. 23rd - BMT Section 12b - Drypond Lead Trail to Kimsey Highway. KB Sullivan, section maintainer, removed many small blowdowns and brushed many overgrown areas along the entire section. Rick Harris will join him on 11/24 to clear the big blowdown near Kimsey Crossing as well as a few near the Drypond Lead intersection.

Here are Sul's volunteer hours:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Total
KB Sullivan	2.5	4	6.5

Tuesday, Nov 24th - BMT Section 12b – Dry Pond Lead Trail >> Kimsey Highway. With chainsaw, Rick Harris, TN/NC maintenance director, and KB Sullivan, section maintainer, cleared the reported blowdown 0.15 miles uptrail from Kimsey Crossing, seven other near the intersection with Dry Pond Lead trail, and one on Dry Pond Lead Trail between BMT intersection and Kimsey Highway. All blowdowns on Section 12b are cleared now.

Here are Rick and Sul's volunteer hours:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Total
Rick Harris	2.5	3.5	6
KB Sullivan	2.5	3.5	6

Sunday, December 20, 2009: BMT Section 13c - JMT Big Bend to Towee Creek. Eight workers wanting to work off some of the holiday party eats and to avoid going to the malls with their wives came out to work on the BMT this chilly somewhat snowy and wet day. We met at the Towee Creek parking area then split up into two groups. One group worked from Big Bend to the middle and the other from Towee Creek to the middle. We logged out 16 logs and brushed out this entire section. It was too wet to touch up blazes, so this will have to be done at a later date. With this big crew, it only took 2 hours to complete the work, so we finished at 11 AM, then several of us went to the Black Bear Cove Restaurant for a wonderful $11.99 Christmas Buffet. Four of us then went to Lost Creek Campground and worked on the BMT south toward McFarland Road on BMT Section 12d for another 4 hours cutting out 12 trees and brushing out the trail for about 1.5 miles. Two of the trees were huge, about 20 inches in diameter. One of us (Richard Sullivan) went to the Kimsey Highway BMT crossing and worked north on BMT Section 12c with his brush cutter before heading on home. The hours below reflect the hours spent on all three sections in toto.

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Rick Harris	2.5	6	8.5
Richard Sullivan	3.5	3	6.5
Eric Eades	3.5	2	5.5
Tom Smith	3	6	9
Rick Foster	3	6	9
Larry Dunn	2	6	8
Bill Hodge	2	2	4
James Anderson	2	2	4
Volunteer Totals	21.5	33	54.5

Tuesday, December 22, 2009: BMT Sections 12c and 12d - Kimsey Hwy to Lost Creek Campground. Seven workers came out on this beautiful blue sky crisp day to finish off what we started on Sunday. We met at the McFarland Road Crossing. Five went north to log and brush out the 2.5 miles to where we quit on Sunday, and two went south to log out the section toward Kimsey Highway. There was very little to brush out going south. The northbound crew logged out 9 trees and the southbound crew 17 trees, for a total of 26 trees for the day. We finished early, so we all went to Hardee's in Etowah for coffee and pop and to sit around for an hour or so to chew the fat. It was a great way to spend a Christmas Holiday day.

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Rick Harris
3 4 7

Bill Lundin 3 4 7

Ken Jones 3 4 7

Tom Smith 2 4 6

Rick Foster 2 4 6

Larry Dunn 2 4 6

Ernest Engman 2 4 6

Volunteer Totals
17 28 45

Wednesday, December 30, 2009: BMT Section 12d - McFarland Road to Lost Creek. Bill Lundin fixed blazes on his section today. He repainted 39 existing blazes that were faded, and added 30 blazes mostly on the logging road. He got as far as the clearing just before FS 103, before had to turn around and head back. So about 0.4 miles at the FS 103 end still needs to be checked for proper blazing. He will take care of that in a future work trip. Volunteer hours:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Total
Bill Lundin	3	6.75	9.75

Saturday, March 27, 2010: BMTA Saw-A-Thon #3 - See this link.

Monday, April 5, 2010: BMT Section 12b - Dry Pond Lead Trail to Kimsey Highway - Darcy Douglas and section maintainer Sul Sullivan repainted the blazes outside of the wilderness stretches and placed more blazes at all intersections to clarify the route. They also placed some cairns in the powerline area to make the route more obvious. It was reportedly a scorcher, unusual for so early in the spring. They plan to return to do section 12c (Kimsey Highway to McFarland Road) in the near future.

Here are our volunteer hours, all within the Ocoee/Hiwassee Ranger District:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
K.B. "Sul" Sullivan	3	6.25	9.25
Darcy Douglas	5	6.25	11.25
Totals	8	12.5	20.5

Friday, April 9^th, 2010 - BMT Section 12b - Drypond Lead Trail to Kimsey Highway. KB Sullivan, section maintainer, removed many small blowdowns, mainly in the Wilderness Study Area, using bowsaw. He also removed a large amount of trash from the Powerline parking area..

Here are Sul's volunteer hours:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Total
KB Sullivan	2.5	4	6.5

Sunday, April 18, 2010 - BMT Section 12a - Six BMTA maintainers cleared a total of 22 trees off the Drypond Lead Trail using crosscut saw in the wilderness. There is still one large 24 inch tree to clear outside of the wilderness about a half mile up from US64 which will need a heftly chainsaw. We also brushed out the stretch from the top down to the intersection with the Rock Creek Trail. The day was beautiful, crystal clear and about 70 degrees. Volunteer hours were as follows:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Rick Harris	3	7.5	10.5
Bill Lundin	3	7.5	10.5
Regina Reiter	3	7.5	10.5
Tom Smith	2	7.5	9.5
Rick Foster	3	7.5	10.5
Larry Dunn	3	7.5	10.5
Volunteer Totals	17	45	62

Friday, May 21, 2010 - BMT Section 12e - Lost Creek Section - Larry Dun and Tom Smith, section maintainers, started at the Lost Creek campground. The trail is in good condition with no large blowdown. They removed several smaller treetops, Tom cleared limbs and brush with his machete and folding saw. Larry mostly used a swingblade to cut grass and weeds and a small saw and "snip" scissors to remove limbs. They completed the section in terms of limbing and brushing, but not the grass and weed cutting. They plan to go back in June and finish this with weedeaters. That old stream-side roadbed is very heavy with weeds, especially poison ivy, though it was only moderately tall at this early date. They completed weed-cutting on approximately 1 1/2 miles from the campground. The rest of the trail is not as bad so that the overall trail is now in good condition for Memorial Day hikers. A horse group preceded us early Friday or late Thursday leaving modest damage to the very soggy ground. We also plan to do the Towee to Coker section in June.

Here are our volunteer hours, all within the Ocoee/Hiwassee Ranger District:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Larry Dunn	2	5.5	7.5
Tom Smith	2	5.5	7.5
Totals	4	11	15

Saturday, July 24, 2010: Blazing on BMT Section 12c by Darcy Douglas - Started at Kimsey Highway crossing on Saturday. Blazed north until past the second creek, then came back - I figured I could get into that area from FS 23 and knew I had to go nothing but uphill in the heat so I turned around there! I did put a few new blazes, but mostly left it with the minimal blazing that was there. When I got near the road again I noticed one I had missed coming down - wonder if I missed others???? There are a couple of trees down, hand saw quality, as I recall. This trail, also, was pretty easy to find for the most part - the question areas needed blazes, of course, that one could see. You guys have done a great job - the trails were lovely! Heard some bears growling but other wildlife was either flying or rather small - tracks of something big running on the trail, but didn't see it.

Sunday, September 19, 2010: BMT Section 12d - McFarland to White Oaks Flat Road (by Bill Lundin, section maintainer) - I went up to my section (12d) today, not Friday as I originally planned. I parked at the Mcfarland Rd end, then walked to FS-103 end and worked my way back to McFarland Rd. I cleared 2 blowdowns with bowsaw: 1st one was fairly easy, took about 10 minutes. It was a 9 inch diameter pine, fairly rotten, hanging about 4 feet high across the trail. 2nd one took about 30 minutes. It consisted of the top branches of a large oak and a large pine. The branches were blocking about 20 feet of trail. There were lots of branches but all were small enough to handle with the bowsaw. I used a weed-eater to brush out the section of trail from FS-103 to the roadwalk (FS road that is not used much). I estimate this to be about 2 miles of brushout work. I also brushed out approximately another quarter mile of the worst parts of the trail that include the roadwalk and the woods just North of McFarland Rd. I had run out of time and steam, so there remains some brushout to be done. A large blowdown located about 1/2 mile North of the roadwalk is going to require a chainaw crew. It's an oak, about 3 feet in diameter at the base. Base of tree is on right side of trail as you head North, and it has fallen to the left, making a 15 degree angle with the ground - it's being held up by another large tree. North bound hikers appear to be walking to the left and going under it. This may be too dangerous to mess with until the oak slides all the way to the ground. There's another large oak, located about 1 mile North of the roadwalk, that has fallen away from the trail, and its root ball has taken about 5 feet of trail with it. This can be fixed with a little pick and shovel work. There's another location fairly close to this one which has potential to be the same problem. Brushout work remaining is the half mile section North of McFarland Rd and about half of the road walk (3/4 mile?). Volunteer hours are below:

Bill Lundin - 3 hours travel, 7 hours work = 10 hours total

Monday, October 4, 2010: BMT Section 12d - McFarland Road to White Oak Flats road - Bill Lundin and his grandson brushed out the 1/2 mile of trail between McFarland Rd and the wildlife road using loppers and weedeater. They also cleared one small tree (about 5 in. diameter) across the trail with a bow-saw. 12d is in pretty good shape as far as brushing out goes. Volunteer hours are below:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Bill Lundin

3

4

7

Tyler McWain (grandson)

3

4

7

Totals

6

8

14

Wednesday, October 13, 2010: BMT Section 12c - Kimsey Highway to McFarland Road - Sul Sullivan brushed the length of the section with primitive tools. He cleared several small blowdowns and deadfalls using bowsaw (9 in toto). He removed a small amount of trash at Kimsey Crossing. There are 5-6 old tires about 0.2 miles northbound from Kimsey Crossing just off of the trail and CLEARLY visible. He removed one but it was extremely difficult as he had to roll it up a steep incline to his truck. It would be great if USFS could get out there with an ATV or similar and clear these tires…they are a REAL eyesore. If not, he will try to collect one each time he goes. Volunteer hours are below:

KB (Sul) Sullivan, travel hours 3, work hours 7 = 10 volunteer hours

Friday, October 15, 2010: BMT Section 12b-c - Dry Pond Lead to McFarland Road - Sul Sullivan (section maintainer) brushed the length of section 12b with primitive tools. He cleared 4 small blowdowns and deadfalls using bowsaw and removed small amount of trash at the powerline. Once again, the ~50 yards of trail leading out of the powerline under the towers was completely obscured by growth (lots of berry bushes). He cleared a 4-foot swath under the towers up to the tree line. He also removed the remaining 5 old tires/rims from 12c ~200 yards north of Kimsey Crossing. Volunteer hours are as follows:

KB (Sul) Sullivan, travel hours 3, work hours 7.5 = 10.5 volunteer hours

Friday, November 12, 2010: BMT Section 12b - Rick Harris had reported some wind damage on this section of the BMT extending about 1/2 mile both north and south from Deep Gap on Kimsey Highway. Rick has a monthly work trip scheduled for Nov. 20th to tackle these problems. Bill and I thought that we would lessen the load for the work trip by logging out north from Deep Gap today with the chainsaws. That way Rick's work trip can concentrate on logging out to the south with crosscut saws through the Wilderness Study Area. Straight line winds had brought down a number of pine trees and there was a lot of small stuff to throw out of the trail. We also took some extra time to get some leaners down to keep the trail clear for the future. We logged out the entire portion of this section from Deep Gap to the Kimsey Highway crossing.

Here is our volunteer time for the trip:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Ken Jones	2.5	2.5	5
Bill Hodge	2	2.5	4.5
Totals	4.5	5	9.5

Saturday, November 20, 2010: BMT Section 12b - Powerline to Drypond Lead Intersection - Six maintainers met at the powerlines on Kimsey Highway and worked from their east toward the intersection with the Drypond Lead Trail, clearing several large blowdowns off the trail from the recent high winds. Nine trees were cut out and some vegetation was cleared from the trail corridor. Since this is in wilderness, primitive tools were used. Volunteer hours are as follows:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Ken Jones	2.5	5	7.5
Bettt Petty	2	4	6
Ralph Van Pelt	2	4	6
Monty Simmons	2	4	6
Bill Hodge	2	5	7
(Steve Biatowas USFS employee)	(0.5)	(5)	(5.5)
Totals	10.5 + (0.5)	22 + (5)	32.5 + (5.5)

Monday, November 22, 2010: BMT Section 12e - Lost Creek Campground to Hiwassee River - Larry Dunn brushed out the trail today from the trailhead near Lost Creek Campground to the point where it ends at the road that climbs steeply up and over to Reliance. That road appears to be well traveled by 4-wheel vehicles and is clear. Bushes were not bad yet but would quickly have overgrown the trail with next year's Spring growth, so long stretches of rhodendron and other bush growth were trimmed back today, leaving a good wide path over most of the trail. No large blowdown was found. One small tree had to be topped. Three other small blow-downs, one of which was a challenging 6 inch diameter, were cleared with a pruning saw. Lost Creek is now in good condition and should not need brushing out until perhaps next May when new growth has had time to encroach. Larry reports "It was a beautiful day on one of the most beautiful trails I have ever hiked. Rick, my thanks to you for assigning this trail to Tom and me."

Larry Dunn: Driving time: 1 hour each way; Work time: 5.5 hours = Total 6.5 hours

Saturday, April 2, 2011 - BMT Section 12a - Dry Pond Lead Trail - We had a really nice day to work on logging out the trail today. We started in from US 64 with the crosscut saw and axe, and found the portion to the Rock Creek Trail intersect had only one 6" tree to clear. We especially want to thank you and Gary Smith for clearing several time consuming blow downs. We continued about another mile beyond the Rock Creek Trail intersection and cleared another 3 trees. The last tree was causing hikers to go off trail to get around it. We got the saw stuck about 2/3 of the way down in a 14" oak tree. We spent some time chopping the saw out of this tree, but finally got it cleared. Here are the volunteer hours for this trip:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Ken Jones	2	4.5	6.5
Tom Smith	1.5	4.5	6
Totals	3.5	9	12.5

Saturday, April 23, 2011 - BMT Sections 12b,c,d & 13b,c,d - Spring Saw-A-Thon - A total of 10 workers showed up on this beautiful warm Saturday before Easter to saw logs off the BMT. Six worked on Section 12 from Kimsey Highway to the Hiwassee River, two in each saw crew going to all three sections. Kimsey Highway to McFarland Road was Rick Harris and Bill Lundin, McFarland Road to Lost Creek Campground was Ken Jones and Jim DeBernardi, and the Lost Creek Section was Bobby & Joanne Mitchell. North of the Hiwassee on the John Muir Trail were Darcy Douglas and Marty Dominy from Towee Creek to the Childers Creek Trailhead, and Bill Hodge and Larry Dunn from Towee Creek to end of the reroute and back via the old JMT along the river. Darcy and Marty also repainted blazes on Section 12c. Thus the trail is clear of blowdowns from Kimsey Highway to Wildcat Creek, a distance of 18.4 miles. Volunteer hours are below:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Rick Harris	2	6	8
Bill Lundin	3	6	9
Ken Jones	2	6.5	8.5
Jim DeBernardi	1.5	6.5	8
Bobby Mitchell	2	4	6
Joanne Mitchell	2	4	6
Marty Dominy	5	6.5	11.5
Darcy Douglas	5	6.5	11.5
Bill Hodge	1.5	5.5	7
Larry Dunn	2	5.5	7.5
Volunteer Totals	26	57	83

Monday, May 31, 2011 - BMT Section 12a-b - Ocoee to Kimsey Hwy - Margaret Evans, Kim Hainge, and Dick Evans scouted the BMT from Deep Gap Trailhead on Kimsey Mountain Highway to Route 64 in Ocoee Gorge to prepare for the joint hike there on the 12th. It was not supposed to be a work trip, but it turned out that way. They found lots of blowdowns and brush obstructing the trail. They were able to clear or remove all but two major issues. About 3/8's of a mile from Deep Gap they found a big blowdown totally blocking the trail. They were able to clear enough for hikers to duck under the biggest logs, but Dick's trail saw was not big enough for cutting the whole thing out. The trail is passable, but that will need a big saw, and it is in the Wilderness Study Area. About 1/4 mile from the other end, they came across a huge oak, pictured, blocking the trail. It is a definite blockage, and requires a big crawl over and was far too big for them to attempt. This is just past the power lines on the southern end, and definitely NOT in the wilderness. In addition, the trail under the power lines is badly overgrown and does need to be brush cut. They were able to clear the rest, but there were a lot of obstacles. The trail is passable now, but will need attention this summer.

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Dick Evans	4	4	8
Margaret Evans	4	4	8
Kim Hainge	4	4	8
Totals	12	12	24

Wednesday, June 8, 2011 - BMT Section 12a-b - Ocoee to Kimsey Hwy - Rick Harris, Ken Jones and Steve Biatowas worked on this section of the BMT today in very hot temperatures. First, we met at Deep Gap along Kimsey Hwy, then went south on the trail about a half mile to two big blowdowns involving multiple trees which were only about 100 feet from each other. It took us about an hour or more to clear these multiple trees with hand saws, axe, and crosscut saw. We then returned to Deep Gap, then brushed out the section under the powerlines in the open sun and into the woods a ways going both directions. We then returned again to Deep Gap and ate lunch. Then, Steve and Rick when down to Powerhouse #3 at the BMT crossing on US64 and brushed out the trail from the highway on up through the powerline crossing area. We then returned to the car and hopped into the air conditioning of our trucks. This section should now be in good shape all the way through, thanks for the work done by Dick & Margaret Evans and Kim Hainge a few days ago.

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Rick Harris	3	5	8
Ken Jones	2	3.5	5.5
Steve Biatowas USFS	(1)	(5)	(6)
Totals	5	8.5	13.5

Thursday, June 30, 2011 - BMT Section 12e - Lost Creek Section - Tom Smith and Larry Dunn weeded out Lost Creek Trail. Actually, Tom did the bulk of it with his weed-eater. Larry's developed a huge vibration early on and was inoperable. (I learned later that it was only a loose blade nut, but I had no wrench with me anyway.) So instead he used pruning snips and removed limbs. Lost Creek is very hikable and pretty as ever now. No trees were down. Vounteer hours were:

Larry Dunn, travel 2 hours, work 8 hours = 10 hours
Tom Smith, travel 2 hours, work 8 hours = 10 hours

July 11, 2011 - BMT Section 12c-d - Kimsey Hwy to Lost Creek CG - Ken Jones and I [Darcy Douglas] worked from 8:00 to 3:00, him driving about 2 hours, me about 5, on Monday July 11. What we got done was this.....all blazes are painted between Kimsey Highway and the place on the ridge where the trail turns from west to east, north of the signed wildlife area a little less than 2 miles from the Lost Creek Campground. I was right that I had only missed about 2 in that middle section where you were using the chainsaw earlier this spring. I think that's the end of Sul's sections. We had to clear a lot of brush in order that blazes be seen heading northbound from FS23. They were there but covered up. Some were odd sizes, some 6 feet off the ground rather than our standard 5 feet, and some were off the trail because there were simply no other trees around on that grassy road walk. We did our very best to correct these situations so that the blazing is standard to aid the hiker and backpacker. Ken is pretty sure he remembers the blazing being pretty good from where we stopped down to the campground since he used the chainsaw there that same day earlier this spring. The variety of blazes out there reminded me again that it is better for the hiker and for the quality of our trail to have one person (and carefully chosen assistants) responsible for the trail marking. I would love to have the job again when I return from Alaska. You probably have enough good blazes to get by until then anyway! Thanks for the opportunity - oh, and please do something about those chiggers at my favorite camping spot - ooh, they are annoying!

Darcy Douglas, driving time 5 hrs, work time 7 hrs = 12 hrs
Ken Jones, driving time 2 hrs, work time 7 hrs = 9 hrs

Nov 9, 2011 - BMT Section 12b - Dry Pond Lead to Kimsey Highway - Sul Sullivan, section maintainer, cleared 5 moderate and minor blowdowns/deadfalls with primitive tools, between Kimsey Crossing S/B to Powerline. He also brushed this stretch as necessary and cleared trash from Kimsey Crossing Trailhead. He surveyed from Powerline S/B to Dry Pond Lead.

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

KB Sullivan

3

6

9

Nov 10, 2011 - BMT Section 12b - Dry Pond Lead to Kimsey Highway - Sul Sullivan, section maintainer, cleared 3 moderate and minor blowdowns/deadfalls with primitive tools, between Powerline S/B to Dry Pond Lead. Also brushed this stretch as necessary. Cleared trash from Powerline trailhead.

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

KB Sullivan

3

5

8

Nov 17, 2011 - BMT Section 12c - McFarland Road to Kimsey Highway - Sul Sullivan, section maintainer, cleared many blowdowns/deadfalls again. Cleared four moderate (one was very “involved”) and at least a dozen minor blowdowns/deadfalls with primitive tools, along entire section. One blowdown (600 yards N/B from Kimsey Crossing) will need a second visit to finish. I ran out of daylight. Trail is now easily passable at that spot, but there are three large limbs on the ground across the trail. I plan to return next week to either remove them or cut pass-through steps. Also, brushed section as necessary. Removed trash from the (Piney Flat) creek crossing and the McFarland Road trailhead. Discovered and removed yet another discarded tire near Kimsey Crossing.

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

KB Sullivan

3

7

10

Nov 22, 2011 - BMT Section 12c - McFarland Road to Kimsey Highway - Sul Sullivan, section maintainer, worked on cleaaring the large tree from the trail near Kimsey Highway until a rain storm made him retreat.

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

KB Sullivan

3

2

5

Nov 23, 2011 - BMT Section 12c - McFarland Road to Kimsey Highway - Sul Sullivan, section maintainer, returned and finished clearing the large treat from near Kimsey Highway.

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

KB Sullivan

3

1

4

Friday, December 2, 2011 - BMT Section 12e - Lost Creek Section - [Report by Larry Dunn, section maintainer] - I updated the BMT blazes and added a few on Lost Creek. Because the trail is essentially a canyon along the entire creek portion with few ways to get lost, there is no real need for blazes there. But at both ends of the trail, it gets a bit confusing. I added a few blazes in those areas, especially where the trail leaves Lost Creek to cross a small mountain and another stream on its approach to Webb's Store. The gated 4-way intersection at the top of that small mountain had no BMTA blazes, but does now. This should help first-timers on the trail. I also did some rock work to fill a washed-out place at the point where the trail climbs steeply from Lost Creek to the road. On the return trip, I used my 18 inch pruning saw to remove a number of saplings of the 2 to 4 inch variety and my hand-snips to remove a modest amount of brush and briars. Overall, the trail was in good condition from work Tom Smith and I did earlier this year. The new signs at the end of Lost Creek look great. Five or six dead trees have fallen and need removal. They lie flat or low enough to step over and most are a foot or less in diameter. Tom, this might be a job for this winter. Brushing and weeding won't be needed probably before May, but will by then. It was a cold day, starting at 27 degrees.

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Larry Dunn	2.5	6	8.5

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 Section 12a - Dry Pond Lead Trail (Ocoee-Hiwassee District) - Rick Harris and Bill Lundin travelled this trail from Kimsey Highway to the Ocoee River with crosscut saw. We cut out a few larger trees with crosscut and several smaller trees with hand saws. The trail is now clear of logs except for a large 18 inch pine just uphill of the powerline crossing outside of wilderness, about a half mile from the highway. Since this tree is outside of wilderness, we will go in with a long armed chain saw to take care of this one. [PS: Steve Biatowas went in Feb 2 and got the big log a half mile up the trail from US 64]

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Rick Harris 2 6.5 8.5

Bill Lundin

2.5

6.5

9

Totals

4.5

13

17.5

Saturday, February 25, 2012 - BMT Section 12d - McFarland Rd to Lost Creek CG - Four of us had planned to log out the Fodderstack Trail section of the BMT from Beech Gap to Pine Ridge Trail, but the key we were given by the USFS would not unlock the gate at Beech Gap. So we decided to log out section 12d. We left one vehicle at Lost Creek CG, then drove 2 vehicles to the McFarland Road crossing. We used chainsaw to clear about 10 trees off this 3.9 mile section of trail and used loppers to clear a fair amount of brush overhanging the trail. This section is now in great shape. A few signs are needed to be sure hikers have no trouble at intersections with the various wildlife roads. We will go back later to put up these posts.

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Rick Harris	0.5	8	8.5
Rick Foster	1	8	9
Tom Smith	1	8	9
Roger Taylor	1	8	9
Totals	3.5	32	35.5

Thursday, April 26, 2012 - BMTA AHS VV Day 4 - BMT Sections 12b - We worked on the section along Kimsey Highway north of the Ocoee River. We started out at the powerline crossing, brushing out this area, then redoing the tread up till the trail enters the woods. We then ate lunch, then went up to the wilderness sign from the Dry Pond Lead Trail. On the way up, we logged out this non-BMT 0.3 mile section. From the wilderness sign, we went north on the BMT doing much needed tread work to the first gap. (BMTA helpers were Rick Harris, Bob Ruby, Dick Evans, Joshua Pinson, David Blount, Bill Lundin, and USFS employee Matt Henry)

*Name*	*Travel Hours*	*Work Hours*	*Totals*
Richard Harris	0.5	8	8.5
Bob Ruby	0.5	8	8.5
Bill Lundin	3.5	8	11.5
Dick Evans	4	8	12
Joshua Pinson	4	8	12
David Blount	4.5	8	12.5
Matt Henry - USFS	0	8	80
John Carmichael - VV	0	8	80
Elizabeth Miller - VV	0	8	80
Mona Lloyd - VV	0	8	80
Karen Stearns - VV	0	8	80
Jim Kern - VV	0	8	80
Steve Rountree - VV	0	8	80
Patty Pikul - VV	0	8	80
Jane Greischar - VV	0	8	80
Gretta Farmer - VV	0	8	80
Totals	17	128	145

Friday, April 27, 2012 - BMT AHS VV Day #5 - BMT Sections 12d and 15c/16a - We first installed a sign on the McFarland Road section of the BMT where the trail leaves an old logging road and enters a wildlife road. We then went to Sandy Gap and installed a sign north from the gap and did tread work near Moss Gap. We also logged out the trail going south about 0.5 miles from Sandy Gap toward Six Mile Gap. (BMTA helpers were Rick Harris and Bob Ruby)

*Name*	*Travel Hours*	*Work Hours*	*Totals*
Richard Harris	0.5	7.5	8
Bob Ruby	0.5	7.5	8
John Carmichael - VV	0	7.5	7.5
Elizabeth Miller - VV	0	7.5	7.5
Mona Lloyd - VV	0	7.5	7.5
Karen Stearns - VV	0	7.5	7.5
Jim Kern - VV	0	7.5	7.5
Steve Rountree - VV	0	7.5	7.5
Patty Pikul - VV	0	7.5	7.5
Jane Greischar - VV	0	7.5	7.5
Gretta Farmer - VV	0	7.5	7.5
Totals	1	75	76

Tuesday, July 17, 2012 - BMT Section 12e - Lost Creek Section - After we received reports of many trees down on this section following a recent strong wind storm, and to open up the trail before the Mountain High Hikers trip scheduled for July 18, three of us went out with chain saw and hand saws and cleared numerous trees off this section, including 3 big complex multi-limbed messes. The trail is now easily passable. This was a very hot and muggy day, a pretty miserable day for trail maintenance. After we got off the trail, a fierce storm hit the area, one of those summer late afternoon storms. Hopefully, no new trees fell in the midst of the fury of the storm.

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Rick Harris	2.5	7	9.5
Larry Dunn	2.5	7	9.5
Jim DeBernardi	2	7	9
Totals	7	21	28

Thursday, August 14, 2012 - BMT Section 12e - Lost Creek Section - Tom Smith and Larry Dunn cleared Lost Creek on Thursday, August 16. We cleared not only the major treetop cluster caused by a large dead tree falling on several smaller live ones, but also another more recent one about a mile from the trailhead near the campground. This second one was a tree about 14 inches in diameter with a secondary tree under it.

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Larry Dunn	3.5	2.5	6
Tom Smith	2	2.5	4.5
Totals	5.5	5	10.5

Friday, September 7, 2012 - BMT Section 12a - Dry Pond Lead Section - New section maintainer Nathan McKee went out today to check out his new section and to brush it out. He brushed out about 3 or the 4 miles of the section and cut a few small trees, leaving behind 3 easy to step over trees which were too big for his hand saw. He plans to go out again and finish the job in a couple of weeks.

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Nathan McKee	2	4.5	6.5

Tuesday, October 9, 2012 - BMT Section 12b - Near Kimsey Highway - Following information from Dick Evans that the area under the powerline on Kimsey Hwy was very overgrown and it was hard to find the trail, I went up there today and brushed out the overgrown plantss and planted a new BMT directional sign to help people find their way.

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Rick Harris	2	1	3

Friday, October 19, 2012 - BMT Sections 12c-d - Kimsey Hwy to Lost Creek - We logged out this 7 mile section completely today. It had The before picture been reported by Dick Evans on his thru-hike of the BMT that this section had many, many logs across the trail, presumably from the big wind storm of July 5. We broke up into 4 separate sawyer groups: group 1 The after picture logged (Richard Sullivan, Steve Cartwright) logged from Lost Creek Campground south. Group 2 (Rick Harris, Steve Biatowas) logged from McFarland Road north, till they met Group 1. Group 3 (Dick Evans, Kim Hainge, Betty Petty, and Ralph Van Pelt) logged the areas immediately north and south of McFarland Road. Group 4 (Marc Bernatti, Tom Smith) logged out from Kimsey Hwy north toward McFarland Road till they met Group 3. In all probably 75 trees were cleared off the trail by all 4 crews. Otherwise the trail is in fairly good shape. Many of the trees were large oaks 24" or more in diameter, unfortunately.

*Name*	*Travel Hours*	*Work Hours*	*Totals*
Steve Cartwright	2.5	6.5	9
Richard Sullivan	2.5	6.5	9
Rick Harris	2	5.5	7.5
Steve Biatowas	1	5.5	6.5
Dick Evans	2	5	7
Kim Hainge	2	5	7
Betty Petty	4	2.5	6.5
Ralph Van Pelt	4	2.5	6.5
Marc Bernatti	1.5	4.5	6
Tom Smith	1.5	4.5	6
Totals	23	48	71

Friday, November 2, 2012 - BMT Section 12a - US64 to Kimsey Hwy - Section maintainer Nathan McKee was able to hike/clear his trail section on Friday. There was surprisingly little to clean up and he hiked fast, so he was able to do the work in 3.5 hours.

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Nathan McKee	2	3.5	5.5

Saturday, February 23, 2013 - Monthly BMTA TN/NC Work Trip - BMT Section 12e - Lost Creek Section

What: This month’s work trip is going to be to repair the trail on Lost Creek which has been undercut and partially collapsed from recent flooding. The task will be to build about 140’ of trail further from the bank which is where what is left of the current trail is still collapsing into Lost Creek due to the creek undercutting the bank.

When & Where: We will meet at the trail head on FS 103 aka Lost Creek Road at approx 0900 on 23 February. The walk to the maintenance point is about 1.9 miles from the Trail Head, is mostly flat walking and passes though the area I like to refer to as the “Lost Creek George” which is beautiful. Maintenance and walking time should be between 4-5 hours.

How: A good bit of the work will be done with chainsaws so we want to have two certified sawyers with some swampers to help them. One brush cutter which I will bring; and loppers, pulaskis, McLeod, fire rakes, etc will be needed for clearing the trail bed and some side hill work. If you want to bring your own tools, that is what Ernie encourages you to bring with you.

What to bring and prepare for: The average weather for this time is high around 53 and low around 34. There is not a lot of direct sunlight to the area most of the day so expect cool weather. Bring snacks, water, and appropriate clothing for the conditions. Water is plentiful if you want to get it from the creek, but you may want to have a way to filter/treat. If you have a hard hat and gloves please bring them. It is not hunting season, so vests should not be needed.

Ernie hopes to get about 10 people to help. So far he had about 3 promised to come. For more information, contact Ernie Engman at sgtrock@hikinghq.net.

On February 23^rd members of the BMTA with help from a non-members (who came in from Virginia) and Steve Biatowas of the NFS completed a minor re-location of the BMT along Lost Creek. Last month, Richard Sullivan had sent a report of approximately 60 feet of trail along the creek had eroded off into the creek during a recent series of rainstorms in the area. Or task was to clear out some old road bed adjacent to the wash out.

Instead of writing the trip up again and sending attachment pictures out, one of the maintainers, Shawn Basil, took some great pictures and did a good write up on my site at this address: http://hikinghq.net/forum/showthread.php?7286-Work-Maintenance-Trip-on-the-BMT-the-Heart-of-Darkness!&p=309237#post309237

*Name*	*Travel Hours*	*Work Hours*	*Totals*
Steve Biatowas	0.5	4	4.5
Clare Sullivan	2	4	6
Ed Sullivan	2	4	6
Shawn Basil	2.5	4	6.5
Fabian Hensley	3	4	7
Matthew Engman	3	4	7
Ernest Engman	3	4	7
William Engman	3	4	7
Totals	19	32	51

In addition to those photos, Clare Sullivan also took some pictures. I’ve attached those.

Steve Biatowas looked at this site for possible preventive measures we can incorporate to keep this from happening again. He is supposed to get with the hydrologist and see what we can feasibly do here. We also looked at a couple of other points along this section that could have issues in the future, but are not as pressing as this one.

So now the trail is open and restored. It should last a few years before anything else happens to it.