Benton MacKaye Trail Section 16 - Sandy Gap to Tellico River

Time Spent from Leaving to Returning: 30 hours (7.5x4=30 hours of maintenance work)

Wednesday, April 2, 2008: BMT Section 16d. Ken Jones and Rick Harris worked from the Sugar Mountain Road down to just above the crossing over the Bald River, about 1.25 miles, brushing the trail and removing 4 downfalls with axe. We stopped when we got to the big mess of jumbled trees you see to the left here. We will probably work on this next week. Time for Ken 10 hours and for Rick 9 hours, total 19 hours

Monday, April 21, 2008: Ken Jones worked on some carsonite sign post problems at various places. He started out by driving up the Sugar Mountain Gated Road to the BMT crossing point at the junction of BMT Sections 16d and 16e. He placed a new Adopt-A-Trail decal on the post for the BMT headed down toward the Upper Bald River for the Section adopted by Rick Harris. He then replaced the name tape for Betty Petty on the other post headed down toward the Tellico River. From there he drove up the North River Road checking all of the trail posts. The post for Big Indian Trail had been broken off at the ground. He sawed it off and was able to re-plant it. He then drove up the Sycamore Road to the Upper end of the Sycamore Trail where he replaced a name tape on the Adopt-A-Trail decal. From there he drove up to Beech Gap to work on the carsonite post for Fodderstack/ BMT. When he was in there last Thursday the post had been pulled up. He propped it up by the Wilderness Sign last week, but it was nowhere to be found yesterday. He put up a new post, and got all of the correct decals on it except for the horse symbol for designated horse trail (which he didn’t have in the decal box). He will have to put one of these on the post at the next opportunity.

Volunteer Hours = 6

Thursday, May 8, 2008: BMT Section 16c. We began work on logging out all of the blowdowns on Brookshire Creek Trail today. We started up the trail from the Bald River Road, Campsite 11 trailhead and sawed out 10 trees to the intersection of the BMT, at the confluence of Brookshire Creek and the Bald River. One of the last of these was a 14” maple with a lot of weight on it. After sawing about ½ way down from the top, it began to barber chair up the middle, resulting in us getting the crosscut saw stuck about 1” from the bottom of the log. We had to chop the saw out, so we spent almost and hour making sure we could finish this tree safely. After lunch we started up the BMT Section 16c toward Sledrunner Gap. On this section we sawed another 4 trees off the trail, but cleared almost a mile up from the intersection.

As we were walking up along side Brookshire Creek, a huge unseen tree fell just across the creek and up the next ridge. This had to be a Big tree, as the fall sounded like several charges of explosives going off. John also got to see a ground hog up close that was out for an afternoon stroll.

Here is our volunteer time for the day:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Ken Jones

2.5

6.5

9

Tazz Reid

2.5

6.5

9

John Kalabus

3

6.5

9.5

Totals

8

19.5

27.5

Thursday, May 22, 2008: We continued our work on logging out the Brookshire Creek Trail yesterday, BMT Section 16c. We started in from the lower trailhead at Henderson Creek, and hiked up the trail about 3 miles to the first blowdowns where we stopped on May 8^th. We packed in two crosscut saws and actually had both saws going at once in several of the trees. We also had to saw two of the largest locusts that I have every seen (about 12” and 14”) right in a row as we worked our way up the trail. We cleared a total of 16 trees, and worked up to a spot about 1.5 miles from the upper trailhead.

Tazz and I had talked about a hazardous problem spot in the trail where there was nothing but large rocks running for about 100’. This spot is also a wet area and becomes a stream channel for Brookshire Creek in high water events. When we reached this location, we decided to look for a possible reroute around this spot. What we found was an old abandoned trail section that also contained a tree with an old painted blaze. This meant that the reroute was actually part of the original trail, and no NEPA work was required. We sawed out trees, chopped out roots, moved rocks, and cleared Rhododendron to open up this much needed reroute. This completed work for 0.1 mile of Trail Improvement for Brookshire Creek Trail.

Here is our volunteer time for the work trip:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Ken Jones

2

8

10

Tazz Reid

2

8

10

Jim Holland

3

8

11

Linda Pringle

3

8

11

Totals

10

32

42

Thursday, May 29, 2008: We continued our work yesterday in logging out all of the horse trails in Tellico Ranger District. We spent the day working on the lower half of BMT Section 16d of the Benton MacKaye Trail. We went in from the Bald River Road on Brookshire Creek Trail, then continued on the BMT Upper Bald River Section to the point that Rick Harris and I worked in to from the Sugar Mountain Lead side on April 2^nd. This was the location of a big blowdown blocking the trail. After clearing this blowdown, we turned around and worked our way back toward Brookshire Creek clearing all of the blowdowns. Rick also spent a lot of time in brushing out his section. We cleared a total of 14 blowdowns for the day. This work completes logging out all of the blowdowns on Section 16d in the last 2 months.

As we stopped to clear one of the blowdowns, we flushed a turkey near the trail. We found that she was sitting on a nest of 9 eggs about 30’ below the trail. When we returned to the trail head at Campsite 11, we met two young fishermen that were headed up the Bald River to fish the native brook trout. They we very complimentary of our work in keeping the trails clear for them.

Here is our time for the day:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Ken Jones

3

6.5

9.5

Clayton Pannell

3

6.5

9.5

Jim Holland

3

6.5

9.5

Rick Harris

2

7

9

Totals

11

26.5

37.5

Thursday, June 26, 2008: We continued out work logging out Brookshire Creek Trail BMT Section 16c this past Thursday. We made the long drive to the upper trailhead in the wildlife clearing on the shoulder of Beaverdam Bald. It takes about 1 ½ hours just to get there from the Ranger Station. We knew that we had one large tree down that turned out to be ¾ miles down from the wildlife clearing. We cleared this tree, as well as 5 others for the day. This work completed logging out all 6 miles of Brookshire Creek Trail with the crosscut saws. It also was another major milestone for Tellico District Trails, completing the logout of all of the horse trails in the District (50 miles) since February.

Here is our time for the trip:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Ken Jones

3

3

6

Tazz Reid

3

3

6

Jim Holland

3

3

6

Totals

9

9

18

Monday, October 27, 2008: We had a large crew to work on the Benton MacKaye Trail sections on both sides of Sugar Mountain yesterday, BMT Sections 16d-e. Six of us drove in the gated Sugar Mountain Road to intersect the BMT, while two others started brush out work from the Fish Hatchery. At the top of the mountain, four of us hiked about a mile down toward the Bald River to work on a short ¼ mile side hill section of the trail. We worked to improve the two switchbacks, removed some of the berm from the tread, and dug about a half dozen water turnouts. After completing that work, we hiked back to the vehicles and started down toward the Fish hatchery with some people joining the brush out crew. Two of the crew worked on logging out to the River Road, clearing 11 trees, with one of these being difficult and time consuming very near the road. We also sawed one tree off the Sugar Mountain Wildlife Road driving in, and chopped 1 tree off the Wilderness Study Area (WSA) Trail Section 16d. I estimate that the brush out crew completed over 1 mile of trail down from the top, and the remaining portion to the River Road was completed this past summer. There is one large tree (~30” diameter) down just a few hundred yards inside the WSA on Section 16d that will require a lot of crosscut work in the future to completely clear it from the trail. Someone has already notched it out so that horses and hikers can easily get over it.

Here is our volunteer time for the work trip:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Ken Jones

3.5

5

8.5

Tazz Reid

3

5

8

Jim Holland

4

5

9

Bobby Mitchell

3.5

5

8.5

Rick Harris

3

5

8

Bill Geiszler

3.5

5

8.5

Betty Petty

5

5

10

Ralph VanPelt

5

5

10

Totals

30.5

40

70.5

Sunday, March 29, 2009: Eight BMTA members worked on Benton MacKaye Trail Section 16a from Sandy Gap to Round Top. We brushed out the entire 3.5 mile section except for about a half mile over the top of Hazelnut. We logged out the trail from Sandy Gap to most of the way up Hazelnut. We will have to go back soon to finish off the little bit of brushing out and about a mile of logging out from Hazelnut to Round Top. The day was chilly and windy. We saw a few snow flakes but no heavy precipitation. Afterwards, we went to Liz Carter and Butch Horn's home on Appalachia Lake for a great dinner of wine, lasagna, salad and a wonderful desert provided by Pam Sullivan. It was a very successful day of trail work. We accomplished in one day most of what we had planned to accomplish in two days. The Saturday trip was canceled due to heavy rains and raging winds.
Richard Harris, work time 8 hours, travel time 2.5 hours
Butch Horn, work time 5 hours, travel time, 1 hour
Liz Carter, work time 5 hours, travel time 1 hour
George Owen, work time 8 hours, travel time 3 hours
Eric Eades, work time 9 hours, travel time 3 hours
Pam Sullivan, work time 5 hours, travel time 3 hours
Richard Sullivan, work time 8 hours, travel time 3 hours
Bob Ruby, work time 8 hours, travel time 5 hours
TOTAL VOLUNTEER TIME: 56 + 21.5 = 77.5 HOURS
Wednesday, April 1, 2009: Rick Harris, Liz Carter, Butch Horn, and Kendall Hobson scouted out a new shortcut to the middle of the Heart of Darkness (BMT Section 16a). We found a 4-wheeler trail from Nantahala National Forest Road 88 to Round Top which is about 1.5 miles long and is fairly clear and not too steep. A link to the map of the shortcut is at the top of this page.
Rick Harris, travel time 2 hours, work time 4 hours
Liz Carter, travel time 2 hours, work time 4 hours
Butch Horn, travel time 2 hours, work time 4 hours
Kendall Hobson, travel time 0.5 hours, work time 4 hours
Friday, April 24, 2009: Rick Harris, Eric Eades, Ken Jones, Bill Hodge and Jeff Hunter today went on a grueling trail maintenance trip to the Heart of Darkness on BMT Section 16a to paint trail signs, brush out and log the trail from Round Gap to Hazelnut. This was a finishing-off trip from last month's TN/NC Maintenance Trip. We did not accomplish all our goals. We went in via the new shortcut, but found the trail to be quite grueling in the heat. We reached Round Top about noon. Rick and Jeff logged out the trail from Round Top to Nit Top (about 15 trees). The others went all the way to Hazelnut to check out the flagging we had done last trip. The route we flagged, according to Ken, is not the true route. It is the route mostly used by 4-wheelers. But it is much clearer of logs and will be much easier to maintain since it is off the ridgetop and in healthy hardwoods. Thus we will relocate the trail along the 4-wheeler route with a detour to the USGS Benchmark. Some painting and brush cutting was done, but not much since the decision was to discuss the reroute with the entire group before proceeding. Thus we will need to make an additional trip up there to accomplish this. In the meantime, the route is easy to follow by hikers, since the route is marked with yellow ribbons.
Rick Harris, travel time 5 hours, work time 5 hours
Ken Jones, travel time 6 hours, work time 5 hours
Bill Hodge, travel time 5.5 hours, work time 5 hours
Eric Eades, travel time 7 hours, work time 5 hours
Jeff Hunter, travel time 7 hours, work time 5 hours
TOTAL HOURS: 30.5 + 25 = 55.5 Hours

April 26, 2009: BMT Section 16d. Here is the report that I recieved from Arlin Phillips. He said that they cleared everything from campsite 11 to Sugar Mtn Rd. for a total of 15 "big trees". I think the date was April 26th. The following times include travel time.

Arlin Phillips 7 hours
Randy Phillips 7 hours
Gary Clark 9 hours
Roy Hutsell 9 hours
Saturday, June 6, 2009: BMT Sections 16d and 16e. Rick & Brenda Harris did a walkthrough from the Bald River Road, up the Brookshire Creek Trail to the intersection with the BMT, then up the Upper Bald River section to Sugar Mtn Road, then down the BMT to the Tellico River Road. The report was completed and submitted. In general both sections are in fairly good shape. Section 16d needs brushing out but there are no significant logs across the trail Section 16e has several logs across the trail and only needs minimaly brushing out. Hours are as follows:
Rick Harris, travel time 1 hours, work time 5 hours
Brenda Harris, travel time 1 hour, work time 5 hours
TOTAL VOLUNTEER HOURS: 12 hours

Monday, June 16, 2009: We got a lot of work accomplished yesterday on the Benton MacKaye Trail Section 16e from Pheasant Fields Picnic Area up to Sugar Mountain Lead (1400’ elevation gain). The saw crew logged out all of the section, clearing 17 trees with the chainsaw. This section had been previously logged out and brushed out this past October. The section maintainers, Betty Petty and Ralph VanPelt, worked hard brushing out all of the seasonal growth from the worst portions of the trail. It was very hot and humid, so we all certainly enjoyed the downhill trip back to our vehicles at the end of the day.

Here are the volunteer hours for this work trip:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Ken Jones

1.5

6

7.5

Ed Ley

3

6

9

Betty Petty

3

6

9

Ralph VanPelt

3

6

9

Totals

10.5

24

34.5

Monday, July 20, 2009: Benton MacKaye Trail sections 16c and 16d. Southern Appalachian Back Country Horsemen (SABCH) Jim Holland and Tazz Reid logged out all of section 16d and most of Section 16c almost to the confluence of Brookshire Creek and the Bald River. Jim is also a BMTA member and does maintenance work on the BMT close to his home in northern GA . This section of trail is designated as a horse trail and a hiking trail. Jim and Tazz filed the following trip report:
Tazz Reid and Jim Holland logged out all of section 16d and most of section 16c almost to the confluence of Brookshire Creek and the Bald River. Our intent was to just ride the
right leg along Brookshire Creek about a 1/2 mile and cut two large trees (one big pine and a HUGE locust) that Leslie, Hugh, and I ran into a few weeks ago. Since there were sections of the left leg along Bald River both of us had not seen, we just decided to make the loop. Leslie, Hugh, and I missed the turn off onto the Benton MacKaye from Sugar Mountain road riding it counterclockwise last time. It is very obvious going clockwise, but you have to look behind you to see it going counterclockwise, but I still don't see how all three of us rode past it.

We had lunch in one of the feedlots on Beaver Dam Bald Road and after negotiating with the construction equipment people to shut down long enough to let us by, we were doing great, since I knew that there was not much to cut on the way back except the two big trees. Famous last words...the "Blowdown from Hell" was less than a 100 yards above the first big tree. One of the trees in this thing was a giant springpole...the root ball end barber chaired twice while we were cutting it...and we were cutting it head high standing on the trees below. It's actually worse than it looks in the picture, since it fell right over a small drainage, which gave us no level footing.

After cutting our way through that...I counted at least 12 cuts with a crosscut and some axing...we came to the big locust. We got about 3/4 of the way through the first cut and although we tried to wedge, the locust was so hard and the kerf was so small, the wedges kept bouncing out. We got the saw hung and there was no way we were going to chop it out with an axe before dark. Finally we used the Boy's Axe as a wedge and managed to free the saw. It was getting dark, so we decided not to push our luck and come back later for the two trees and several smaller ones between there and the trailhead. I left home Monday morning at 6:30AM and got home a few minutes before 10:00PM....a long day, and one to remember, but you can't complain about being out there on such a beautiful day with cool temperatures, no flies or gnats, in good company and your horses along...in JULY!
Tazz's description of the long long day of work: It was 51 degrees when Jim Holland and I met at Tellico Hardees early in the morning, and headed up to log out Brookshire Creek with our horses. We rode the loop in a clockwise direction. We cut out 11 trees, 4 of which were in the worst blowdown mess I've ever encountered. They had come down with tops in the trail and what seemed like miles of grapevines (Jim has photos of this). To make matters worse, it was at the end of the day, and we were tired. We hadn't tied the horses all day, and they had been content to stand and watch as we ran the crosscut. I guess after about an hour in this mess, they got bored and remembered the good grass in the wildlife field below Beaver Dam Bald. I saw them just as they topped the hill heading away. Due to the fact that Jim is in better shape, and I was on the other side of the blowdown mess, he got a big jump on me, and finally caught one of them about a mile up the trail, which was a considerable elevation change! From then on we tied them up when we dismounted. It was getting dark in the hollers by the time we got out.

Everything is logged out between the confluence of Brookshire Creek and Bald River up to Sugar Mtn Rd. Also everything from the wildlife field at the top of Brookshire Creek Horse Trail almost to the big crossing of Brookshire Creek. There are still 7 or 8 more trees to log out, and we hope to get back to them soon.

Another bit of excitement we had with the horses was when we encountered a big dozer and a track hoe tearing down trees along Beaver Dam Bald Road.
Volunteer hours for the work trip:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Tazz Reid

1

12

13

Jim Holland

3

12

15

Totals

4

24

28

Friday, July 24, 2009: Benton MacKaye Trail Section 16a, Sandy Gap to Round Top. Rick Harris joined Eric Eades for a long day of work brushing out Eric's section today. We brushed out from Sandy Gap to the gap past Hazelnut, a total distance of 2.7 miles. We will have to go back another day to finish the brushing out from there to Round Top and the additional ~1 mile past Round Top to where we quit on last month's BMTA Work Trip. Rick was considering taking his chain saw to cut out the logs over the top of Hazelnut, about 15 trees or so, but Eric talked him out of it and instead Rick took his brushcutter. It was a good decision, because all the logs have been already cut out by the 4-wheelers which sneak up onto the BMT. Those 4-wheelers are good for something, keeping the Heart of Darkness passable. The 4-wheelers also make the brushing out go faster, since their wheels also keep the trail somewhat cleared. Rick's brushcutter threw off its head just before we were ready to stop. He never found the head but did find the rest of the hardware. Now he has to make another trip to the repair shop. Too bad, the cutter blade costs about $25. Luckily, the blade sailed off away from Rick so there was no danger to him.

Volunteer hours for the work trip:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Eric Eades

4

8

12

Rick Harris

3

9

12

Totals

7

17

24

Thursday, July 30, 2009: Benton MacKaye Trail Section 16a-b, Sledrunner Gap to Sandy Gap. Five of us met in Tellico Plains at 8AM, then went to Tellico Grains for breakfast, then drove to Beaverdam Bald, arriving there about 10:30 AM just as it started raining. Thankfully, the shower only lasted 5 minutes or so. We headed down to Sledrunner Gap with 4 brushcutters and one chain saw. Our plans were also to paint blazes, but the weather precluded this. We cleared to Round Top, but unfortunately accidentally followed the 4-wheeler side track all the way to Rose Top before we realized our mistake. We slugged our way back up to Round Top and found our correct trail, which was hard to see because it was so overgrown. We resumed clearing but not thoroughly because we lost so much time on our "detour" that we were going to miss our 4PM meeting time at Sandy Gap with Liz Carter and Butch Horn. We did get the logs completely cleared and the trail is very passable the whole way with just a short stretch which is not in A1 condition. We do need to go back and repaint blazes. This will probably happen in the next week or two when there is a break in the rainy weather. As we were hiking out on the previously cleared segment near Sandy Gap, we got hit by another strong wind/rain storm, but then the sun came back out. Four of our group reached Sandy Gap at 6PM and two arrived at 7PM. All were very tired and bedraggled. It was most unfortunate we got off the trail by accident and lost so much time. But, it is done and over with. We then drove back to Tellico Plains, retrieved our vehicles off Beaverdam Bald and some of us returned to the Harris's home for a late and much welcomed meal of hamburgers and the usual fixings. The road to Beaverdam Bald is now completely widened, graded, and cleared to the top and the last mile or so will be covered with gravel probably in the next week or so, making the trip up there a breeze, compared to what it used to be like. We also did not get the spring repair work done, due to time considerations. Thus we need to go back soon to finish off a little brushing, fix the springs and paint blazes.

Volunteer hours for the work trip:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Rick Harris

6.5

8.5

15.0

Eric Eades
9.0

8.5

17.5

Jeff Hunter
10.0

7.5

17.5

Ralph Heller 7.5 7.5 15.0

Tom Waters 5.0 7.5 12.5

Liz Carter 8.5 0 8.5

Butch Horn
8.5

0

8.5

Totals

55

39.5

94.5

Monday, August 3, 2009: BMT Section 16a - Sandy Gap to Round Top - Rick Harris and Kendall Hobson went in from Sandy Gap and repainted the blazes to Round Top, cleaned out the spring and campsite at Hazelnut Gap and the spring at Round Top, and finished off the brushing of the section near Round Top. We hiked out via the shortcut off Round Top to Kendall's Jeep . We saw two bear near Hazelnut Gap in the same spot we saw a bear bedding area along the edge of the trail on a previous trip. The bear just wandered into the woods and grunted at us as we went on by with our vicious brush cutters.

Volunteer hours for the work trip:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Rick Harris

5

8.5

13.5

Kendall Hobson 2 8.5 10.5

Totals

7

17

24

Tuesday, August 4, 2009: BMT Section 16b - Round Top to Sled Runner Gap - Rick Harris and his Golden Retriever Jake went out alone to refresh the blazes on this section, entering and exiting from Beaverdam Bald. All the blazes are now refreshed in the Heart of Darkness and this section is completely logged and brushed out. IT IS DONE! Jake and I ate lunch by the Round Top Spring, which I had just cleaned out yesterday. Without any machines to make noise and just painting with Jake, we saw lots of wildlife, including: 2 bear, 3 sets of hogs (2, 1, and 10), 3 red tailed hawks, and a red headed woodpecker which flew right in front of us, crossing the trail about 6 feet in front of us. The bear wandered away when they saw us and the hogs ran away quickly except for the group of ten which we ran into on Beaverdam Bald when we returned to my truck. I had just taken Jake off the leash and did not notice the hogs right there in the open. How blind can I be? He ran after the hogs and they ran into the woods with Jake behind them. There was a lot of grunting noises and Jake was barking like crazy. I was going crazy with worry about whether Jake was going to get gored. But he eventually came back all happy and cocky like he was trying to tell me he had just saved my life by chasing the boar away. A big relief for me that Jake was unharmed.

Volunteer hours for the work trip:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Rick Harris

2

7

9

Totals

2

7

9

Thursday, August 20, 2009: We spent the day completing the log out work that Tazz and Jim previously started on July 20^th. We cleared 7 trees on the portion of Brookshire Creek that is also BMT Section 16c, with one of these being the biggest locust that I have ever sawed with a crosscut. Tazz and Jim had started cutting this one at the end of their workday. A steel wedge and plastic wedge were used to get the saw in and complete the cuts. We cleared an additional 5 trees on the portion of Brookshire Creek that is not a part of the BMT, from the confluence of Brookshire Creek and the Bald River back downstream to campsite 11 on the Bald River Road. We also filled up a hole in a rusted out culvert with rocks on this portion of the trail. Several horses had broken through the top of the culvert into the hole. Our work should fix this hazard, although the culvert won’t be much good for its intended purpose. This is not a problem for this particular culvert since it does not drain much water and was already filled in with dirt.

Here are the volunteer hours for this work trip:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Ken Jones

3

5

8

Tazz Reid

2.5

5

7.5

Bobby Mitchell

3

5

8

John Kalabus

4.5

5

9.5

Totals

13

20

33

Tuesday, October 27, 2009: BMT Section 16d - Sugar Mtn to Brookshire Creek. Four of us on this very wet rainy day logged and brushed out this section of the BMT. We left a car at the Brookshire Creek Trailhead on Bald River Road, then drove up to the crossing of the BMT over Sugar Mtn. Using swing blades and loppers, we brushed out the trail. We also logged 5 trees off the trail with crosscut saw. It was so rainy, we never stopped for lunch. However we had just finished all-you-can-eat pancakes at the Prospectors Mining Company in Tellico Plains. Most of the way we were slogging down pooled water on the trail tread, especially down past the crossing of Brookshire Creek. The Bald River and Brookshire Creek were very high and we all got water into our boots. We were all tired and soggy when we finished.

Here are the volunteer hours for this work trip:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Rick Harris

3

6

9

Jeff Hunter

5

6

11

Bill Hodge

3

6

9

Rick Foster

3

6

9

Totals

14

24

38

Friday, October 30, 2009: BMT Section 16d - Sugar Mtn to Brookshire Creek. On Friday October 30, several folks walked the Benton MacKaye Trail from Sugar Mountain Road down to the Brookshire Creek Trailhead on Holly Flats Road (campsite 11). We picked up two large contractor bags of trash off the trail - just north of where the BMT fords Brookshire Creek for the last time. We also placed a lock on the access gate on Sugar Mountain Road. Here are the volunteer hours:

Jeff Hunter 5 hours travel 4 hours volunteering Total 9 hours

Mark Shelley 5 hours travel 4 hours volunteering Total 9 hours

Will Skelton 3.5 hours travel 4 hours volunteering Total 7.5 hours

Total 25.5 hours
Wednesday, November 4, 2009: BMT Section 16a-b, Sledrunner Gap to Hazelnut. Rick and Brenda Harris and their golden retriever Jake returned to the Heart of Darkness on this beautiful crystal clear cool breezy day to convert the orange blazes marking the two springs with subdued blue blazes. This was to appease the bloggers on www.whiteblaze.com who have been talking about our orange blazes. We went in by the shortcut to Round Top (1000 foot climb over 1.5 miles) to the Round Top Spring where we obliterated the orange blazes and sparsely replaced them with blue diamond blazes. We also obliterated the X's on the trees to prevent hikers from going down the shortcut we just came up, which is a much more obvious trail than the BMT. Hopefully noone will make the mistake we as maintainers did earlier this year when we went down the shortcut for about a mile before we discovered our mistake and ended up getting off the trail at Sandy Gap right at darktime. We also went to the spring and campsite northeast of Hazelnut and obliterated those orange blazes and replaced them with new blue blazes.
Volunteer hours are below:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Rick Harris

3

5

8

Brenda Harris

3

5

8

Totals

6

10

16

Thursday, December 17, 2009: BMT Section 16e - Ralph Van Pelt and Betty Petty walked their section today from the Tellico Road to Sugar Mountain Road. They removed debris and small trees from the trail and clipped and removed some sawbriars that had fallen on the trail. There were 4 downed trees that were too big for them to tackle; all in the first mile of the trail southbound from the Tellico River Road. All were single trunks that could easily be stepped over. There was one 1' 6" hardwood about a quarter mile in and a rotting pine about 6' a few yards further on. The most serious problem was a 12' pine (widow-maker) over the trail at the 2nd switchback onto the old road. It was no obstruction to the trail but potentially dangerous as it was held aloft over the trail by a slender sapling. There was a 2 ' pine flat on the ground about a quarter mile beyond this. There was some hog damage to the tread about a mile in. Other than that the section is in good shape. Removal of these trees could wait until we see what else falls this winter since the trail is easily passible.

Volunteer hours for this work trip were as follows:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Betty Petty 4 5 9

Ralph Van Pelt

4

5

9

Totals

8

10

18

Wednesday, January 27, 2010: BMT Sections 16c/16d/16e - Brookshire Creek to Tellico River. After staging some vehicles, we began the day by logging out the Sugar Mountain Wildlife Road up to the BMT intersection. From that point we split into a chainsaw crew for Section 16e and a crosscut crew for Sections 16d and a lower portion of Brookshire Creek Trail / BMT Section 16c.

The chainsaw crew consisted of Ken Jones, Greg Kirkland and Rick Foster. We logged out all of this 2.4 mile Section clearing a dozen trees, with one being about 24” in diameter. We also dropped a couple of snags that would have fallen across the trail. This section is currently clear of any blowdowns. We noticed a number of spots that need the blazes re-painted when the weather warms up again.

The crosscut saw crew consisted of Rick Harris, Larry Dunn, and Bill Hodge. They cleared 11 trees off of Section 16d, and 5 trees off Section 16c. With the work performed last Saturday, both of these Sections are currently clear of any blowdowns. They also cleared some small trees from the portion of Brookshire Creek Horse Trail from the BMT intersection down to Campsite 11 on the Bald River Road. There remains another 9 trees on this portion of trail that will have to be cleared at a future date.

Here are the volunteer hours for today’s work trip:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Ken Jones

1.5

10

11.5

Rick Foster

1.5

6

7.5

Rick Harris

1

9

10

Bill Hodge

1

9

10

Larry Dunn

3

9

11

Totals

8

43

51

Wednesday, February 10, 2010: Brookshire Creek Trail - Bill Hodge and Rick Harris met at the Ranger Station at 8AM, then headed toward the Bald River Road. Our plan was to unlock the gate recently closed due to poor road conditions from all the rain and snow. However, while it was actively snowing, the lock to the gate was one solid hunk of ice. Rick tried to break the ice off and get the gate open. Then Bill tried. We had no matches and the cigarette lighter in Rick's Jeep had long been replaced with all the gadget cords for recharging cell phones and the like. No luck. We gave up and returned to the Ranger Station. Bill did take Rick to Bill's unique house in Coker Creek, made of rustic materials (but with a modern kitchen and a big screen TV). The kitchen used to be the feeding station for the llamas of the prior owner.
The volunteer hours for the work trip, with no work accomplished were as follows:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Rick Harris

2

0

2

Bill Hodge

2.5

0

2.5

Totals

4.5

0

4.5

Saturday, March 27, 2010: BMTA Saw-A-Thon #3 - See this link.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010: BMT Section 16a - Eric Eades and Rick Harris logged out the BMT from Sandy Gap to Round Top. They sawed 28 trees with chain saw until they came to a section about a half mile from Round Top where is was obvious that the trail had already been logged by 4-wheelers. Many smaller trees were also pulled off the trail. While doing maintenance, we met a thru-hiker, "Bodacious" (John Bodette?), on is way southbound. He was very complimentary of the status of the trail maintenance. Volunteer hours were as follows:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Rick Harris

2

7

9

Eric Eades

4

7

11

Totals

6

14

20

Sunday, April 4, 2010: Brookshire Creek Trail - Bill Hodge hiked the Brookshire Creek Trail over the weekend and cleared about five trees between campsite 11 and the confluence of the Bald and Brookshire Creek. There are about 5 more that would require a cross-cut in that stretch and the one that needs to be cut for horse passage up above the first ford of Brookshire itself. Jeff and I are discussing a Kirkland Creek workday for Tennessee Wild, and we might be able to hit this stretch the same day. The good news is someone had cleared the crown of the tree that Tipi Walter had mentioned, and with what I could clear Sunday the trail is passable. Volunteer hours are as follows:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Bill Hodge

1.5

3

4.5

Tuesday, April 14, 2010: Brookshire Creek Trail - Greg Kirkland and Bill Hodge logged out the Brookshire Creek Trail top to bottom. It is now clear of trees. It could use a 'limbing and brushing' trip. The two of them cleared 10-12 trees off the trail.

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Bill Hodge

1

8

9

Saturday, June 12, 2010: BMT Section 16b - Sledrunner Gap to Round Top - John Mason and Kendall Hobson took care of the tree south of Rocky Top (they are both chain saw certified). They brushed out past Rocky Top toward Round Top. They will come in from Round Top to brush the rest of our section when Kendall can line up more help. Volunteer hours are as follows:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Kendall Hobson

3

4.5

7.5

John Mason

3

4.5

7.5

Totals

6

9

15

Tuesday, July 6, 2010: BMT Section 16c - Sledrunner Gap to Bald River - Jeff Hunter, his daughter Susan and Bill Hodge worked on brushing out the Brookshire Creek Trail yesterday. We completed the Benton MacKaye section of the trail down from Sled Runner Gap to the confluence of Brookshire Creek and the Bald River. The trail from the confluence out to campsite 11 is not in too bad of shape though it could use a quick lopping and brushing trip. We did remove a few small trees from across the trail, and cleared the trail high enough for horses. There are no problem trees at this point across the trail.

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Jeff Hunter

3

9

11

Bill Hodge
1
9 10

Susan Hunter

3

9

11

Totals

7

27

32

Wednesday, July 14, 2010: BMT Section 16a - Sandy Gap to Round Top - Four of us tackled brushing out the Benton MacKaye Trail from Sandy Gap going north toward Round Top. The trail was pretty overgrown in some places and we only made it as far as the gap just north of Hazelnut Knob (about 2.5 miles). We did a good job of clearing the trail, and I promised Eric Eades I would get back in there with him to finish his section soon. I am not sending this to Greg as it is technically a Nantahala National Forest Trail.

The hours are as follows;

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Bill Hodge

1

8

9

Bobby Mitchell
2.5
8 10.5

Eric Eades 5 8 13

Ken Jones

2.5

8

10.5

Totals

11

32

43

Friday, August 22, 2010: Brookshire Creek Trail - Laura and I worked on the first mile (going in from Campsite 11) of the Brookshire Creek Trail on Friday. That stretch is now logged out and brushed out and I would consider it maintained to standard. The top 3.6 miles is already complete. This leaves the 1 mile section from the Bald River Ford up to the BMT intersection to brush out.
Here are the hours;

Bill Hodge - 3 hours - 1 hour travel
Laura Hodge - 3 hours - 1 hour travel

Wednesday, September 15, 2010: BMT Section 16a - Sandy Gap to Round Top - Today, Larry Dunn, Ken Jones, and Eric Eades (section maintainer) finished brushing out the trail from the gap north of Hazelnut to Round Top. Ken went on ahead, as I was sucking wind, to make sure we got finished, and I think he even went a bit ahead of there. There are no additional blowdowns or hornets (they are gone, and the 2nd hornet site got brushed out). The area that we did in July is still in good, but not great, shape. It is very passable for the entire length. It is in good shape for the Sierra Club backpack scheduled the weekend of Oct 2.

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Eric Eades

4.5

7.5

12

Ken Jones 2.5 7.5 10

Larry Dunn 3.25 7.5 10.75

Totals
10.25 22.5 32.75

Thursday, October 21, 2010: BMT Section 16e - Tellico River to Sugar Mtn - Betty Petty and Monty Simmons cleared Betty's section of the BMT of two blowdowns and brushed out the trail. There are a few remaining stepovers to clear in the spring with the spring Saw-A-Thon, but nothing that currently is a problem. Volunteer hours are below:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Betty Petty

4.5

5.5

10

Monty Simmons
4.5
5.5 10

Totals

9

11

20

Thursday, October 21, 2010: BMT Section 16b - Round Top to Sledrunner Gap - Kendall Hobson and his crew worked on their section to clear brush off his section of trail. This section is now in great shape. Of special note, the FS has created a ditch at the base of the ATV track off Copper Creek Road up to Round Top to discourage ATV traffic. We thank them for this. Volunteer hours are as below:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Kendall Hobson

2

4

6

John Mason
2
4 6

Glenn Crowe 2 4 6

Kendall's wife

4

0

4

Totals

10

12

22

Saturday, November 20, 2010: BMT Section 16a - Sandy Gap to Round Top - Four maintainers cleared about 8 large trees and several smaller trees with chain saws from the BMT from Sandy Gap to about a quarter mile past the campsite/spring at the gap on the north side of Hazelnut. Volunteer hours are below:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Rick Harris

2

8

10

Bobby Mitchell

2
8 10

Larry Dunn
1 8 9

Tom Smith

1

8

9

Totals

6

32

38

Friday, March 26, 2011 - BMT Section 16e - Sugar Mtn to Tellico River - Ken Jones and Rick Harris decided on the whim to go up to Sugar Mtn and clear the huge tree across the BMT just north of the Sugar Mtn Road crossing. The road up was dry and rain was coming in, so "clear trails while the sun shines". The huge oak had spread its branches across the trail in a huge impenetrable mess. It took us a little over and hour, but we got the job done. Most of the time was driving up and back. Going up Sugar Mtn Road we had to clear several trees off the roadway with chainsaw. In places the wild boar had made a major mess of the roadway. Volunteer hours are as follows:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Rick Harris

1

3

4

Ken Jones

1.5
3 4.5

Totals

2.5

6

8.5

April 18, 2011 - BMT Sections 16c-d - Sledrunner Gap to Sugar Mtn - Arlin Phillips and a friend Jeff Pike on horse logged out the BMT from Sugar Mtn down the Upper Bald River drainage to the Brookshire Creek Crossing and on up the Brookshire Creek Trail to the Beaverdam Bald Road, then over to the horse trail connecting to the Sugar Mtn Road. Also they logged out the Brookshire Creek Trail on down to the Bald River Road. Arlin and Jeff are SABCH members (Southern Appalachian Back Country Horsemen). Thanks, guys, for you hard work which benefits the horsemen and the hikers and backpackers. Volunteer hours are as follows:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Arlin Phillips

2

6

8

Jeff Pike

2
6 8

Totals

4

12

16

Saturday, May 28, 2011 - BMTA TN/NC Work Trip - BMT Section 16b - Sledrunner Gap to Round Top - While everyone else was grilling hot dogs and hamburgers in the 90 degree heat, 4 maintainers got out on this beautiful day keeping cool in the 4000' elevations of Beaverdam Bald and Rocky Top. We brushed out about a mile of trail and cleared a few downfalls. This section was in good shape, much better than in past years. It is obvious it is getting quite a bit of hiker traffic, probably as a result of our TN/NC BMT Guide. On this trip were two new maintainers, "Freckles" and "Sprite", both of whom thru-hiked the AT in 2008. They have done maintenance trips on the AT, but this was their first on the BMT. They plan to come out more often, since the BMT is in their backyard. They live just down the mountain side from this section on the NC side. Kendall Hobson, section maintainer, brought them along. Volunteer hours are as follows:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Kendall Hobson

2.5

5

7.5

Greta Farmer "Freckles"

2.5
5 7.5

Shirley Adams "Sprite"
2.5 5 7.5

Rick Harris

1.5

5

6.5

Totals

9

20

29

Friday, June 3, 2011 - BMT TN/NC Work Trip - BMT Section 16e - Sugar Mtn to Tellico River - Betty Petty, Ralph Van Pelt and Rick Harris logged and brushed out Betty and Ralph's section of the BMT on this quite warm but clear day. The flame azalea and mountain laurel were out in full bloom. This section of the mountain side is especially full of mountain laurel. We cleared two very large trees and several smaller trees off the trail corridor. This section is now in good shape. Volunteer hours are as follows:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Betty Petty

5

6

11

Ralph Van Pelt

5
6 11

Rick Harris

1.5

6

7.5

Totals

11.5

18

29.5

Friday, August 12, 2011 - BMT Section 16d - Brookshire Creek to Sugar Mtn - Three workers (Rick Harris, Richard Sullivan, Tom Smith) attacked the brush on the BMT from Sugar Mountain down to the intersection with the Brookshire Creek Trail and three workers (Bill Hodge, Ernie Engman, Matt Engman) worked up from Bald River Trail to the intersection with the BMT. The entire stretch of this section of trail is now completely brushed out. There were no logs on the BMT, but there are a few logs on the lower part of the Brookshire Creek Trail which will have to be taken care of on a future trip. Afterwards, we all ate some of Brenda's home made cookies before returning home. Ernie got stung by several yellow jackets a short ways dowstream of the Bald River Crossing. Also, the ride up and back down on the Sugar Mtn Road was quite an adventure. Heavy machinery had been through recently to cut the trees bordering the road and most of the trees were still in the roadway. We had to drive up and over about a 100 trees and a few we had to cut off the roadway. Volunteer hours were as follows:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Bill Hodge

1

7

8

Ernie Engman
2.5
9 11.5

Matt Engman 2.5 9 11.5

Rick Harris 1 9 10

Richard Sullivan 3.5 9 12.5

Tom Smith

1

9

10

Totals

11.5

54

63.5

Saturday, August 27, 2011 - BMT Section 16b - Sledrunner Gap to Round Top - Six of us tackled the north end of the Heart of Darkness on this monthly BMTA TN/NC Worktrip. The weather was really nice, breezy and cool at the high elevations. The breezes were courtesy of Hurricane Irene. Four of us entered from Beaverdam Bald and two from Round Top. With brushcutters, swingblades and loppers and one very sharp small lightweight saw which Richard Sullivan brought, we cleared maybe 8 trees from the trail and the entire distance of overgrown weeds. It was a long day, meeting somewhere in the middle around 3PM, then heading back to our cars. There are still three large trees with walkarounds which will have to be cut out with chainsaw at a later date as well as a few groundhugger tree trunks which we skipped over with the small saw. After the trip, three of of ate dinner at the Tellico Outpost and listened to a great band from Nashville. We were joined by Tom and Kathy Smith as well as Brenda Harris for the dinner and music. Overall, it was a great day. I wish we had had more participation from other workers so we could have gotten the south end as well. We will plan a trip to get the section from Round Top to Sandy Gap some day this coming month.

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Richard Sullivan

5

9

14

Lara Wimmer
2
9 11

Kendall Hobson 0.5 8 8.5

Rick Harris 1 9 10

James Anderson 2 9 11

Gretta Farmer

1

8

9

Totals

11.5

52

63.5

Friday, September 9, 2011 - Brookshire Creek Trail - The Southern Appalachian Wilderness Stewards held a workday in the Upper Bald River Wilderness Study Area. We finished up some work that was needed on the Brookshire Creek Trail from the trail head at Campsite 11 up to the falls. A group of three sawyers removed ten trees from the trail, while the others turned their attention to brushing out the trail corridor. The trail is in great shape. The crew included folks from SAWS, Tennessee Wild and the BMTA.

Here are the work hours:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Bill Hodge
1

5

6

Rick Harris
0.5
5 5.5

Jeff Hunter 3 5 8

Caara Fritz 3 5 8

Rick Foster 1 5 6

Totals

8.5

25

33.5

September 10, 2011 - BMT Section 16e - Sugar Mtn to Tellico River - [Betty Petty reporting] Today was our scheduled trail maintenance trip for the Chattanooga Hiking Club. Ralph Van Pelt is now our maintenance director. The trip was originally planned to go to Prentice Cooper to the Pot Point Loop that the club maintains. I was the only person that signed up for this trip, so Ralph and I decided to go do maintenance on our Benton MacKaye (Sugar Mtn) section instead. We encountered two huge root ball blowdowns about 20 feet apart in the first 100 yards or so of the trail. Unfortunately the only tools which we did not take with us were dirt digging tools. We cut out obstructing roots and other brush that had been downed by these two trees. We went up to the spring after doing all we could at these rootballs. We will need to figure out how to get enough dirt/rocks to fill is the two huge holes left in the trail. It did not look like that any humans had been across the muddy bottoms of these holes; just a bear track. There were four 4-5 inch trees that were easy to step over a short distance up the trail from these. Other than a little annual growth, everything was clear all the way up to the spring. These probably came down in Monday's storm. We will try to round up a couple of other guys to come back with us to fix these holes.

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Betty Petty

3

3

6

Ralph Van Pelt

3
3 6

Totals

6

6

12

Friday, September 30, 2011 - BMT Section 16a - Sandy Gap to Round Top - Four of us logged and brushed out the BMT in the southern part of the Heart of Darkness, coming in from Sandy Gap and finishing at Round Top. We cleared 39 trees from the trail corridor and brushed out about the first 2/3 of the distance. The last 1/3 did not need brushing out due to recent 4-wheeler traffic. This was a beautiful cool day for this trip. All enjoyed the trip immensely. We came upon a rather large rattlesnake sunning himself in the middle of the trail on the north slope of Hazelnut. After admiring him for a while, we prodded him off the trail and continued our work. Volunteer hours were as follows:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Rick Harris

2

7

9

Richard Sullivan

3
7 10

Rick Foster
3 7 10

David Blount

4.5

7

11.5

Totals

12.5

28

40.5

Sunday, January 29, 2011 - TN/NC BMTA Worktrip SAW-A-THON - Sections 11cd, 12a, 13de, 13e, 16b, 17a - 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 16b - Sledrunner Gap to Round Top (Cheoah District, NNF) - Marty Dominy and Lara Winner tackled this very difficult section. They went in from Beaverdam Bald, down the manway to Sledrunner Gap then out to just short of Round Top. They cleared the two big trees with chainsaw near Round Top and several other trees along the route, then they hiked back out to their vehicles. Marty, one who does not tire easily, reported that he was very exhausted upon getting back to his truck. Thanks for your hard work, Marty and Lara.

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Marty Dominy 1 7.5 8.5

Lara Winner

2

7.5

9.5

Totals

3

15

18

Monday, April 23, 2012 - BMTA AHS VV Day 1 - BMT Sections 16e/17a - We worked on the BMT from the Tellico River Road for about a mile each direction. First we went south and did tread work and fixed two huge holes in the trail created by two trees which had fallen over the winter and took the trail tread with them. We also cleared several logs off this section. Then we went a ways up the Sycamore Creek section of the BMT, armoring some wet spots with rock. (BMTA helpers: Rick Harris, Bob Ruby, Tazz Reid, Bill Lundin, Betty Petty)

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Richard Harris

0.5
7.5
8

Bob Ruby
6
7.5 13.5

Bill Lundin 3.5 7.5 11

Tazz Reid 1 7.5 8.5

Betty Petty 5 7.5 12.5

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

16

105

121

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

Saturday, July 7, 2012 - BMT Section 16c - Sledrunner Gap to Bald River - Four of us drove to Beaverdam Bald, then we split into two groups of two. Rick and Tom walked down the manway to Sledrunner Gap with a trail sign and the tools needed to plant the sign. We dug a hole about two feet deep, then stabilized the post with rocks and dirt. See the picture. Bill and Steve drove to the Upper Brookshire Creek Trailhead and from there down the BMT toward the Bald River. Their plans was to clear a big complex downfall of several trees down the trail about half way. After finishing the post planting project, Rick and Tom hiked down the BMT to the intersection with the upper end of the Brookshire Creek Trail, left our post planting tools there and picked up our crosscut and headed on down. We cut a few small logs off the trail and brushed out the trail until we caught up with Bill and Steve about 2 miles down the trail a short distance below the big campsite. They were there working on the big complex of downed trees. We all ate lunch then finished off this project. Then Bill and Steve headed back up to Bill's truck and Rick and Tom headed down toward the Bald River. Rick and Tom cut out another 3 tree which would have been difficult for horses to get over, but left the 15-20 logs on the ground which were easy to step over (another trip some time to get these). Rick and Tom hiked on out to Campsite 11 on Bald River Road, where Bill and Steve met them at 4 PM. It was a very hot day and we all were quite tired, but the job we planned to do was accomplished.

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Rick Harris

0.5

8.5

9

Tom Smith
1 8.5 9.5

Bill Hodge
1 8.5 9.5

Steve Cartwright

1.5

8.5

10

Totals

4

34

38

Wednesday, October 10, 2012 - BMT Section 16d - Upper Bald River section - Rick Harris put a BMT directional sign on the post at the intersection of the Brookshire Creek Trail and the BMT heading up the Bald River valley since this is a site where some backpackers in the past have been confused, not understanding that the BMT is Trail #2.

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Rick Harris

1.5

3

4.5

Thursday, November 15, 2012 - BMT Section 16c - Brookshire Creek Trail - The usual Tellico Thursday crew logged and brushed out most of this section all the way to Bald River Road, but left a few very large trees about in the middle of the trail.

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Tazz Reid

1
9.5
10.5

Bobby Mitchell
2
6.5 8.5

Zoe Zardis 1 6.5 7.5

Ron Childress 1.5 9.5 11

Rayne Granger 1 9.5 10.5

Aaron Sanford 1 9.5 10.5

Roger Taylor 1 9.5 10.5

Travis Shwartzer USFS 1 9.5 10.5

Totals

9.5

70

79.5

Thursday, November 29, 2012 - BMT Section 16c - Brookshire Creek Trail - The usual Tellico Thursday finished logging and brushing out this section all the way to Bald River Road. Only a few logs flat to the ground remain, all easy to get over or around.

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Tazz Reid

1
9
10

Bobby Mitchell
2
9 11

Zoe Zardis 1 9 10

Ron Childress 1.5 9 10.5

Rayne Granger 1 9 10

Shannon Granger 1 9 10

Rick Harris 0.5 9 9.5

Travis Shwartzer USFS 1 9 10

Totals

9.0

72

81

November 23, 2012 - BMT Section 16A State Line Trail: The Nennstiel family cleared brush and briars from the trail way from Hazelnut Gap to Moss Gap

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Daniel Nennstiel

12

4

16

Debbie Nennstiel

12

4

16

Carson Nennstiel

12

4

16

Gatlin Nennstiel

12

4

16

Totals

48

16

64

December 1, 2012 - BMT Section 16A and 16B - Two groups from the BMTA worked this section. From Sandy Gap, a crew mostly made up of Georgia folks worked as far as Round Top clearing brush and cutting blow downs:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Shirley Adams

1.25

6

7.25

Greta Farmer

1.25

6

7.25

Marty Dominy

6

5

11

Aaron Sanford

1.5

6

7.5

Bill Hodge

1.5

6

7.5

David Blount

5

7

12

Richard Sullivan

3

7

10

Totals

19.5

43

62.5

From Beaverdam Bald, the TN/NC crew went down to Sledrunner Gap and cleared up to Round Top clearing brush and blow downs as well:

Name

Travel Hours

Work Hours

Totals

Kyle Adkins

4

8

12

Ernest Engman

5

8

13

Matthew Engman

5

8

13

William Engman

5

8

13

Totals

19

24

43

Both crews put in an outstanding effort and were able to clear the entire “Stateline Trail” AKA The Heart O’ Darkness in one day of work. This was partially due to the efforts the Nennstiel Family put in the week prior over the Thanksgiving Holiday weekend. This section is notoriously hard to get to and keep clear, so getting it done over one work trip was a feat of determination and dedication. A big thanks from the TN/NC maintainers for all the GA maintainers that came up and helped out.

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Ken Jones	2.5	6.5	9
Tazz Reid	2.5	6.5	9
John Kalabus	3	6.5	9.5
Totals	8	19.5	27.5

*Name*	*Travel Hours*	*Work Hours*	*Totals*
Ken Jones	1.5	10	11.5
Rick Foster	1.5	6	7.5
Rick Harris	1	9	10
Bill Hodge	1	9	10
Larry Dunn	3	9	11
Totals	8	43	51