Hemlock Trail

The Hemlock Trail (FS Trail 101) is 3.35 miles long and rises 2040 feet from North River Road to Hemlock Knob just east of Eagle Gap on the Cherohala Skyway.

Thursday, September 30, 2010: Hemlock and Sugar Cove Trails - We had enough people to send saw crews down from the Skyway Trailheads on Hemlock and Sugar Cove Trails. Unfortunately we didn't get either trail completely logged out. The crew working on Hemlock Creek Trail lost the trail on the upper end and had to bushwhack down to the creek to find it again. The crew working on Sugar Cove (yours truly) managed to saw into a rock just at lunch time. This left the lower mile of this trail with about 8-10 trees across the trail, with about half of these being over 12" diameter. Both trails are in need of brushing out, and Sugar Cove has about 200' of tread work need at about 3/4 mile up from the North River Road. We need to schedule more work on these trails in the future. Here are our volunteer hours for the day:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Ken Jones	1.5	6	7.5
Jim Holland	1.5	6	7.5
Tazz Reid	1	6	7
Ed Ley	3	6	9
Totals	7	24	31

Thursday, October 7, 2010: Hemlock Trail - We worked on brushing out the upper end of the Hemlock Trail yesterday. We started work from the Skyway, and found the spot where the trail bears to the left with a large tree across the route. We were able to follow and brush out the trail for the next 3/4 mile. At that point we totally lost the trail again. It was in an area with a lot of trees down and the extra sunshine had developed some vicious briars and undergrowth. I believe that I found the trail continuing on the ridge, but there were so many trees across it that we had to bushwhack off the ridge and come out the bottom to the North River Road. We plan to continue logging out and brushing out this trail next Thursday. Here is our volunteer time for this work trip:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Ken Jones	1.5	8	9.5
Tazz Reid	1	8	9
Totals	2.5	16	18.5

Thursday, October 14, 2010: Hemlock Trail - We continued working on the Hemlock Creek Trail yesterday. One work crew came in from the bottom and started brushing out the trail at the steep part where the trail leaves the stream. The other crew came in from the Skyway working on log out and brush out, continuing from the points where we had left off on previous trips. Rick sawed approximately 60 trees off the trail, stopping at the top of a knob just north of the gap where the trail turns steeply down to the creek. There is still some saw work left to do for the steep portion and a little on the ridge line. The crews also completed the work to brush out the trail from the point where it leaves the stream to the Skyway. The trail still needs to be brushed out for the potion along the stream. Volunteer hours are below:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Ken Jones	2	8.5	10.5
Rick Harris	1	8.5	9.5
Ed Ley	3	8.5	11.5
Tazz Reid	1	8.5	9.5
Roger Taylor	1	8.5	9.5
Bobby Mitchell	2	8.5	10.5
Totals	10	51	61

Thursday, November 4, 2010: Hemlock Trail - We attended the monthly safety meeting on a rainy morning. We decided to postpone the work trip for Hemlock Creek Trail due to the hazardous conditions trying to saw on the steep grades with poor footing. We also attended a CPR refresher class that was scheduled at the last minute. After we left Tellico we sawed 2 trees off the Basin Creek Trail in the Ocoee District. Those hours are turned in separately to Steve Biatowas.

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Ken Jones	1.5	2.5	4
Tazz Reid	1	2.5	3.5
Totals	2.5	5	7.5

Monday, November 8, 2010: Hemlock Trail - Ken Jones finished the logout work by sawing out the remaining blowdowns in the middle of the trail. Greg Kirkland refreshed the blazes in all of the problem spots. Here is my volunteer time for the day:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Ken Jones	1.5	8	9.5

Thursday, November 18, 2010: Hemlock Creek and Sugar Cove Trails - We had a large work crew that was split up to brush out two of the North River Trails yesterday. The work crew for Hemlock Creek Trail brushed out about 1.5 miles of trail. This completed maintenance work on the trail and it has now been maintained to standards. The crew working on the Sugar Cove Trail started at the North River Trailhead and brushed out about 1 mile to the half way point of the trail. The current status for the trail is that the upper half has been logged out but not brushed out; the lower half has been brushed out but not logged out. Here is our volunteer time for this work day:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Ken Jones	1.5	7	8.5
Tazz Reid	1	7	8
Bobby Mitchell	1.5	7	8.5
Roger Taylor	1	7	8
Bill Hodge	1	6	7
Philip Gooch	0.5	6	6.5
Jim Sirmans	0.5	6	6.5
Totals	7	46	53

Thursday, Sept 15, 2011: Hemlock Creek Trail - The crew went out and worked on logging and brushing out the Hemlock Creek Trail on this date. No report was generated by the crew, but the crew attending were as follows:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Joanne Mitchell	2	8.5	10.5
Tazz Reid	2	8	10
Roger Taylor	2	5	7
Bobby Mitchell	2	8.5	10.5
Totals	8	30	38

Thursday, Sept 22, 2011: Hemlock Creek Trail - We continued the work started last Thursday on Hemlock Creek Trail. For this trip we were able to complete brushing out the rest of the trail with a combination of weed eaters, slingblades and loppers. It rained on us in the morning just enough for everyone to don our raingear, but then quit for the rest of the day. The work today finishes logging out and brushing out this entire trail. We appreciate your help in brushing out the lower end of the trail. Here are our volunteer hours for this work trip:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Ken Jones	1.5	8	9.5
Phyllis Loman	1.5	8	9.5
Tazz Reid	1	8	9
Roger Taylor	1	8	9
Bobby Mitchell	1.5	8	9.5
Kyle Atkins	1.5	8	9.5
Totals	8	48	56