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View Full Version : AT Trail work on Shenandoah Mountain (NY), September 16, 2006



Kevin A. Boyce
08-31-2006, 10:47
Hi all! Most of you may know that there is a 9/11 Memorial painted on the summit of Shenandoah Mountain here in NY, between Fahnestock State Park and the Taconic State Parkway... Well then you also know it is a favorite haunt for the local kids as well.**

Well, on September 16, we are getting a crew together to do some clean up the mess from numerous parties this past summer. There is a lot of broken glass, quite a bit of trash, beer cans, paper, and the like, that needs to be taken care of. We plan to sweep up the glass and take it out in 5 gallon buckets, carry out the other trash, and try to spruce the place up a bit. There are a few fire rings that need to be dismantled, and the remains of them spread out so it is not obvious that they were there.

We may do a bit more normal trail work like brushing back some of the trail, clean out some waterbars, and maybe do some minor stone work if the weather is good, and we get a decent number of folks to lend a hand.

If you are interested in joining us, please let me know, otherwise show up at the RPH Shelter about 9am, we will carpool up to Long Hill Road as parking is limited there, or you can always hike the trail! We will spend a most of the day there, unless the work is done early... There will be some snacks provided, please bring gloves, brooms, buckets, trash bags and sun screen! There will not be a real need for big tools at all, as most of the work will be of the 'trash pickup' variety.

Hope to see some folks there!
KevBoy

**... :mad: As an aside note, be careful if you are planning on using the Shenandoah tenting area anytime soon, I guess some of the locals near by have made it their party site. They have trashed the place! Using ATV's to bring in booze and crap, burning anything and everything, including parts of the cabin! The register is long gone...

Sadly it was the one of the local maintainers that stumbled upon a large group, 20+ passed out and tired kids one morning up there... Defiantly NOT hikers. He got them to clean up a bit, but of course was worried about his safety and wisely did not pick a fight with them.

Local authorities and the NPS have been notified, but honestly, they almost always find out after the problem. It is locals that live next to the trail easement and we are on the look out for yellow ATV's. We plan to remind the local PD that this weekend (back to school is a notorious party weekend around here) they should try to get to the area a few times at night to make sure things are OK.

Jack Tarlin
08-31-2006, 17:58
Hey Kevin, can't be there, hope to be in Maine somewhere, but thanx for everything you're doing!! Hope you guys have a great day.

John Klein
08-31-2006, 20:55
That's a shame about the tenting area. Before I moved down south I thought about taking my first solo backpacking trip there. Even when I went back to New York for a visit this year I thought it would be better to backpack to Fahnestock then to the tenting area.

StarLyte
08-31-2006, 21:14
Kevin I applaud you and your crew.

Your rewards will be many my friend.

Thank you !

Kevin A. Boyce
09-01-2006, 09:46
Thanks for the kind words all...

Also, I have a special incentive for fellow WB'ers... The first WB that show's up will receive a Fishin' Fred design sticker for their work...

:D OK OK a sticker for some manual labor, not exactly an enticing reward, but I will have some food goodies as well... Sorry folks, volunteer labor rewarded by volunteers, we do our best to make sure the crew is taken care of somehow. Plus if I am going to plead and beg in an open forum for help, I have to though some sort of treat out to get folks to show up! LOL..:D

Thanks to all, and I hope you all have a great holiday weekend, even if it is raining... Get out and HIKE!
KevBoy

LIhikers
09-01-2006, 16:25
Kevin, Is it just a Saturday work day? If work is planned for Sunday the 17th also I could be there.

Kevin A. Boyce
09-01-2006, 17:14
Yes, for now, this is a one day event...

BUT...
We are already in our planning stages for next summer's project for our work weekend in July, we will be installing a new bridge out behind the RPH shelter. This is actually going to be a series of weekend projects with the final one being the big July work weekend and hiker feed.

We tentatively are planning for a weekend of site prep, a weekend to build to build each of the cribbing that will need to be installed; which is at least two, and another weekend for the finish of installing the treadway and planking. So there will be plenty of chances to help out if anyone's schedules allow. We would like this project to be completed during our July work weekend and hiker feed as it is just before the peak of the thru season. We will be leaving the old bridge in place during construction for ease of travel and there is no reason to dismantle it until the new bridge is installed.

Which actually leads me to a question (I will post it in another category, but here as well...) Does anyone know of who we can contact to get telephone poles for bridge work?

We can get logs for the cribbing from local companies, we have done this in the past to get material for turnpiking, but we are going to require long poles to span the bridge. Telephone poles are what are in place now, and we plan to replace what is there with a similar build. During this past summer's work weekend we replaced most of the rotted decking on the bridge; which is going on close to 20 years or so, but the bridge's supports have been washing out over the years, and the poles that span the bridge that support the decking are rotting away. In fact the edge of the bridge closest to the shelter is looking really bad. We also tried to re-enforce the banks some what, but the whole thing just needs to be replaced.

Any thoughts or contacts that you have that are willing to help would be much appreciated. I plan to contact a few of the local utilities of course.

Catch you on the trail...
KevBoy

fishinfred
09-05-2006, 14:06
Hey KevBoy
Sorry I can't make it this time have to save up for an October hike and the Gathering .I see you are giving away the stickers you bought ...WAY NICE of you but keep those because I just sent a package of "STUFF" for you:D .Should be enough to give EVERYONE a sticker of one kind or another .
Hopefully I will be in your neck of the woods next year for the bridge project getting my hike finished up and can help out.
I hope you have a good turn out ,it sounds like alot of work needs to be done up there.
THANK YOU BUDDY (and ALL Maintainers) for all you do to make the trail a better place !
:sun
PEACE
Fishinfred
Fishinfreds.com (http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/fishinfreds.com)

Kevin A. Boyce
09-05-2006, 14:41
Fred... And a BIG THANKS:banana :banana :banana back to you for the stuff you sent!

I hope to catch you next year... We will take you up on any chance to help us out, that bridge is going to be a big project!

Thanks again... Happy hiking!
KevBoy

Kevin A. Boyce
09-18-2006, 10:07
Well, 5 of us showed up to clean the summit of Shenandoah Mountain this past Saturday and muck out some waterbars down by the RPH Shelter. The weather was not too bad, a bit cloudy and foggy at first, which was nice since it helped keep the sun off us while we cleaned the rocks at the top. Luckily it looks like someone must have been there ahead of us, thanks to that mystery person, since we did not have to carry out much trash, although we did pull out a few decent sized bags of bottles and cans.

The glass cleanup was our main focus, and it went well for what we could do. Everything was suggested from bringing along a big ol' shop vac with a very loooooong extension cord next time, to making the idiots that are breaking the bottles up there use tweezers and a toothbrush to clean up their mess if they are caught. We all agreed though that if people are caught up there trashing the place, and if they have to do community service, that we get the judge to make it be work on the Trail and not just cleaning up trash at some town rec park... If they mess up the Trail, they clean the Trail!

We ended up with about 2 1/2 five gallon buckets of glass and dirt in the end that we deposited off a steep embankment, one that has never seen use, and will not either. We used a variety of brooms to clean out the nooks and crannies on of the rock faces of shards of glass, then scooped them up. When the sun really came out though, you just saw more and more glass reflecting in the light. I would say though we got more then 2/3's of what was there, now all that is left is the really fine stuff that without the shop vac, high pressure washer or some kid with a toothbrush, is not really going to be cleaned due to how small it is.

After about 3+ hours of glass duty, we went back to the shelter, went up the trail and mucked out a few waterbars that we had installed in the past year. If you know the downhill slope from the Shenandoah tentsite, north to the RPH Shelter, you know how easily it will be for those water bars to fill up quickly. We also scouted out a few more locations that will need waterbars soon, so another 'to-do' gets put on the growing list.

Thanks to Fishin' Fred for the stickers! Everyone was appreciative of them, and I told the folks to make sure they look you up at the Gathering in a few weeks and personally say 'Thanks!'

Catch you all on Trail soon....
Kevin