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Youngblood
09-24-2004, 08:53
Any news of the impact of the hurricanes/storms on this years south bounders?

Youngblood

Bonehead
09-24-2004, 10:12
i think it blowed them all away young blood.

Flash Hand
09-24-2004, 18:10
...............

Flash Hand
09-24-2004, 18:14
As I hoped, the trail won't be washed away but normally there will be more downed trees. It will be painful for thru hikers with sore legs and heavy packs to climb over them. I am sure southbounders will give us the results and news about it. We have to wait until early winter to find out.


Flash Hand :jump

Miss Janet
09-24-2004, 18:41
I have had several SoBo's and section hikers through here in the last little while. They are reporting lot's of little junk all over the trail. It looks like we need to get a bunch of brooms! There are a lot of big blowdowns and many smaller one's but the local clubs are aware of the problems. There is a 30-40 section where there was a rock and mud slide near Bradley Gap... a big series of large trees down near Unaka Mountain. Those seem to be the hardest hit areas close to me. What does it look like farther south?

LWOP
09-24-2004, 20:14
Hey, maybe it knocked some sense into those Sobo's and they will stop doing everything backwards. We here in Florida will be busy for months rebuilding our trail. And another hurricane bearing down on us... :confused:

Youngblood
09-24-2004, 20:24
What does it look like farther south?

Don't know. I suspect that trail information will be gathered over the next few weeks and that if one goes out now, they might be doing as much recon as hiking.

Does anyone know of a data base for trail conditions associated with all the recent damage?

Youngblood

MOWGLI
09-24-2004, 20:34
Don't know. I suspect that trail information will be gathered over the next few weeks and that if one goes out now, they might be doing as much recon as hiking.

Does anyone know of a data base for trail conditions associated with all the recent damage?

Youngblood

I am trying to get a grasp on the damage on the various trails throughout the SE. Some of the info from the field has been slow to come in. Suffice to say that there is damage all over the SE. It may be a few more weeks before the extent of the damage is fully known. With hurricanes still rolling in, things could still change.

As I get some useful info, I'll post it here.

Jeffrey Hunter

bobgessner57
09-24-2004, 22:05
In addition to the trees already down many may continue to fall in the coming months. The woodlot on my farm continued to loose trees for months after hurricanes Fran and Floyd. Sometimes we could hear trees fall even when there was no wind, and if the wind was blowing it was so common to hear trees fall that we forbid our kids from going to the woods. Trees swaying in the high winds broke or loosened a lot of roots and the soggy soils could not hold them up without all of their roots. Snow and ice later brought down apparently healthy survivors.

The point being that we may be stepping over deadfalls for a long time to come no matter how hard trail crews work and we will need to be extra careful when selecting campsites.

Youngblood
09-25-2004, 09:48
I hadn't thought of the delayed treefalls and the dangers that causes... I guess you really need to be quiet and listen to what is going on around you if you go out there.

Is there any advise for hikers regarding how they might be of some help? Like volunteer crews or how to document and report noteworthy trail conditions that they might encounter. I saw on a Georgia hiking related web site ( GeorgiaHikes.com ) this post:

"The Forest Service sent out a special request for NGA hikers and backpackers for this weekend. Sorry for the short notice.

They are looking for folks to scout out trails to look for work to be done due to Ivan. This would be mostly blowdowns of course, but could include wash outs, especially on river trails. They would like to get as many people out scouting this weekend as possible in order to get quick answers back so they can plan the repair work. The request I got is mainly for NW GA, say from the Cohuttas west.

If you are able to do this please email Mike Davis at [email protected].

Thanks
Trailfrogs"

I have not hiked the river trails or hardly any of the trails in the Cohuttas and don't know what the crossings should look like. For those of you who aren't familiar with the Cohutta Wilderness it is primarily in north Georgia and butts up to the Big Frog Wilderness in Tennessee. I don't think the trails are blazed (signs at trail junctions only) and many of the trails require numerous un-bridged river crossings. I am not participating this weekend-- I don't feel comfortable scouting those trails on my own because I am unfamiliar with them, they are not blazed and I am not use to fording rivers.

Youngblood

Brushy Sage
09-25-2004, 12:11
An article in the Hendersonville (NC) paper on Sept 25th deals with areas east of the AT in the natl forests and along the Blue Ridge Parkway:

http://www.hendersonvillenews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040925/NEWS/409250342/1006

lightning
09-28-2004, 16:41
upon returning from cheoah bald (N of NOC; 26sep04), i ran into a local who said the Trail starting at approx one mile south of R.Morgan Shelter was "washed out." as for the distance or extent, i have no idea.

MDSHiker
09-28-2004, 16:56
Ran into a sobo a few weeks ago just south of Damascus, VA. He said that he spent a few days in Damascus to rest because of all the rain and mud on the trail north of Damascus. He was glad to see the sun that day. Stupid me forgot to ask his trail name...doh !

Tu_cubed
09-29-2004, 15:09
I had the good fortune of spending Sunday night at the Priest Shelter with four SOBOs; Crunchy, Creamy, Bojangles, and Eco. They said that Ivan was harsh on them but all were still in good spirits.

I spent the next two days walking south back to my car through Jeanne. Lots of small branches and a small few small trees were blown over. But nothing daunting to this greenhorn. I covered 16+ miles on my third day so I'm sure they made it to Brown Mountain Creek without to much trouble.

Wanted to stay at the Cow Gap Shelter but by the time I got down there it was dark, pouring, and I couldn't see anything but a sign pointing back up to the AT. I camped close to a creek. In the morning when I packed to leave there was three inches of water in my cooking pot.

Don't know who maintains the stretch between Priest shelter and US60 but you guys do a great job IMO. But please put up a sign showing the way to the #$%^ing shelter at the bottom of the hill. Very dispiriting and vexing.http://www.whiteblaze.net/forum/images/icons/icon8.gif

Tu

jlb2012
09-29-2004, 16:10
Don't know who maintains the stretch between Priest shelter and US60 but you guys do a great job IMO. But please put up a sign showing the way to the #$%^ing shelter at the bottom of the hill.
Tu

The Natural Bridge ATC (http://www.nbatc.org/) maintains that area. See link for contact info.

MOWGLI
09-29-2004, 17:21
The Natural Bridge ATC (http://www.nbatc.org/) maintains that area. See link for contact info.

IMO, this club does one of the best jobs with their section of trail. The difference was noticeable in 2000 - both north & south of their section.

Little Bear

Whiz Kid
09-29-2004, 17:43
I was in Franklin NC when Ivan hit, but after the first day I couldn't stay in town with only a little over a hundred miles to go to get to Springer so I went out and got soaked and then had to deal with some horrendous trail conditions, but I made it on the 19th and had a unbelievably gorgeous day on the summit of Springer, worth the couple rough days before it.

Youngblood
09-29-2004, 20:50
I was in Franklin NC when Ivan hit, but after the first day I couldn't stay in town with only a little over a hundred miles to go to get to Springer so I went out and got soaked and then had to deal with some horrendous trail conditions, but I made it on the 19th and had a unbelievably gorgeous day on the summit of Springer, worth the couple rough days before it.

Congratulations! You must be among the first sobo's to finish, I ran into Squeaky last year at Hogpen Gap on Sept 29th and he was one of the first ones last year. I think he finished on the 30th. You must have been hauling, when did you start? How are you handling your readustment to the non-hiking world?

Youngblood

Nightwalker
09-29-2004, 22:36
IMO, this club does one of the best jobs with their section of trail. The difference was noticeable in 2000 - both north & south of their section.

Little BearI didn't think that it was possible to outdo the GATC. This Spring, those trails were just about manicured. Waterbars galore, no visible erosion, the whole deal...

Frank

jlb2012
10-03-2004, 05:52
report from Keystone Trails Association indicates some serious damage to AT in PA : link (http://www.kta-hike.org/hurricane.htm)

flyfisher
10-03-2004, 16:12
I did Elk Park to Erwin during Jeanne last week. There are a lot of blow downs, but the trail crews have been doing a great job working on the problems. Many blow downs had already been cleaned up already.

There was a little confusion at the Clyde Smith Shelter where a big blowdown had covered the intersection of the AT with the shelter trail. However, talking with a crew I met on the trail the next day, their group was about to be fixing that problem.

Oh, and many thanks to Miss Janet for the shuttle support of this section hike!

Mountain Dew
10-04-2004, 05:37
sobo's got 4 hurricanes and thus tons of rain for short stretches ? lmao .... I'll take that over 3/4 of the hiking days in '03 being rainy. oh...plus they are "sobo's".....lol.....j/k

Chip
10-04-2004, 21:11
Today is Oct 4th, just got my phone service back today. Ivan really made a mess of things here south of Asheville. Took out 6 huge trees on our property, one that hit my home and totaled my car. Anyhow was up on the AT this weekend from Garenflo Gap to Hot Springs. Small (7) blow downs here on the trail. Talked with Dan at Bluff Mountain Outfitters, he has heard of a big blow down around Lemon Gap and the privy at Walnut Shelter had been crushed.
Carolina Mountain Club is working as fast as possible to clear away trees that have fallen over the trail.:)

peakbagger
10-08-2004, 12:56
I did a section hike from Stecoah Gap to Springer after Ivan. (9/21 to 10/1) The trail was in very good shape for the amount weather than roared thru. (keep in mind I am used to a lower standard of trail maintenance than is apparently in place in GA!) There are occasional large trees down that you may have to climb over, but we saw some GATC folks in the woods starting to work on the big ones. I carried a hand saw and cut some of the more annoying smaller stuff (mostly tree crowns). There are two steep sidehill washouts between NOC and Wayah bald, one was about 50 feet long and could be crossed with some climbing, the other one was blocked and there was a 1/4 mile relo.

Deep Gap road was gated at the intersection of park creek trail about 2 or 3 miles short of the trail. If had been gated since before Ivan and was still closed on 10/2. We walked it and the road is in great shape, although there were a couple of spots that could be a big problem if they let go.
Most of all the other fireroads accessing the trail were open although some still had washouts, and overhanging trees.

Youngblood
10-08-2004, 17:16
Peakbagger,

Thanks for posting the information. Did you have a good trip?

Youngblood

bearbait2k4
10-08-2004, 18:01
People got a lot of rain this year, as well, on the trail.

Maybe not as much as the 2k3 season, but pretty close.

grrickar
10-14-2004, 12:29
There is quite a lot of blowdown on Snowbird Mountain and heading into the NOC. I just section hiked from Hot Springs, NC to the NOC last week and took tons of pictures of very LARGE trees either uprooted or snapped off 10-12 feet up. These were mature, healthy trees. Besides the rain and trail erosion, the SOBOs would have to deal with clambering over all those blowdowns.

Brushy Sage
10-14-2004, 18:45
The Carolina Mtn. Club will be working on clearing in the Snowbird Mtn area this weekend. Weather note: snow flurries possible at elevations over 3,000 ft in western North Carolina tonight (Thur).