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Furlough
03-29-2013, 11:37
While not a part of the AT, the Biby Wilderness Trail will link into the Tuscarora Trail which links to the AT in both VA and PA.
A PATC member provided the Club his former property atop Shawneeland Resort, about twelve miles west of Winchester, VA and three miles north of The Pinnacle mountain. In 2004, our trail crew—the Acme Treadway Company—began work to build a public access trail on the property to the Tuscarora Trail. We have two, perhaps three, climbing turns (http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/environment/recreational_trails/publications/fs_publications/00232839/page10.cfm#turn) to dig before we connect the Biby Wilderness Trail with the Tuscarora Trail. That seems easy enough, especially since we will be working in areas that have considerably less mountain laurel and where more mineral soil is available. Laying out and digging along the cut lines for the legs between these climbing turns will be simpler than we have experienced to date. Groves of mountain laurel mean that rock is close to the surface of the land; the absence of mountain laurel portends well for the crew.
Event Date: Apr 20, 2013 – Apr 21, 2013
We will meet at 9:30 A.M. at the Hayfield Family Restaurant on US Route 50 west of Winchester, VA. Following our work on Saturday, we will dine at the Hayfield Family Restaurant before moving on to the Crew’s Rest Bunkhouse by Gore, VA.
If you interested contact Don White at: [email protected]

Dogwood
03-29-2013, 19:01
Sad! Sad! Sad! You started this thread more than 7 hrs ago and NOT ONE NOT ONE visitor here has even made a post! Furlough, have you or Don White received any PMs/emails yet?

Acme Treadway Company, LOL I wouldn't know if I could lend a hand until probably a few days before the trail work is planned. Do you know if anyone is coming up from GA to VA to assist? I'm going to contact Don White too with the same questions.

Furlough
03-30-2013, 10:54
Dogwood - Thank you for your interest. I have not heard back from Don yet. Generally speaking the bulk of the folks who come to volunteer for these work trips are from the N. Va, Md, WVa and Pa areas. But, all hands are welcome, and gladly.

Furlough
03-30-2013, 11:04
Acme Treadway Company, LOL I wouldn't know if I could lend a hand until probably a few days before the trail work is planned. Do you know if anyone is coming up from GA to VA to assist? I'm going to contact Don White too with the same questions.
How the Acme Treadway Company got its Name: From Don White - Remember those Treasured Days of Long Ago…

When, on Saturday mornings, we’d gather by the television in the homes of our parents as early as possible and watch cartoons? Crunching our way through bowls of Super Choco-Sugar Cornflaked Bomblets, drinking glass after glass of chocolate milk, while enraptured by our cartoon chums.
http://www.acmetreadway.net/images/stories/miscellaneous/wileecoyote.png
I don’t know about you, but my favorites were Looney Tunes: Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and, of course, the Road Runner. Especially the Road Runner! Why? Because of that all-time stereotypical techno-geek: Wiley E. Coyote. No matter how simple the problem, Wiley (who must have graduated suma cum laude from some fine engineering school) always came up with the most technologically challenging, almost impossible to comprehend, engineering solution. And, upon whom did Wiley depend to provide him an endless supply of constantly malfunctioning, yet oh-so-(?non?)-lethal, gadgets?The Acme Company
This cartoon series began in the 1950s and was brilliant! Kids laughed out loud at the antics and the near-deaths endured by poor old Wiley. But, there was abundant understated adult humor as well as prescience worthy of Nostradamus present, too. For instance, who in the 1950s could predict the continued success of a US company that continued to produce malfunctioning product lines? Today, we can answer that question with a number of well-known names. (None of which shall be given breath here…Oh, I see you have a vintage [Edsall/Corvair/K-car]. Didja find it on the Web using [Windows]?)And, you know (don’t you?) that a coyote in the wild just couldn’t have enough disposable cash to pay for those big artillery pieces, missiles, and pyrotechnics. So, the writers of the Road Runner series predicted the coming era of corporate financial and personal credit over-extension, bank loan problems, and (probably) the explosion of Chapter 11 restructurings that we know so well today.Still, Wiley is one of my all-time heroes, for his never-shaken belief in the efficacy of technologique. However, that neither influenced nor informed the decision to name this crew the Acme Treadway Company.
The Truth

A good friend of mine suggested the name, Acme Treadway Company, back in 2000. To some degree, this plays upon the initials, ATC (go figure). And, there’s that Merriam-Webster definition of acme, a standard toward which we strive. (Yes, we do.)
But, Acme Treadway Company sounds so much better than A Trail Crew, and it makes for better marketing and promotion, too.
So, There’s That!
None of this, however, stopped my friend from fleeing to North Carolina shortly after she realized I’d taken her suggestion and so named the new crew…

Furlough
03-31-2013, 16:00
Up for a challenge? Ready to work off some of that winter rust? Tired of sitting behind your computer talking about what others are doing for the trails? You live in the area and you know it is time to walk the walk, because you know you can talk the talk? If you are up for the challenge come on out and get your trail work on. Our Challenges

Of course, we face challenges. Particularly with crossing an antediluvian stream bed, which I call the Devil’s Racecourse. We must bring the Biby Wilderness Trail across 35 yards of steeply sloped ground strewn with rock and boulders. Of course, there is no digging to be done; all of the work we will accomplish here involves moving and setting rock to make the best pathway possible. Okay, I take that back—a little bit back, that is. We will dig one or two borrow pits to obtain enough mineral soil to build ramps on the uphill and downhill sides of the section. In between, we will move and set rock for the pathway.(This is not the only Devil’s Racecourse, of course. The Appalachian Trail approaches or crosses two such rock gardens within PATC’s area of responsibility: one in northern Maryland and the other in Northern Virginia, south of the Blackburn Trail Center.)
Does this deter you from volunteering? We face challenges each day; there is nothing inherently unsafe in tackling our Devil’s Racecourse. In fact, meeting the challenge, which we will certainly do, will be greatly satisfying. Especially when a large enough group meets the challenge! If you are interested contact Don White at: [email protected] ([email protected])

Furlough
04-14-2013, 07:55
In the way of a thread bump, here is a little more about the work to be done on the Biby for those interested in volunteering: The Biby is a challenge to build. Although the ridge slopes down on an average grade of 22% to the North-South route of the Tuscarora Trail, the slope at the trailhead is less than 4% on average; the grade drops steeply immediately below. Further, the soil in this area is mainly duff in successive thickets of mountain laurel. Altogether, this does not lend itself to traditional full- or half-bench sidehill tread construction. Yet, if we just let it be, after clearing the brush and limbs so that the route may be hiked, the tramp of many boots would cause the duff to compact, resulting in a long trough down which rain water will spill as if in a sluice. Event Date: Apr 20, 2013 – Apr 21, 2013
We will meet at 9:30 A.M. at the Hayfield Family Restaurant on US Route 50 west of Winchester, VA. Following our work on Saturday, we will dine at the Hayfield Family Restaurant before moving on to the Crew’s Rest Bunkhouse by Gore, VA.
If you interested contact Don White at: [email protected] ([email protected])