Number of workers: 1 Jim de Friess
Time spent: 8.5 hours includes commute
Work accomplished: Shear work mostly, some pulaski, and hauled out some
trash. Details as follows.
I parked at "old conley" proceeded to RJ and sheared the small section
of RJ from the campsite to Conley cove trail. It could use some more,
but its much wider now. Sling blade may have been better- but left at
home.
At Conley Cove I turned right (down the hill and was planning to shear
only "worst offenders" as I proceeded down the trail. I get carried
away though. I left the truck at 9 am and got to the Conley Cove/LGT
intersection at 1:24 pm. With all the posts on snakes I kept my eyes
open. Conley could use some more work too, but it too is better.
At LGT I was planning to hike north to the downed trees I had heard
about. Standing at the trail intersection I counted 5 tree trunks
across LGT within 50' of Conley. Two of the trunks are small and on the
ground, easy to step over. One other is about a 2' diameter tree, which
I de-branched in one spot to allow a safer step over and around- it is
on the ground. The major obstruction is a 3+' diameter tree that fell
from a campsite above the trail all the way to the river. Someone had
placed (very well) rock steps up to the campsite, and the base of the
tree could be walked around going that way. I cleared to hopefully make
it obvious. The big tree is 1-2' above the trail where it crosses so
going around is the only option for now. The last trunk is beside the
big tree, and once I figured going around was the only option I paid it
no attention.
I then took out a trash bag and started getting trash out of the fire
rings north of Conley. I had nearly a bag full when I decided I better
check the fire ring to the south. It too had trash in it, I found a
rain suit, pair of pants, tee shirt (in the tree), and water container-
a big nice five gallon one south of the southern fire ring. I already
had a bag full of non-combustibles (cans, beer cans, bottles, and some
paper trash, so most of the garbage in the campsite south got left. I
did get the non- combustibles out of the fire ring though. I double
bagged and placed what I felt I could carry out in my pack and started
up the hill.
I had the pulaski out for the walk up. I slipped where the Boy Scouts
had helped me make a path around another fallen tree about 3/4s of the
way down. I was going to dig flatter places to put feet on the hill.
There was also a couple trees across the trail I noticed on the way down
that I was going to try and cut. First tree I came to cut real well,
then I cut in the foot falls. By the time I got near the top, I walked
over the last tree I was planning to cut- I was tired and heading for
the truck.
Lessons learned- I hate my internal frame back pack because it has no
compartments. I decided to use it today because I felt it would be good
to haul trash out with. No compartments mean only one bag of trash and
it can be fairly large. On the way down it had my pulaski in it, the
hip belt it had was way better than my normal day pack on my shoulders.
I now like that pack for trail work.
On the way down there was a yellow jacket nest beside the trail (near
the bottom) - looked like a bear had been in it, I looked but not too
close- its on the downhill side, it can't be missed.
I got away without water (by accident) and then spent 6.5 hours on the
trail. All the creeks were still flowing none to little. I was pretty
tired as I reached the top, and left a step over tree for another time.
I passed 2 people and a dog on the way down- they said they were
"heading out because they were too moist". It had rained all the way up
there hard, then at dogback it was just a mist. It only misted on me
all day- when it did anything. Just like last week (on Pinch In) there
was fog at the top, and better visibility at the bottom.
Other than the fall I referred to earlier which was really an unintended
slide, the most frightful thing was on the way out. I was near the
bottom and all of a sudden there was a tremendous crash about 20 yards
behind me and 10 yards off the trail on the uphill side. I went back to
investigate and saw a huge dead standing tree, I guess it lost a limb as
I walked by. I also heard the loud crack of a tree falling on the way
down.
The Boy scouts did a marvelous job in June. I could tell where they had
worked on the trail (lower Conley), and the areas that would normally be
drier required almost no clipping- although I can usually find something
to clip. The moister areas had growth, but 6-8" high only.
It was a wonderful day in the woods, I almost let the forecast persuade
me not to go. I'm sure glad I didn't - what a wonderful world the
creator made.
There is still a bag of garbage that can be gathered on LGT south of
Conley. The sights to the North look OK- you never get it all.
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