Keystone Trail Association Joyce Appel
Trailcare On The North Country National Scenic Trail, June 8-13, 2010
B
Paul Henry
reakneck Campground near Portersville served as base camp for the KTA trail work week on the NCT. When I arrived on Tuesday afternoon with a trailer load of supplies, Joe Healey and Joyce Appel were supervising the set-up of the cook tent. The Butler Outdoor Club had stored one of the 20’ x 10’ carports used for the “Outdoor Extravaganza” at the campground for the KTA to use. Dan Cheesman, the campground owner, allowed us to set up the carport on the gravel pad under the frame for his 40’ x 15’ carport. We put Joe’s big tarp over the larger carport frame and had a very nice cook/dining area. None of us had ever met our camp cook, Ceci Ramsey, before, but she arrived with home-baked bread, salad, dessert, and what may be the best stew I have ever eaten. Over dinner I gave everyone an overview of the trail improvements which we planned. In the previous month, the McConnels Mill State Park area had experienced heavy rain, two flash floods and high winds. Fallen trees and washed-out areas had made the NCT along the gorge of Slippery Rock Creek nearly impassable. The pouring rain on Wednesday eliminated any need for sunscreen and made the water problems easy to spot. First-time trail workers Andrew Zadnik and Lacy Smith joined Joe Healey, Joyce Appel, Kay Thompson, Ed Scurry, Joe Hardisky, Dave Maxwell, Dave Galbreath, Bill Dietrich, and Bill Majernick, who split into two groups. One group repaired railings, stone steps and water damage starting on the northern end of the work area at the covered bridge by the gristmill while the other started at Eckert Bridge where a culvert had plugged and washed away the trail. Luckily the park staff had left 5 tons of gravel near the site when they unplugged the culvert. Unfortunately they had not left the backhoe. Thursday’s weather improved. By day’s end trees were cut, rocks moved, steps and railings repaired, water bars installed, and the 5 ton gravel pile had been reshaped into trail. The access to the west side of one of Pennsylvania’s premier whitewater runs was passable, making it safer for rescue personnel, kayakers, and hikers. About then the work crew didn’t care if they ever saw another pile of gravel, but little did they know… Dan Mourer, Bill Stegman, & I were busy planning and getting materials in place for the trailwork Friday & Saturday. Bill had obtained a salvaged 10' bridge and a section of 8" culvert pipe. Dan was fabricating a 16' bridge, tent pad timbers, and arranging for delivery of…you guessed it…4000 pounds of pea gravel for a tent pad. Dan had begged/borrowed a key to the access road, delivered pneumatic wheeled dollies, wheelbarrows, timbers, the preassembled 10' bridge and materials for the 16' bridge as he showed the gravel delivery truck where to dump the load. The plan for Friday was to set the footings for the bridges and get some of the material near to where it needed to be. Some of the faces changed, but about the same number of volunteers came out on Saturday as had been out on the weekdays. John Stehle, 24 The North Star
July-September 10
Moving rocks into place for bridge supports on connector trail to new campsite, north of Glade Run Lake. These were the projects at the end of a long, hard week.
Dan Mourer, Jesse Mourer, Bill Stegman, Helen Coyne and Jacob Lauten joined in the effort. We carried in as much as we could. Bill & Ed continued down the trail with the section of culvert pipe as the rest of us turned back the connector trail toward the campsite. Jake started clearing the area for the tent pad as we started to assemble the components of the 16’ bridge. The Friday crew had the bridge footings already in place, the 10’ bridge was complete, and they had even started to transport pea gravel to a tarp beside the tent site. After lunch the focus shifted to getting the remainder of the gravel to the tent pad and improving the muddy and overgrown hill at the end of the access road. The 10 minute walk from the pile of pea gravel to the tent pad took quite a bit more time when pushing a loaded wheelbarrow. The muddy, overgrown hill was becoming rutted and slippery. A foray into the sea of poison ivy on the south side of the trail revealed no easy way to keep an intermittent watercourse from sometimes spilling over onto the trail. While digging for a water bar to drain the trail to the north side, I encountered what appeared to be 1” crushed limestone. Probing through the snarl of crabapple trees, grapevines and poison ivy revealed the partial remains of a mining road just 6 feet from and parallel to the muddy hill. Perfect! Back at Breakneck Campground, after we wrung out sweatsoaked clothes and showered, dinner was served. Ceci and her husband Tim had chilled watermelon, a Caesar salad with ramen noodles, and steaks on the grill. Sunday morning we packed some of the camp gear then headed to Eckert Bridge. Two Joes headed south to cut a large tree more than two miles down the gorge, while the rest of us concentrated on some rock steps and water problems we didn’t get to when the KTA crew worked on that area last fall. Thanks to all of the volunteers who endured downpours, mud, searing heat with high humidity, poison ivy, crab apple thorns, and the gazes of passing hikers who probably assumed that we are non-violent offenders doing mandated public service. Special thanks to KTA for coordinating and bankrolling our efforts. Hikers, enjoy the splendor of McConnells Mill State Park and then set your tent on the new tent pad north of Glade Dam Lake.