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A new nick name
June 12th, 2006 04:40 pmToday, both the ex & I took off from work to help his best friend, Dick, perform some maintenance on the Appalachian Trail. Dick has maintained a section of the trail for many years & currently works on a 2-mile stretch (he used to maintain 4 miles). Before the ex had a girlfriend to keep him busy (guess who!) he used to help Dick a lot on the AT. I've always wanted to tag along, but we've just never made it happen.
Dick chose to do the maintenance on a Monday so that the through hikers could enjoy the cool drinks, bananas & Fig Newtons he brought along. The trail fills up with day hikers on the weekends & those folks can carry enough food & drink for a few days; it's the folks that are logging 100's of miles that can use a bit of help.
We met Dick early in the morning & headed west; we came to a small dirt road the kept winding into the woods until we came to a locked gate. Passing through with both trucks, we then drove down an even narrower lane to a grassy area where we would leave our Dodge. Piling all of our tools, gear & supplies into Dick's small Bronco, we drove right into the woods on an ATV path. With brush running along both sides of the Bronco, we seemed to be re-blazing a trail that does not see much passage.
After a mile or so of 4-wheeling, we came to a trail shelter & unloaded our loot. While the guys got all the tools sorted out, I cleaned all the ash from the fire pits. Our first mission would be removing the marks from one short side trail that is being closed due to a deteriorating bridge. Dick had this 2-handled scraper thing that seemed to be made for the task. My job was to keep an eye out for the trail markers & let Dick know where they were.
Once we had removed traces of the old trail, we set out to clear a section of trail from brush, fallen trees or anything else we might come across. Dick had planned on repainting the trail markers, but the morning's rain had put a damper on that. The ex would amuse himself (& only himself) by shaking rain-soaked trees to give Dick & I an impromptu shower. Loading ourselves with pruning shears, a chainsaw, walking sticks, & assorted stuffs we set out from the shelter on the trail.
The ex used a sickle-sort-of-thing to clear low brush & grass while Dick & I used our pruning shears to snip any vegetation that was intruding on the the trail. Dick explained to us that the goal is to create a 4 x 8 foot "tunnel" around the path. Hikers hate wet feet!
The section of trail we worked on is part of a longer section that the hikers refer to as the "roller coaster" due to is rolling terrain. From the short stretch that we worked, I think it is aptly named!
During our time on the AT we met several through hikers ... 2 girls hiking somewhat together, a 70-yr old man who is on his second trip on the trail, another man that could have been anywhere from 45 to 65 who seemed a bit daft, a young couple with whom we did not really interact with much at all & a younger (30-something) man. All the men have grown beards since they have been out in the woods for so long.
The first thing that really struck me was every hiker's gratitude for our work on the trail. When they said "thank you" there was such a genuine feel to the words it made me feel wonderful. I sort of felt like a phony since this was only my first time helping. When the hikers found out that we also had food & drink for them, they were ecstatic! The bananas especially were a huge hit since they are not something that can be carried easily.
I learned that most of the hikers go by nick names. The hikers we visited with talked about "Identity Crisis" & "Stumpjumper" & etc. Our 70 yr old hiker dubbed me with one too ... he called me a "Trail Angel". After the day's work & talking with these amazing folks who are on a 2,000-mile journey, it was quite humbling.
Our journey home was delayed slightly by the Bronco not wanting to get up a slick hill, but after the guys put chains on the front tires, we were in the clear.
We both slept quite soundly that night!
Dick chose to do the maintenance on a Monday so that the through hikers could enjoy the cool drinks, bananas & Fig Newtons he brought along. The trail fills up with day hikers on the weekends & those folks can carry enough food & drink for a few days; it's the folks that are logging 100's of miles that can use a bit of help.
We met Dick early in the morning & headed west; we came to a small dirt road the kept winding into the woods until we came to a locked gate. Passing through with both trucks, we then drove down an even narrower lane to a grassy area where we would leave our Dodge. Piling all of our tools, gear & supplies into Dick's small Bronco, we drove right into the woods on an ATV path. With brush running along both sides of the Bronco, we seemed to be re-blazing a trail that does not see much passage.
After a mile or so of 4-wheeling, we came to a trail shelter & unloaded our loot. While the guys got all the tools sorted out, I cleaned all the ash from the fire pits. Our first mission would be removing the marks from one short side trail that is being closed due to a deteriorating bridge. Dick had this 2-handled scraper thing that seemed to be made for the task. My job was to keep an eye out for the trail markers & let Dick know where they were.
Once we had removed traces of the old trail, we set out to clear a section of trail from brush, fallen trees or anything else we might come across. Dick had planned on repainting the trail markers, but the morning's rain had put a damper on that. The ex would amuse himself (& only himself) by shaking rain-soaked trees to give Dick & I an impromptu shower. Loading ourselves with pruning shears, a chainsaw, walking sticks, & assorted stuffs we set out from the shelter on the trail.
The ex used a sickle-sort-of-thing to clear low brush & grass while Dick & I used our pruning shears to snip any vegetation that was intruding on the the trail. Dick explained to us that the goal is to create a 4 x 8 foot "tunnel" around the path. Hikers hate wet feet!
The section of trail we worked on is part of a longer section that the hikers refer to as the "roller coaster" due to is rolling terrain. From the short stretch that we worked, I think it is aptly named!
During our time on the AT we met several through hikers ... 2 girls hiking somewhat together, a 70-yr old man who is on his second trip on the trail, another man that could have been anywhere from 45 to 65 who seemed a bit daft, a young couple with whom we did not really interact with much at all & a younger (30-something) man. All the men have grown beards since they have been out in the woods for so long.
The first thing that really struck me was every hiker's gratitude for our work on the trail. When they said "thank you" there was such a genuine feel to the words it made me feel wonderful. I sort of felt like a phony since this was only my first time helping. When the hikers found out that we also had food & drink for them, they were ecstatic! The bananas especially were a huge hit since they are not something that can be carried easily.
I learned that most of the hikers go by nick names. The hikers we visited with talked about "Identity Crisis" & "Stumpjumper" & etc. Our 70 yr old hiker dubbed me with one too ... he called me a "Trail Angel". After the day's work & talking with these amazing folks who are on a 2,000-mile journey, it was quite humbling.
Our journey home was delayed slightly by the Bronco not wanting to get up a slick hill, but after the guys put chains on the front tires, we were in the clear.
We both slept quite soundly that night!
