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| Session Two Crew |
Day One of the session saw the U.K.-hailing Essex Boys
and Girls Club members – Lauren, Amber, Ellie, Luke, Callum, and Simon – their
two expedition leaders, Graham and Juliet, a young man from Germany,
Constantin, a 2015 thru-hiker from Ohio, Jan, and a young man from North
Carolina who had hiked through the Smokies on the A.T., Logan, all hike up
Snake Den Ridge Trail to the Rocky Top camp near Inadu Knob. With all of their
hiking experience (the Essex group had hiked through the Smokies as well the
week prior) the group tackled this challenge with ease.
The crew opened up camp for full operation once they
arrived, putting tents up, replacing the bear fence battery, digging a new
privy (a quite large one for the big group size), and getting dishware out for
the ensuing dinner. With a total of thirteen people on crew, counting the two
crew leaders, Rocky Top camp was abuzz with activity, a veritable hive of
preparation.
Day
2:
The crew began the work week with
building two turnpikes – a raised walkway made of logs and rock in order to
allow for traversal over poorly-draining, muddy areas. Each turnpike was over
twenty feet long with over eight cubic feet of crush. After the first turnpike
was done, crew members began working on waterbars and drains. The crew worked
through intermittent rain and cool weather, but stayed warm by swinging picks
and hammers.
Three volunteers with the Smoky Mountain Trail Riders
brought up a food and propane resupply for the crew. A few crew volunteers took
time during the afternoon to help unload and store the supplies at camp.
Later that day crew began the trend of playing the card
game Werewolf each evening to pass the time. In their downtime, the crew also
played charades and debated the pronunciation of certain words in the English
vocabulary.
Day
3:
The crew finished off the second turnpike and began in earnest to install more
waterbars back towards camp. The crew worked on a number of log waterbars,
worked on a stone waterbar and stone step where a natural seep was discovered,
and towards the end of the day, began working south again towards Old Black.
This second sweep of the 1.5-mile goal would include putting in log steps where
large drop-offs occurred or where the trail was so badly cupped, the water had
to be slowed down.
Day
4:
Day Four saw the crew well into their new agenda of step-building, working
steadily in the drier and warmer weather. A few of the crew began a rock
cribbing and step project, adding in three rock steps and adding a number of
new tiers to original cribbing below the trail to hold in all the crush and
fill.
A few of the crew began another trend for this week –
going out to the eastern face of Inadu Knob to watch the sunrise each clear
morning. A mainstay hobby for Rocky Toppers over the last couple of years, this
week’s sunrises offered vibrant colors over North Carolina.
Day
5 through Day 8: The crew continued to work on the rock crib
project and on installing more wood steps towards Old Black. By the end of the
work week, the crew had also began and finished a wood cribbing and step
project in order to get over a number of rock fins protruding into the trail.
The European Crew finished with one of the strongest
showings of total trail work ever done at Rocky Top.
A proper big thanks goes out to the Essex Boys and Girls
Club – Graham, Juliet, Amber, Ellie, Lauren, Luke, Callum and Simon – and to
Constantin, Jan, and Logan for one of the hungriest, most hilarious, and most
industrial crews we’ve ever seen!
Rocky Top looks forward to welcoming the Essex group back
again next year for more trail work. Stay classy!
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