log inhelp

 | 
View
 

The Blaze

Page history last edited by Pat Hensley 3 months ago

THE BLAZE

Newsletter of the Mount Rogers Appalachian Trail Club 

Winter 2025

MRATC Winter 2025 Newsletter.pdf

 

 

MRATC RECREATIONAL ACTIVITIES REPORT
Fall 2024 Hurricane Helene did her best to interrupt the club’s fall hike schedule with extensive trail closures in the region. That didn’t stop MRATC though, as many members participated in hikes to ‘work sites’ for trail repair, as well as weekly Friday hikes and weekend hikes exploring trails in Grayson Highlands State Park and Steele Creek Park, among others. Things are getting back to normal as the trail closures are lifted and we hope you will join us for upcoming hikes in the new year, starting with Molly’s Knob in Hungry Mother State Park to welcome in 2025. Non-members and guests are always welcome. Thank you to all our volunteer hike leaders who plan and lead Club outings, and to everyone who came out this past year to make these events successful and fun! If you think you may be interested in leading a future hike, trying it out by serving as a co-leader, or have an idea for a hike or club outing, please email mtrogersatc@gmail.com

TRAILS REPORT
The incredible amount of damage done in the Mount Rogers area by Hurricane Helenewas overwhelming at first glance, especially in the trail sections south of Elk Garden. In some places, the damage was so severe that it was difficult to tell where the AT actually was located. In recent months, USFS, MRATC members, professional saw crews and sawyers from other clubs have managed a lot of clearing of the AT in our area. As of now, 5 of our 7 monitoring sections north of Elk Garden are in very good to excellent shape and a few are completely clear of blowdowns and substantial issues. In the last weeks of November, the professional saw crew hired by ATC finished cutting a path all the way to Damascus. There are still some blowdowns here and there but the vast majority have been cleared, and just a few have been identified as too dangerous to clear for the moment. We have a pretty decent idea what's out there that will need further work since Ridgerunner Jim and Virginia from ATC accompanied the saw crews every step of the way. In partnership with ATC, AT club sawyers from outside our immediate area have been and are continuing to help address a substantial number of blowdowns and root balls south of Damascus and in the Wilderness north of Dickey Gap, where a crosscut crew will also be working. We are to the point at which club members are able to join in and help with some of the clearing. There will be plenty of work for the club to do on future workdays. In other news, we took advantage of the unseasonably warm fall weather to take on the expansion of the Wise privy from a 2-bin to 3-bin composting system. Thanks to Ron Bobko's master planning, we were able to reuse a substantial portion of the materials from the old pit privy cabin including the siding, metal roofing and a good portion of the lumber. Thanks to all who participated and to the folks at GHSP for the transportation help. The club also constructed a simple temporary (and portable) footbridge leading to the larger bridge at Fox Creek to replace one lost when the creek cut a new channel during Helene. Long-planned and awaited construction of a new Fox Creek Bridge to replace the old larger bridge is slated to begin in December. The temporary bridge crew celebrated with a picnic.
             

 

TEAM TRAILWORK OCVT, RATC, NBATC, PATC and MRATC
“We non-local Sawyers came from 4 Clubs: OCVT (Outdoor Club at Virginia Tech), RATC (Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club), NBATC (Natural Bridge Appalachian Trail Club) and PATC (Potomac Appalachian Trail Club), and from 3 states: VA, MD, and PA. We stayed at Merry Inn Hostel in Marion, and ate at several Marion restaurants, with some costs covered from the ATC Helene Recovery Fund. Most of us didn't know each other pre-event. I know that all of the non-local volunteer Sawyers from the "event" in November appreciated the opportunity to help out, and we appreciate all the work that ATC, MRATC (mostly DOUG), and the USFS-MRNRA staff put in to make it possible. We accomplished some work (safely!) and hopefully set the stage for additional efforts in the future - I know there are lots of other AT volunteers from lots of Local AT Clubs eager to help.” – Pete Irvine, RATC Volunteer Storm Damage Saw Team These 10 sawyers coming from afar represent 4 trail clubs:
  • Trudy Phillips, NBATC crosscut & chainsaw David Buckalew, NBATC crosscut & chainsaw Pete Irvine, RATC crosscut & chainsaw
  • Erik Leedom, RATC/NBATC chainsaw
  • Curtis Bailey, PATC chainsaw
  • John Phillips, NBATC crosscut & chainsaw
  • Jim Webb, RATC crosscut & chainsaw
  • John Hvozdovic, OCVT/RATC crosscut & chainsaw Mike Custodio, PATC chainsaw
  • Joe Sinegra, PATC crosscut
  •  
"The combined ATC & USFS saw crews cut 52 +/- individual trees around the Trimpi shelter area to include the spring trail, privy trail, AT access trail and maintenance access trail. This was non-wilderness. In the Raccoon Branch Wilderness, the ATC & MRATC saw crews cut 31 +/- individual trees with crosscut & hand saws. Rain delayed the start by half day, so the work was done in a span of 12 working hours." - Jerry Kyle, ATC

“Along with your saws and PPE, you packed the vigorous dedication you bring to maintaining the Trail in your home sections. You may have even turned it up a notch for the occasion, given the scale of Hurricane Helene impacts and our brief window of opportunity to clear the Trail before the true winter weather sets in. Thank you for making the trip, for your skill and attention to safety, and for being so generous with your time and energy.” – Katheryn Herndon-Powell, ATC

  MRATC was fortunate to have had Sawyers from other clubs help out again in December. Heartfelt thanks to all that participated and to Pete Irvine, RATC for sharing the pictures!
           

 

MRATC NATURAL RESOURCES REPORT
In the sunflower family, Great Indian Plantain, aka *Arnoglossum reniforme*, presents with white blossoms that attract pollinators. Large leaves growing on the tall flower stem are kidney-shaped (thus “reniforme”).Since 2005, the rare plant has been reported in six locations in the Whitetop plant monitoring area, with an anomalous sighting by Marcia Pruner just off the AT above Elk Garden towards Buzzard Rock in 2021. While a few locations on Whitetop have not revealed plants for approximately 12 years, it is interesting to trek to these locations to see if plants will reappear. Monitoring active colonies regularly helps to identify conditions and threats. We monitor early to count plants and/or stems and return later to identify flowering plants, which helps to monitor threats to the life cycle of this locally rare plant (for example, encroaching overstory, insect damage, and parking or mowing). Records help us to look at patterns in growth as well as trends in bloom times. The most robust colony can be found on both sides of the Elk Garden Trail adjacent to the AT access, and a great time to view the flowering plants is late July. – submitted by Felicia Mitchell

MRATC MEMBERSHIP REPORT
  We currently have 231 MRATC members, including Annual, Life and Family members. If you are an Annual Member, you will receive an email reminder to renew your membership, which expires March 1 of 2025, in late December or early January. This will be sent from mratcmemb@gmail.com If you want to check on your membership status or make sure we have your correct address (physical or email) or other information, email our membership coordinator, Sharon Trumbley, at this address. As a reminder, Annual Memberships are $10, Life Memberships $100, and Family Memberships $15 per year. You can renew a membership or join the club by going to our website under membership, Mt. Rogers AT Club / Membership, and using PayPal to join online or printing off the membership form and mailing it to MRATC, PO Box 789, Damascus, Va. 24236. 

 

Return to Main Page

 

Comments (0)

You don't have permission to comment on this page.

Printable version