Agile Trekker: Trail Maintenance - Garenflo Gap to Bluff Mountain, Appalachian Trail

Date	Distance	Time	Elevation Gain	Average Moving Time	Year to Date Miles
12/4/2024	3.8 miles	6 hours	813'	1.0 mph	764 miles

Parking:

Garenflo Gap

Map:

Directions:

We are now allowed to work on our section of the AT. It was closed for a couple of months following Helene. The end of the road to our section was very, very bad before Helene, and now it is worse. We have to park at the end of the paved section and walk over the washed-out gravel section to get to our trailhead. We are hoping that we will get money from FEMA to repair the road, so we can drive all the way up to the trailhead. Even high clearance trucks are now bottoming out on the road.

We are the first people out on the trail since it snowed. There were no footprints on the trail. Glen hiked ahead, deciding to go to the summit and log all of the down trees along the way. We have around 14 trees that need a sawyer to remove them. Some of them were there from before Helene though.

I worked on lopping. Krumm stayed with me. It was 23 degrees out when we started. I felt like hibernating, but once I warmed up it was okay. It warmed up to 34 degrees by the time we finished. I was reflecting on how peaceful and quiet it was on the trail with just Krumm and I, walking in the snow. It is rare to see hikers on our section, except for people who are backpacking the AT. No one is backpacking now, so I figured we wouldn't see a soul. And then surprise, Paul Curtin, our trail maintenance supervisor, comes zipping up the trail. He was doing a mile hike in, then scouting the woods road on the way back, to make sure it is passable. The sawyers will be working on our section soon, and they often drive up the woods road to park (not doable with our car). I only made it 1.7 miles up the trail, stopping for a long time to lop around a blowdown to make it easier for the sawyers to remove. We also have a stream that needs tread work. Part of the trail has washed away, and the area is rocky - I managed to fall on my knee there. Doh!