[at-l] trip report from Rocky Top crew

[hopefl@juno.com (Lamar Powell)]

Hey everybody, I got back late last night from working a week with the
Rocky Top crew. The projects this year included more trail rehab and
relocation, building some cribbing, demolishing the old Birch Spring
shelter and building a new moldering privy at Double Spring Shelter.

Over the last several years, I've dug more side hill than I care to
remember so I jumped at the chance to do some rock work. Last year, I had
my first taste of rock work building some steps on Mt Rogers. This past
week, we needed to crib the side of a steep hill where the Trail used to
make a sharp step up about 4 feet to go over the top of a rock
outcropping. In that whole section of about 120 yards the tread was
narrow and hung on the side of this steep hill. Now, there is an easy
walk and gentle climb to the top of the outcrop. The top of the rock will
surely be a good spot to stop and rest and even snooze. I took most of my
rests on there and I particularly enjoyed looking down on the tons of
rock and fill that we moved to form the crib, most of which is buried
down under dirt where it will never be seen. 

We hiked into the new camping area at Birch Spring on Sunday, 10/21, and
did a few small jobs there. One of the most enjoyable was burning parts
of the old shelter. We had a wonderful camp fire every night; it was all
the more pleasant because we didn't have to hunt for fire wood. The old
rock walls of the shelter are now lining paths to the bear cables and the
pipe spring. Many will remember that Birch Spring shelter was always a
damp, gloomy place with the ground in front muddied by the spring. Now
there is a good drainage system to divert the water away from the cooking
area which is where the shelter formally stood. A pipe was installed and
a hardened tread built so it will be much easier and safer to get water
now. 

On Monday, we headed to the site of the main work about two miles north
of the shelter. This is where we dug side hill to either widen or
relocate the tread. Late Monday, Laura (the crew leader) decided that a
crib was needed so I offered to help with that. Tuesday, Wednesday and
Thursday were devoted to the crib. We had to hunt far up the side of the
mountain to find rock suitable for the work. A funny thing happen during
the hunt. A co worker found a perfect base rock not to far up the hill.
He started digging it out and then hollered down for us to stand aside
while he let it slide down to the crib site. Once it got going it looked
as if all was well but once it hit the tread it seemed to get a mind of
its own and just rolled right on past and kept going down the mountain.
It was too large to try and stop so we just watched the rock and all the
effort required to free it from the ground, go cartwheeling down towards
Townsen. All the rest of the rocks had slings attached so we could make
sure they couldn't follow their former neighbor. 

On Friday, we took down the kitchen and all the tents, packed up the
tools and supplies and hiked out to Twenty Mile Ranger station where the
crew van was waiting. Once back at the crew base camp at the park
headquarters we spent the evening washing clothes and getting ready to
carry the materials for the new privy up to Double Spring shelter.
Because of the weather and the time of day, we didn't have much trouble
with traffic between Cherokee, NC and the Gatlinburg area. That was a
nice change for this time of year.

We left out very early on Saturday morning so as to get a jump on the
leaf-lookers and arrived at the Clingman's Dome parking area about 07:30.
The morning was nice and crisp down in Gatlinburg and colder than a well
digger up at the Dome! The wind was blowing strong with gusts that would
make you dance a little to keep your footing. We later learned that the
dawn temperature recording at New Found Gap was +11F. I don't recall how
much wind there was but we were all scrambling to get into extra clothes
as soon as we got out of the van. 

After strapping 4x4s and such to our packs, we headed south about 2.5
miles to Double Springs. Some of the more durable crew members (read
younger, much younger) made a second trip to haul in the last of the
materials. The rest of us found the site for the new privy and began to
assembly the base. Next, we moved the old "portapotty" style structure
from the old place to the new one. Thus was born the newest of the Back
Woods Olympic games, privy pushing. We set the standard to be beat in
future years of 12 minutes 82 seconds over a broken course 150 meters
long. 

While waiting for the rest of the crew to return with the last of the
materials, we build a fire and enjoy a sunny break in an otherwise cloudy
day. I noticed the my little thermometer showed a balmy +20F at mid day.
A few hikers came by and were very happy to warm up by the fire. One
decided to stay the night so he became the official photographer to
document the completion of the privy. 

The hike out back to the parking area was beautiful, the mist and clouds
had frozen to the trees and the afternoon sun peaked out enough to paint
the mountainside in magic. Back at the base camp, the crew began to pack
for leaving on Sunday. Several of us got up at the "usual time" so we
were first at one of the pancake houses in Gatlinburg where we ate and
then said goodbyes til next time. Because I live so close, I decided to
stay most of Sunday and help load up the gear to be returned to winter
storage. I am sure looking forward to my next crew week. My hands are
very sore because I'm no longer used to hard physical labor, I'm still a
bit tired from all the work but I have to tell everyone that the week was
worth every little pain and even the big ones.  Hopeful
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