[at-l] Blazing thru puddles and quietly cutting trees

[RoksnRoots@aol.com (RoksnRoots@aol.com)]

In a message dated 3/10/2002 3:10:10 AM Eastern Standard Time, 
Cosmo.A.Catalano@williams.edu writes:


> Remember, my fellow hikers, we are volunteers.  We do this for fun. 
> We ARE committed to a hikeable trail with as much backcountry feel as 
> possible--given the constraints of property lines, volunteer skills, 
> and budgets.  Yes, we could provide a raised footbed through the 
> entire Housatonic Valley, give enough time and money, but it would be 
> a lot like hiking on a sidewalk...
> 
> 

      *** With all due respect, I've seen the expression "remember we are 
volunteers" used too many times to excuse sub-par work that could have 
otherwise been better done if this popular saying wasn't used as an excuse. 
There are all kinds of volunteers. I have seen top quality trail work done by 
volunteers as well as poorly done work that needed replacing a few years 
later. The problem here is getting the right volunteers to work effectively. 
The Trail obviously needs more skilled volunteers who are willing to do heavy 
trail construction. My experience from years of Trail involvement was that 
these volunteers were not recruited because the responsible organizers (who 
are also volunteers) used the above excuse instead of trying to get better 
help. The better help is out there, it's just that some refuse to adjust the 
old concept in order to answer to contemporary demands. At the very least, we 
need to step back and look at our maintenance program to see if it needs to 
be reworked. We have evolved from just needing brush, clip and blaze 
volunteers to needing a trail crew on almost every section... 

      A raised trailbed is not necessarily bad a thing. I can think of many 
areas where a raised trailbed would be both a vast improvement over what is 
presently there and not infringe on the natural surroundings. I disagree that 
it would be "like walking on a sidewalk". There are many places already 
existing on the AT where a raised/improved trailbed was installed and has 
since grown in. These sections hardly stand out as being that different from 
expected AT standards and provide an adequate woodlands experience while 
maintaining an uneroded footway. The natural alternative to these "sidewalks" 
would be either a mucky swamp or rocky streambed that already don't serve 
that well in their present condition.

      Once again, it all comes down to the AT evolving into something that 
its previous concepts no longer meet. This will be problematical as the Trail 
moves into the future. The only thing on our side is the fact that nature is 
self-sustaining and we can take our time working on small parts at a time 
over the years...


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