Hoodlums Overcome Government Shutdown Uncertainty to Work A.T. Sections
By Tom Moran
A dark cloud hung over planning for the November Hoodlums outing in Shenandoah National Park. While the club had been given permission to perform maintenance activities on the Appalachian Trail within the park, they were not permitted to work on other trails maintained by the club. As the November 15th Hoodlums outing date approached, the Hoodlums’ leadership had a dilemma – over 30 people had registered to work but most of the intended work areas were on blue blazed trails – off limits under the terms of the shutdown. So the group was scaled back to better fit the available projects on the A.T. As it turned out, the shutdown was ended just 2 days before the Hoodlums outing but the die was cast – a smaller group would work the planned A.T. projects.
Marie Seymour led a crew up the A.T. on the south side of Pass Mountain from Thornton Gap to address water bar and check dam issues previously reported. Michael Gergely, George Jones, and Chris Viggiano rounded out the crew, which cleared the trail structures as they proceeded uphill. They built 2 new rock check dams, as well as added 2 log ones. Not satisfied, they also cleared 2 7” blowdowns and another multi-limb crown from the trail before hiking out.
A crew including Connor Moynihan, Jamie Benson, Kyle Brost, and leader Tom Moran parked at Beahms Gap and hiked south, up and over Pass Mountain on the A.T. A scouting trip the previous weekend indicated eight blowdowns on the section, which the crew cleared as well as additional loose limb and trunk chunks. The crew carried a vintage Jemco 42” saw checked out from the PATC HQ tool cache, freshly sharpened and ready to cut. At each blowdown they walked through the OHBEC framework to analyze and execute each cut. This framework for bucking downed trees is substantially the same for chainsaw versus crosscut sawyers. All crew members were encouraged to voice their opinions on each step as the crew addressed each blowdown. At a high level the OHBEC framework steps are:
O=Objective; H=Hazards B=Binds; E=Escape Routes; C=Cuts
In addition to the blowdowns, several “spring poles” were present, providing the crew an opportunity to execute steps to mitigate the special risks these hazards present to maintainers.
Wayne Limberg, Richard Lee and Randy Butler plus new Hoodlum recruit Kevin Furey returned to the AT south of Compton Gap to finish up some rehab work they started during the Hoodlums' October work trip. They were later joined by club President Jim Fetig and his chainsaw. Fewer hikers and Jim's saw meant more completed work. The crew rehabbed seven checkdams and put in a new waterbar along with cleaning waterbars and checkdams they did not get to in October. The section is ready for winter.
Rosemary Seymour, Greg Foster, Jim Fetig and crew lead Justin Corddry drove to Compton Gap and hiked down Justin’s A.T. section hunting a blowdown. Once vanquished by Jim’s commercial grade Stihl, Jim departed to join Wayne’s crew and was replaced by Terry Shaw. The crew then tackled the cleaning out of a 200’ lateral drain. These structures abound in SNP and are anything but “sustainable”, in that they require frequent maintenance to remain effective. Still, they perform a critical function in keeping trails passable so the crew did its work without hesitation.
Due to the early sunset and colder temperatures, no pot-luck is typically held in November so all the crews headed out upon completion of their work for the day.