Rain, Sunshine, Vegetation, Ugh!
By Tom Moran
Sadly, many trail sections in the North District of SNP suffer from excessive sunlight, which results in ash, oak, locust and other trees failing for various reasons. Add in a very wet summer, and you have the ingredients for excessive growth of unwanted vegetation. This diverts trail maintainer attention to the urgent issue of simply keeping trails passable, but time spent clearing blowdowns or cutting weeds comes at a cost – maintenance of water control structures, primarily water bars and check dams – ends up being deferred.
Such it is that Tom Troutman and Steve Parsley headed out on the Appalachian Trail from Jenkins Gap to Hogwallow Gap, and accomplished an end-to-end weed clearing effort. Other trail maintenance will have to wait.
Similarly, Dan Hippe led a small crew consisting of Kevin McArdle and Julie Bauer to his own section of the AT – from Elkwallow Wayside to Rattlesnake, which despite multiple visits in 2026, needed yet another clearing effort to keep the segment passable. Good thing this trail section has such an engaged maintainer!
Continuing the focus on keeping the AT passable, Dave Nebhut led a large crew to a section from Neighbor Mountain Trail to the Beahms Gap access Trail, where they fully cleared the encroaching vegetation and removed four blowdowns for good measure. Hey also took liberty to clip vegetation on parts of the Neighbor Mountain Trail that were almost impassable. His team included first timer Matt Barry, along with Richard Lee, Rich Lordahl, Robert Kilby and Amy Smucker.
If you thought the weeding (and blowdown clearing) was done, you were wrong! Two crews worked the Indian Run Hut and road to clear both blowdowns and vegetation. The Hoodlums use the hut as a base for trips requiring an overnight stay, but the vegetation in the field, and blowdowns on the road make it virtually unusable at times. Noel Freeman, Cyndi Ardecki and Chris Viggiano power weeded the road and hut area, as well as down to the nearby spring that is used by through hikers. Jim Fetig took another crew down to clear blowdowns on the road. His crew included Tina Rafalovich, David Johnson and Samantha Keener.
Finally, we had a crew that cleared no blowdowns or vegetation! Tom Moran led a crew for a hike down Piney Branch Trail, to a section of trail that has degraded over many years as spring flows have eroded the trail bed and left sections either muddy, or full of ankle-twisting rubble. This section is adjacent to the Pole Bridge Link Trail, which is maintained by Michael Gergely. Mike was well acquainted with the issues on Piney Branch, and once the crew reached the problem area, he took over the leadership for the restoration effort. Lateral drains were cleared of limbs and other detritus. The trail bed, much of which is an elevated “turnpike,” would have to be restored to its original height above the drains, and then packed tightly with sand and gravel that had washed out. Once Mike provided clarity and guidance, the crew enthusiastically executed and rapid progress was made. Approximately 2/3 of the over 100 ft of trail was restored, leaving more work for another day. Kyle Brost, Mark Wrobel and Justin Corddry also shared in the muddy joy of the work.