by John Stehle, Volunteer Crew Leader
The Butler and Wampum Chapters of the North Country Trail teamed up to make Trail Crew Week #1 on the North Country Trail a big success. On the first 2 days, Dave Brewer, the Wampum chapter trail chief, headed up the team of volunteers to repair and rebuild the timber-framed stairs in McConnells Mill State Park that lead from the Point parking lot down to Slippery Rock Creek. While in the area, they moved rock, installed railings, and made the well-traveled trail at the foot of the gorge easier to walk for the many hundreds of park visitors. This area is particularly beautiful, with its deep gorge filled with huge boulders under a dark canopy of hemlocks. The gorge was carved out by sudden, successive releases of a huge ice dam at the end of the last ice age.
On the third day, Joe Hardisky took the crew downstream a few miles along the North Country Trail to shore up a switchback trail that was sagging down the slope. Various devices, techniques, and incantations were used so that the improvements to the tread would last at least a season or two. The opening lines to Robert Frost’s Mending Wall seem to apply here: “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall, That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it, And spills the upper boulders in the sun.”
Dave Adams from the Butler Chapter led the remainder of the week. The crew spent a day on the Kildoo Trail near McConnell’s Mill, moving rocks, cutting away roots, and filling in washouts. Many people passed us by while we worked and always expressed their great appreciation. They often wondered if we were paid workers, giving us an opportunity to explain that KTA was sponsoring this work and it was all done by volunteers from KTA and the North Country Trail.
The final half day was spent prepositioning puncheon frames along some muddy areas on the North Country Trail in Moraine State Park.
For accommodations, several of the volunteers stayed at the beautiful Davis Hollow Cabin, an 18th-century-era cabin maintained by North Country Trail volunteers in Moraine State Park.
The Butler and Wampum Chapters want to thank KTA for the great support. It is appreciated!