by Ed Lawrence, KTA Trail Care Chair
An overnight torrential downpour on Thursday, bringing in excess of 4 inches of rain to parts of the region, was not enough to dampen the enthusiasm of the 18 people who gathered to work on the T-Squared Trail. It was sufficient, however, to temporarily flood access to nearby Little Pine State Park. This, in turn, sent a steady flow of weekend campers to Hyner Run State Park -- which happened to be the designated staging area for the May 16-18 KTA Trail Care Weekend.
Although Hyner Run itself stayed within its banks on the park side, on Friday it was running high and wild, spilling over into lower parts of its flood plain. This necessitated Tony Robbins to wade through turbulent currents in order to reach the park, which was his planned end-point of a 3 day backpack from Farrandsville on the Donut Hole Trail. Wellis Balliet assisted him with vehicle logistics so that, on Sunday, Tony could complete the hike and assessment of the Donut Hole from Jericho, in advance of the June 3-8 Crew Week on the Chuck Keiper/ Donut Hole trails.
The T-Squared Trail, named in honor of Tom Thwaites, is a 6.5-mile connector trail that links the Black Forest Trail at Baldwin Branch Hollow, west of Route 44, to the Donut Hole Trail at Cougar Run. It will be featured in one of this year's Prowl the Sproul hikes.
As the weather improved throughout the weekend, volunteer maintainers, including 6 individuals new to the KTA Trail Care community, were able to work the length of the trail. Three paint crews on Saturday and one on Sunday accomplished a total reblazing, with yellow paint supplied by the Sproul's own Ted Ligenza. The experienced chainsaw tag-team of Tom Bastian and Elwood Loudenslager cleared blowdowns and deadfalls in advance of the DR mower, while lopping crews reopened the trail corridor and a brush-whacking crew cleared the switchback areas.
By noon on Sunday, the T-Squared was in excellent shape thanks to the work and commitment of the following people: Donna Thompson, Jenn Ulmer, David Walp, Woody Loudenslager, Joe Healey, Lorraine Healey, Wellis Balliet, Ed Lawrence, Tony Robbins, Sarah Anderson, Emma Link, Wanda Shirk, Tom Bastian, Joanne Heimer, Donna Keeler, Dave Hunter, Denny Colgrove and Butch Davey.