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People, mules come together to clear trail in national forest
Mess surpassed damage caused by the Blizzard of '93
The damage Wanda Brown saw to a trail in the Cohutta Wilderness last month surpassed the havoc caused by the legendary Blizzard of ‘93 in the area’s national forests.
And Brown was with a group that spent some nine months clearing trails in the wake of the blizzard, which dumped several feet of snow on north Georgia, caused widespread utility outages for days and snapped scores of trees.
“On that, it was real bad in places and it was scattered around all over,” she said. “This was just one big pile all together. Trees were on top of each other, crossed up, twisted up and all that kind of stuff. It was really a whole lot worse to deal with, trying to get to them.”
In early November, a tornado or a massive wind shear felled about 200 trees in some 15 to 20 acres of the forest about three miles from the trailhead of the Rice Camp Trail in Murray County’s part of the Cohutta Wilderness. Trees were piled on top of each other in every direction for about 1,000 feet of the trail, causing a huge mess. Some feared it would be late winter before the trail would become passable again.
That was before a team of about 20 dedicated volunteers and a brawny pack of mules — yes, mules — spent the past several weeks clearing the trail. To preserve the sanctity of the forest, volunteers only used traditional hand tools including axes, bow saws, crosscuts and loppers.
“I thought it would be February before we opened the trail, but lo and behold, here it is last weekend and we did open the trail up,” said Larry Thomas, operations team leader for the Conasauga Ranger District. “We have it completely clear now. That’s thanks to this great team of volunteers we have that works in this district.”
Brown and her husband Troy were at the forest last month to help clear another “blowdown” about a mile into the trail. They ran into a man who said he was heading in for a multi-day hike. The Browns told him about the blocked trail, but they had not yet seen the damage. A few hours later he returned to the start of the trail because he couldn’t find the path after encountering the large amount of felled trees.
“My husband asked the boy, ‘How many trees do you think are down?’” she said. “He said, ‘Oh, maybe about a hundred.’ Of course, we assumed he was exaggerating. Then Troy went in there a few days later and he called me at work when he got back. He said, ‘Well, I just wanted to let you know what the boy said, he wasn’t right about it being 100 trees.’ I said, ‘Oh, that’s good. It’s not as bad as we thought.’ He said, ‘It’s probably about 200.’”
So the Browns spent several days working, including three days over the Thanksgiving holiday, and sent out a call for volunteers. Small teams were formed because of the dangerous conditions found among the mangled mess. The Conasauga District Trail Volunteers and Southern Appalachian Backcountry Horsemen were among the groups helping. Work could have been completed more quickly by using chain saws and ATVs, but federal permission is needed to use gas-powered equipment in national forests. Dalton businessman George Mitchell donated several mules to carry in gear and drag large logs off the trail. And last Saturday, the members of the volunteer team awoke to a special surprise — a dusting of snow.
“After we got finished, it’s really a good feeling to walk back through it and see,” Brown said. “All of the guys were just really excited.”
The Conasauga Ranger District is looking for volunteers to maintain trails in the national forests throughout the area. For information on how to volunteer, call Thomas at (706) 695-6736. No experience is necessary and Thomas said volunteers range in age from 18 to people in their 70s.
“We have a great time,” Thomas said. “We picnic, we camp and we do a lot of trail work.”
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