trail maintenance on Bruce’s section of The Georgia Appalachian Trail, with short hikes - Sat, Mar 20 2004

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trail maintenance on Bruce’s section of The Georgia Appalachian Trail, with short hikes


The Basics:
Event Type:Hike
Event Location: Springer Mountain overlook and Long Creek Falls, all on the AT
Date(s) & Time:Sat, Mar 20 2004  9:00 am >> N/A
Registration Opens: Mon, Jan 1 2007 12:00 am
Registration Cut Off: Thu, Mar 18 2004 11:59 pm
Event Duration:per itinerary
Difficulty Rating:D2: Easy to Moderate
Trip Leader(s):
Bruce
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Member Cost:None

Participant Info:
Who's Invited: Members Only, 21 And Older Only
Maximum Group Size:12
Minimum Group Size:4
Number Registered So Far: 9 / 0 (To see who's signed up, log in to the Member Area)
Are Dogs Permitted: No

Itinerary:
close to six miles total on three trails- mostly moderate hiking.

Difficulty Rating: close to six miles total on three trails- mostly moderate hiking. 2 miles moderate rocky roundtrip on Bruce’s short Appalachian trail section, and optional light work on this section. Afterwards there are two short easy to moderate hikes: to Springer Mountain overlook-about 1 ½ rocky moderate miles, (the southernmost point of the Appalachian Trail), and optional short easy 2 mile roundtrip hike to Long Creek Falls.

This is meant to be an exposure to some of tasks that are ordinarily done on the Appalachian trail, by the Georgia Appalachian Trail Club - (GATC). These include removal of small branches, cleaning of water bars for trail drainage, cleaning and maintenance of trail shelter on this 1.2-mile section. Participation by any AOC members in light tasks is welcome, but optional, on this one time event. (The trail maintenance part)

We will lunch break and rest at and around the shelter before walking back to our cars.

Then we will drive back to the ‘Crosstrails’ parking lot and hike to the Springer Mountain overlook, a rocky trail with beautiful overlook to hills and valleys below (Amicalola State Park and surroundings).

After walking back to ‘Crosstrails’, we will drive several miles to the ‘Three Forks’ parking area, and short easy 2 mile hike to Long Creek Falls on the combined Appalachian, Benton MacKaye trails.

Members are expected only to do work they want, and Bruce will happily to the rest on the trail maintenance part of the event. This trip is mainly for AOC members who are interested in seeing what is entailed with trail maintenance on the Appalachian Trail, and to gauge interest in AOC for this environmental cause; specifically, in this case, aiding with these trail maintenance tasks with the GATC, in the future. The GATC has volunteer ‘ third Saturday’ trail maintenance trips held every month of the year. Normally its own members to do tasks needed, but the GATC welcomes some outside help when needed.

I will bring some GATC ‘Mountaineer’ magazines to share, to show anyone interested other tasks done on work trips, as well as talk about and describe many other tasks performed by the GATC to maintain the Appalachian trail (and wonderful national resource).

After a couple hours of light work, a tutorial on what is commonly expected of me and all other overseers of sections of the Appalachian Trail, we will backtrack to Springer Mountain on the same forest service road. After that another short drive takes us to our hike to Long Creek Falls, off of another nearby forest service road. All of these hikes are on the Appalachian Trail. Time and group interest permitting we can drive to another surprise beautiful waterfall, short bushwhacking hike, in the area after the last one.

People with four wheel drive and/or SUVs will be most welcome as drivers as some small portions of several of the Forest Service roads are a little rough. (I’ve driven to my section with a car, but slowly and carefully)

I will bring any necessary tools to use (shovel, loppers (vine and weed cutters), and a couple of trash bags for carrying junk out of the Hawk Mountain shelter this section of the AT.

Required Items to Bring:
An interest in what is entailed in Appalachian trail maintenance; good supportive hiking boots for rocky trails, two liters or quarts of water and trail food. 		Recommended Items to Bring:
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How to Get There:
Event Directions:Georgia Appalachian Trail park and ride only the park and ride lot is off of exit 271 on I-75 North (the exit after Barrett parkway-two exits past the I-75, I-575 split—exit 268). Turn right off the exit, go to the first light (only a block), and turn right onto that access road and travel 4/10’s of a mile to the park and ride on the right hand side.

From there we go to I-575 and travel north just past Ellijay, GA and follow Highway 52 east to Big Creek Road (highway SR1010) which is mostly paved and take it approximately 10 miles. There we will turn right at a sign directing us to Springer Mountain, and take this well graded graveled road, with some rougher spots later, some 13 miles to Bruce’s section of the Appalachian Trail.

Notes:

Are Dogs Permitted? NO

Will this event occur rain or shine? Not in heavy rain or thunderstorms
* We encourage all members to follow our Etiquette Guidelines while participating in AOC events.

Cost Includes:a little sweat, shared gas expense, and cost for optional inexpensive dinner (10-15 dollars max), if you wish to dine afterwards.

Cancellation/Partial Attendance:   Please review the AOC cancellation policy.