Ladies and Gentleman, Start Your ENGINES!!!!

That's right! We have approval to start moving earth! Rich Edwards from IMBA came out to the park yesterday and gave a brief presentation on our trail concept to the park management and resource people from Richmond. It went really well and we got approval on the spot to begin trail construction!
I'm so psyched to start the actual work of trail building after spending so many months in the design and layout process! This is gonna be sweet! It will take a few years, but when all is said and done, we'll have around 25 miles of new trail on the ground!

buggers!

So, I've been out in the thick of the woods for quite a few days now, flagging new trails and re-routes of old trails. When I say thick of it, I mean pretty darn thick, heavily covered and very brushy woods with dense undergrowth. Most days I have totally forgotten to spray myself down with Deep Woods Off with DEET before venturing off into the woods, and I have suffered no consequences. Today, however, I sprayed myself down thoroughly: legs, boots, socks, waistline, arms, etc. Guess what? I got home tonight, took off my uniform, and found myself loaded with seed ticks and scratching from chigger bites! Do those little buggers LIKE DEET? I know I don't, it makes me feel a little weird after dousing myself with it. Maybe I'll just go without, but is cancer better to have than Lyme Disease?

trail work

I'm flagging out preliminary re-routes and new additions to some of the trails in the park. This week I've been working on Allen's Mountain Trail. I didn't know this before I began this project, but Allen's Mtn summit lies entirely on park property. The old, existing trail never went up there. There's no view from the top, but if there's already a trail going pretty close, and it's sustainable, might as well build a trail that tags the summit! The summit is what it's all about!
I've flagged close to 60% of the trail to be re-routed. If it's all approved, I'll have turned a 1.8 mile single loop into an infinite mileage three stacked loop system trail. It'll be sweet!

I also flagged a re-route to the bottom portion of Turkey Roost Trail, which was very steep, and started flagging a new trail that will go from Massanutten Shelter to link up Allen's Mtn, Point Trail, Bluebell Loop, and Wildcat Ledge Trail. This new trail will allow access to all these trails, while limiting the general publics access to the campground.

Flags used so far: 1100+