February 24th, 2008 - Shannon and I adopted our section of the Appalachian Trail to maintain at the TEHCC's Trail Maintenance dinner on Friday night.  Our responsibility is from the Hampton Blue-Blaze Trailhead (off of Highway 321) to Pond Flats (on top of Pond Mountain).  The blue-blazed trail is 1.0 mile, while our section of the A.T. is 2.7 miles, so we have about 3.7 miles total that is our job to maintain.    

View from Pond Mountain

I went out today just to scout our new area and check for blowdowns or other problems.  I took my hand saw and some loppers, and I cleared 3 smaller blowdowns from the trail, while cutting back a few Rhododendrons.  I also picked up some trash on the highly traveled blue-blazed trail.      

I hiked our entire section all the way up to Pond Flats, which is some of the steepest climbs in all of the TEHCC's 132 miles of A.T.  Unfortunately, at this time there are no easier ways to get to the top of our section other than to just climb it (no road access).  However, there are some A.T. relocations in the plans for the upcoming years, and the new relos have already been flagged.  I followed one of these relos on my way down the mountain, and I think they are going to be a great improvement in detouring the steep areas. 

I returned to the car just in time to beat the rain.  Shannon and I are planning to return soon to paint the blue-blazes, and we also have plans to put up some signage on the blue-blaze trail after hopeful permission from the Forest Service.  I was happy to see that almost all the white blazes were in great shape on the A.T., and they should be fine for the mass of thru-hikers that will be coming though our section in the next three  months.   

Total Miles Hiked:  7.4