 Shannon
and I are TEHCC Appalachian Trail Maintainers from the Hampton
Blue-Blaze Trail off of Highway 321 near Hampton, Tennessee to
the top of Pond Mountain (called Pond Flats). We are
responsible for painting blazes, clearing blowdowns, cutting
back Laurel and Rhododendrons, cutting back other weeds and
brush, removing trash, refurbishing the trail, etc. Our
section is designated "Wilderness", which means that we cannot
use power tools of any kind for our work. Therefore, we
use crosscut saws instead of chainsaws, sling-blades instead
string-trimmers, etc.The
1.0 mile blue-blazed trail is one of the most widely used trails
in this area as it is the main access trailhead to the very
popular
Laurel Falls. It is a very scenic trail, which follows
the Laurel Fork Stream and also passes by Buckled Rock (a huge
sheer rock face overhanging the stream). After the
blue-blaze trail ends, our section connects to the A.T. (heading
north) and climbs for another 2.7 miles to the top of Pond
Mountain. This climb is considered as one of the toughest
on the A.T. in Tennessee, but relocations are in the works in
the next couple of years to detour the steep areas. Our
section eventually ends at a small spring on Pond Flats, which
is a common campsite on the top of the mountain.
See below for our 2008 trail
maintenance logs:
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