Stream Bed Maintenance by Shakedown Cruise

12 Nov 2012:  Kudos to the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club for the maintenance in the Shenandoah Nat'l Park; noticeable improvement since our hikes in the spring.

27 Jul 2012: The following trail maintenance/ stream bed maintenance advice is from Shakedown Cruise (AT 2008 - Springer to Dalton, Mass).

Good trail maintenance on the Appalachian Trail is primarily concerned with water flow.  If water flows down the trail, the trail will become too rocky and deeply cut to be safe or fun.  If water sits on the trail, the mud slough will grow to amazing proportions.  Except for fallen trees, most Eastern trail maintenance is almost unnecessary if water flows off the trail readily.

1st & foremost, clear out existing water bars.  The higher on the hillside, the more effective the clearing.  Water not diverted off trail at the top of the mountain will saturate the ground and trail until it is diverted off trail, perhaps for several hundred yards downhill (downstream).

2nd & almost as important, throw ALL wood off the trail.  Any wood left on trail will eventually wash downstream to clog a water bar.  Worse, wood in a boggy area becomes saturated with water and provides a never ending source of moisture to perpetuate the bog.

3rd, in boggy areas, cut an exit path for the water to flow.  At first the exit doesn't seem to do much good until you cut it entirely across the bog, whereupon you will discover lots of wood blocking the water flow.  The bigger the piece of wood, the worst the bog.  REMOVE ALL wood from a boggy area and it will usually dry out in two days; leave the wood and the bog will persist for years or until the next drought.

If you do any any one of those first three tasks, you will be amazed at the improvement apparent after the next heavy rain.

Once you see the results, you will be encouraged to remove all soggy wood from the immediate edges of the trail.  Some of these big stumps adjacent to the trail are so water soaked that they rival sponges in consistency; you can wring water out by merely grabbing them.  Often these sponges are the water source responsible for a nearby mud wallow.

I go overboard and throw even the smallest sticks off the trail.  Consider that adobe is nothing more than mud and straw; it rivals concrete as a building material in the American Southwest.  As you clear water bars, most often you will discover several small sticks damming the flow and accumulating leaf debris; once the water bar is full, the overflow erodes the trail downstream.  Methinks that this is the ideal job for youngsters; see who can throw the biggest stick off the trail, see who can throw a stick the farthest off the trail (downhill).

9 September 2014:  Ron is pleased to report that his maintenance of the Sherbourne Pass Trail (leading to the Inn at Long Trail) has been good for two years.  This refresher maintenance is just in time as many water bars have filled with debris.  Cleaning is in progress for this month.

Have you ever tripped on a 3-inch stump in the middle of the trail?  Feel lucky that you didn't break an ankle or fall?  Wonder why someone cut off a sapling at that height.  Some Appalachian trail maintainers (especially in the North) are INCREDIBLY STUPID.  One suspects that they are sadists who deliberately want to cause hikers to take a fall or break an ankle. 

Misspellings: Streambed, waterbars, offtrail.

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The following links are of personal interest:

Eve's Garden Organic Bed and Breakfast, a wonderful, eclectic, artistic papercrete alternative living learning mecca in Marathon, Texas

Rambo family genealogy,  Bankston & Bankson family genealogy,  the Camblin family genealogy,  the Dorsey Overturff family,  cousin Jean's Schenck and Hageman genealogy, and 

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