Monday morning a very enthusiastic crew arrived at the Park Trailhead. An introduction to the park and the group made its way up the three mile hike to the Overlook Rocks. The clouds were looming and after only about an hour of work the oracle iPhone predicted a very large downpour. After a hurried hike down off the mountain the group returned to the trailhead. Even within that hour it seemed that this was going to be an especially strong and motivated crew.

Unfortunately the oracle iPhone’s radar app seemed to be in error and the afternoon proceeded with only a short light rain near the time we were supposed to come down.

Tuesday opened with an even greater sense of enthusiasm and we were up to the work site very quickly. Here commenced perhaps the largest amount of work performed the entire summer. The groups divided into four basic teams. One team began cutting through the final segment of the Lichen Rock Ride-Around near the Overlook Rocks. This was a rugged section of new trail connecting the old pit-section back out onto the Overlook Trail just beyond Lichen Rock.

Another team worked on the other end of the Lichen Rock Ride-Around just to the south of Lichen Rock. Here a banked corner was constructed to guide people around and back down to the original trail. The entrance off of the Overlook Trail  needed a wider passage beside a tree to properly enter onto the new section of trail. Here a secondary wall was extended out with large rocks.

A third team began work on Lichen Rock itself. The south side ride-up was re-contoured and flattened out to allow people to ride or walk easily to the top of the rock. On the east side corner hundreds of rocks were harvested to begin building up the corner that would allow people passage around to the other side. Many large rocks were arduously slung in to buildup a strong foundation for the emerging trail. In the final 20 minutes a huge push was made to shore up and extend the rocks up and over Lichen Rock

The final team was the “pit crew” and worked at a fantastic pace to dig large amounts of dirt for “Nemo” to deposit on the backside ride-up of Lichen Rock. Dirt was never at a scarcity with this group. Wonderful work was also done around the pits to contour the ground to empty water into the pits themselves.

This was an amazing crew from South Carolina and Pennsylvannia. Getting up and over Lichen Rock had been something we had tried to get done for almost a year and a half. This group’s wonderful energy and enthusiasm really made for not only a massive amount of work, but also just a great set of days up on the mountain. We can’t thank you enough for all your meaningful and hard work.

My great appreciation,                 

-Michael Smith