May 17:

Had 10 out today, a full pond, with Pete Sivcik, one of our new guys, driving a 201 thousand dollar Land Rover beyond the two gates at Lemon Gap and up near the summit of Bluff Mt.  Half the crew that drove in with him were delighted with the plush interiors, spacious seating (everyone except the driver had a day bed) and smooth ride.  I was told that when the road got rough, the wheels of the Rover didn't touch the surface, as Pete just put the vehicle's gear leaver in "mag-lev" mode.

Driving in took time as we had to wait on logs being loaded, so when we got to the large campsite below the summit of Bluff it was very near 10:00 AM.  We dropped a saw team of JW (John Whitehouse) and Jorge out at Cat Pen Gap to take out two trees that have been down all winter, most likely.  With eight other crew, we took on the trail on the north-bound side of the mountain and completed 680 feet of sidehilling, root removal and when the say team caught up with us at lunch time, Jorge and John installed two water bars and one very good (outstanding) silt bar.  Since we could only work until 12:40 PM and with a nasty storm coming in from the southwest, the crew cleaned out 30 water bars on the north side and south side near the summit of Bluff Mt. down to the camp site.  A good day...got the truck washed off in a heavy rain storm while driving east on  I-26 after letting the guys out at Home Depot.  Of course Pete's Land Rover will wash itself whenever he pushes the "Wash and Wax" switch on the dash board.  Lots of work in so little time, thanks guys.  Official report follows.  JS    

With only one volunteer missing, our valuable Mr. Whitehouse, we dressed nine souls out to do nature's justice on big Bluff Mountain.  This time doing more walking than riding and covering most of all remaining items above the big cherry tree.  Unfortunately, we had planned on chainsaw work in order to concentrate two teams of workers on Bluff all above the big Cherry tree.  As one might have thought, (or planned for) in woods that have more years in centuries than I have hair on my chest, that it COULD be possible for a big tree to fall and  block a narrow part of the Appalachian Trail.  Of course we had no contemplation that such a thing did occur prior to our arrival ten minutes into our climb up Bluff Mt.  Actually, we would not have removed this monster had Bob Poe not climbed over the top and hence, would have been on the other side at sun down and, much like the US Marine Corps, we never leave a comrade in the woods.  Besides, we understand that Bob wanted to return home to Asheville with the crew.  While a dangerous fall, it took one hour (and a trip back to the truck to retrieve the .026)  to remove this old white oak and thus our plan was busted in less than an eighth of a mile on the trail

We split the crew into two units with the advance team (those of strong legs and youthful hearts) to run way ahead and tackle Bluff Mt. well above Rock Spring and work their way back down.  Of course Bob was with this crowd of hearty souls and was thrown over the big tree before anyone could say "Jack Robin" and so the trailing team undertook to remove the oak.  This teams objective was to work the "middle" section of Bluff and despite the delay, did get to hammer away at roots and dig sidehill to some good degree.  But that darn tree busted our great plan for the day.  However, the advance team made it to the high regions of thin air near the top of Bluff Mt. and to the area this crew worked its way down to last Wednesday from the top.  Very good job to the advance team for running up Bluff for almost four miles to hack trail...and to the rear team for adapting to changes in the plan.  Next time we'll leave Bob on the "home side" of the next big tree and call off the work day and go drink designer coffee at the Laurel River.  Finally we had to say another farewell to our movie celebrity, Mr. ...(our very own) Roberts.  David will take his audio talents to west Texas for his next film assignment where there is nothing but brown, dry dirt and dust!  The Wednesday Crew will send him some green leaves from time to time and save him some ice water for his return.  Good day today...thanks guys...out at 2:00 PM.  Official Report follows John Soldati

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