Tuscarora Trail GPSing 3/19, 3/20/2011
Jim Tomlin
scouting on the 3/20/2011 weekend at Little Cove.
Many thanks to Chris for organizing this and making it work out so well.
On Friday (3/18/2011) afternoon, I mucked around in the Hells Hill
Trailhead area trying to find the trail. I found lots of other
trails! Finally found it as the "Yellow/Blue" trail as light was
failing. I walked a hundred yards of it uphill just to get the
beginning of it registered. Map K is not very indicative of what
roads & trails are actually present there. It is a maze of logging
roads and hunter trails.
On Saturday (3/19/2011), I walked from the Alice Trail trailhead up to
the TT, and down the TT for 10 miles back to where the TT re-enters
civilization. Alice Trail is nicely graded and is in excellent
condition. The TT is in terrible condition, from what appears to be a
combination of an ice storm or wet snow, and general lack of
maintenance. I counted 23 blowdowns (14" and smaller) and an infinite
number of branches, limbs, and broken-off treetops in the tread. It
was very difficult hiking and route-finding. Only experienced hikers
with no time restrictions should attempt it until it is visited by a
trail cleanup crew.
Jim Tomlin
Chris Mangold
Thanks for coming out and taking the time to survey the trail. I enjoyed the company and the hike. Certainly got more done than I originally planned. I feel this is a great way to tackle the task of doing the surveys so I will be planning another excursion.
Jim thanks for taking the leap of faith and exploring the Alice Trail. I was curious if I had put you on the right track so I hiked down the Alice trail and was relieved to find that I came out where you had started.
In terms of blow downs here is my break down moving North to South:
Aughwick road to Rt 30 - 2 minor obstructions, top of tree branches effecting the trail.
Rt 30 to Rt 16 - Counted 4 blow downs. All of these were within the first mile of the section where the trail was on the west side or on top of the ridge.
Rt 16 to Alice Trail was the worst with 8 major blow downs. I would say they start about a mile in from Rt 16 were the trail follows the top of the ridge.
Chris
Chris Mangold
301-471-5758 (c)
301-898-7979 (h)
Jim Tomlin
those "No Trespassing" signs and trash piles (I especially liked the
downward-facing smashed TV cabinet - that one I *could* understand!!!
;-) ). After seeing the State Hunting Lands Boundary sign as I
climbed the old road, I was sure I was on the right track. Seems like
all of those side access trails could use some supplemental
blazing/signage if recreationalists really do use them.
Jim T.
M Bramel
I’m just sitting here joining my track segments together and cleaning the file up a little bit. I liked the way things worked out for this jaunt: coming in on Friday for an early start on Saturday, and then heading home Saturday afternoon. I’d bet you get a little better turnout if the expectation is one day’s hiking…weekends are precious time, and while it’s nice to get out in the woods most people will have some other things to attend to during the weekend at least part of the time. It’s easier to commit to a single day/24-hour period.
My blowdown count was a dozen. Moving from Rt 30 up to Cowans Gap, there were a pair about a half mile south of the radio tower, and another one about a quarter mile north. Things were pretty clear for a while; logging salvage of gypsy moth damaged area had left much of the ridgeline south of the Geyer Trail junction looking like a moonscape. At Geyer trail the TT left the logging road and re-entered the woods, where things were fairly rough. There was one larger blowdown a half-mile before the trail descended from the ridge, and another 8 on the descent into Cowans Gap. I didn’t bother counting little stuff that you could easily step over, but there was a fair number of such on the last from Geyer Trail junction north.
I have a file of blowdown waypoints if they are of any use to anyone, since it was easiest for me to mark them as a means of counting. I’ll submit my track and waypoint files as soon as I figure out who all should get them.
Thanks for coordinating this, Chris. As long as it’s not the April 2-3 weekend I should be able to join the next one.
Max
Jim Tomlin
made it worth coming back for, winning 3-1. Having the cabin for
Friday and Saturday nights, Friday evening planning session, Saturday
in the field, and Saturday night/Sunday optional, would be ideal for
future GPSing trips too. What percentage of the TT in PA did the four
of us cover in one day? I would guess that it's not insignificant.
Jim T.
Jim Tomlin
Road, I did see the "Yellow Trail" junction, which was marked by a
wooden sign (I took a photo of it and set a waypoint). Although I
knew about the other junctions in advance, I did not see either the
junction of the trail that leads to Little Cove Cabin or the "Hells
Hill" trail. I admit that quite a bit of my attention was focused on
trying to merely stay on the TT, which wasn't easy because of all the
debris in the trail and the irregular blazing. I sure did a lot of
head-scratching during that hike. I'm not sure I could have followed
it successfully if I didn't know that strictly followed the ridgeline
proper.
Jim T.
M Bramel
Just a reminder to all of us to fill in the sections we covered in the sign-in sheet:
Max
Chris Mangold
I like your suggestions, I bet your right I probably would get a better head count if set it up as a Friday/Saturday activity with Sunday optional. I know it worked out better for me that way.
Good news about DC United, maybe this is their year. We did 30+ miles of the TT plus the Alice trail. I am not sure of the percentage, I will have to calculate that.
Chris
M Bramel
Well, if the trail is about 250 miles (and I guess we’ll be finding that out in the future), then we knocked off 12%.
BTW, if there’s any constructive criticism on the data I submitted, I’d be glad for it.
Max
From: Chris Mangold [mailto:csm...@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2011 10:12 PM
To: Jim Tomlin
Cc: mic...@bramel.net; Janis Stone; Thom Kaye; PATC - Maps Committee Projects Group
Subject: Re: Tuscarora Trail GPSing 3/19, 3/20/2011
Jim and Max:
Jim Tomlin
surveying the TT in PA in one more day if we each tackle a mere
55-mile segment! We'll probably all be back at the cabin for an early
lunch and a nice afternoon snooze.
Jim T.