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Project Location Jurisdiction Type Hours Workers Date Description
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Work  14.3  3   12/10/2024  Since we had gotten a lot more rain than expected right before the work day, we decided to focus on spreading gavel on sections of the fire road. We took from two piles and we ended up using all of the one by Enchanted Forest and cleaned up that area where the pile was. We also moved over 100 logs and branches that people had laid parallel to the road blocking water from getting off road in a horrifying number of places almost looked intensional! Have no idea why they thought that was a good idea. It is almost like they thought the road edge needed to be marked....how crazy. Later Turtle and I walked a line of a possible new temporary access route to road. We found a good route that comes out to nice place on the road. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  24.0  5   12/7/2024  Good turn out for last minute trail work posting. It was pretty cold to start and the ground was frozen. But we were able to break through with the skid steers and get to good dirt. We worked on adding dirt to a few of our banked turns. We also roughed in some trail and finished some trail. It was a good day.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  17.2  3   12/3/2024  Well, we waited in the lot this morning until 20 after since so many people signed up and did not cancel before we went out there except for one that told Turtle. Later as we expected we had one other volunteer show up. We were still able to get a lot of work done even with a Cannycom break down (drive belt slipping due to being about ready to break. We had to transfer stuff to the other one and limp broken one back to truck. More stuff to work on at home. The DW has been hard to start in the cold and the repaired starter had one time it did not engage and I don't know why as I replaced and obviously melted part unless it keeps melting for some reason. Maybe the started motor stays engaged with flywheel, even though I think we would hear that. Not sure what is up. But it is working pretty good right now....the battery is a bit weak and we have been having to jump, maybe that has something to do with throwing the gear out. I think I will try to get a new battery once I see how long we have had this one. Lots of dirt was put down and shipped and new trail was roughed in. Oh and also threw a Vemeer track today and have not done that in years. I know why it happened as I was trying a new way to deal with frozen ground future issues by leaving some ground cover and hidden rock while trying to take out a tree with machine....Will modify process. There was a higher huge rock I did not see just under the surface where I was applying power to tracks for tree removal. Need to clear around it in these cases and deal with freeze issues.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  12.5  2   12/2/2024  Today was an experiment to see what it will be like tomorrow with a larger group with the below freezing start and the warming above freezing. We also wanted to get the DW back out there without dealing with a big group and the trailer. Glad we did this as we had to cut around 4 trees off the road, one was almost too big for the electric saw. It was about 16" diameter and up high. Everything worked out so well with the soil! Guess there was not much moisture in it, so hardly frozen. We naturalized a dirt mine and hauled a bunch of left over rocks over for benches and tables at the area where we used to have toolboxes We think it looks great....might work on it some more later. We also did some trail roughing in and building to get a plan for tomorrow's work. I think we are good to go for tomorrow. We left the DW up at the tool boxes to keep from running it across good trail continually. In the next month or two we should have a new access route to the fire road much further down. We might have to work on the road some more down that way.  
  
Craig Botetourt Scenic Trail 		 Walton Lane  Craig County  Trail Maintenance  56.0  9   11/25/2024  This was an extra day, given that we never work the Wed before Thanksgiving. And it turned out to be the best day of the week, starting with frost and warming up nicely. We started with breakfast at Pine Top, along with lots of locals and hunters. Hit the trail hard with four saws running. For some reason Woody and I had thought this piece would be easy. Not so. Lots and lots of old stuff that had been cut and dropped, now covered up with invasives, grass and other downfall. Just the entrance had huge amounts of cutting to do. We got about half of it done and all were running out of water. We drove to the end of 682 to help load the "firewood" pile, but decided it wasn't worth hauling. A beautiful day and great help. 
  
Fallen Tree Clearing 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  2.0  2   11/24/2024  Cleared 4 fallen Trees from Rock-N-Roll with a hand saw.  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  103.0  15   11/20/2024  Another glorious day. After a week of forecasts for rain on Wed, we got in a whole day with no rain until we were driving out. Had sparkling sunshine at one point. We all shed many layers, as it got so warm. A big crew today, including Renee, and we got within 100 feet of the first drainage of the double drainage. Had several difficult big rocks and also some big root sections. The strong men of the crew were wearing down on those. Lots of lively conversations, enjoyed having AK this week. Carried out all the tools as this is our last week this year, due to up coming freeze thaw Tomorrow! Weather is changing so dramatically that Renee hopes to cross country ski in WV this week end. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  20.1  3   11/19/2024  Today we finished moving our tools and other items further down the trail where we are building new trail. We also worked on digging and adding more dirt to a significant drainage area to control the water and make the trail flow nicely through the area. We enjoyed a beautiful maple tree in the area we were working. We are making some alternating banked turns through this area. We are not totally done in this area yet though. We decided to stop a little early due to rain forecast. 
  
Equipment Maintenance and Repair 		 DW  Pathfinders  Tool & Equipment  12.0  2   11/18/2024  DW Hour Meter 1034. We were having starter issues with starter spinning and not always engaging. It had gotten worse over a few work days to the point of hardly ever engaging. Took to my garage. Removed starter and took the starter apart. Found a melted plastic part the throws the gear into the flywheel running off the starter solenoid. Had to order it from Outdoor power and wait about a week for it. In the meantime we replaced the oil and really cleaned up the machine. When the part arrived, installed it and it worked great.  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  105.0  15   11/13/2024  Finally - November. Very cool at the start and never got hot. Dave finished with the stump pulling. Others dug trail, three focused on polishing earlier sections. Carried out some of the tools. In two weeks we have gone from peak leaves to no leaves. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  43.6  6   11/12/2024  We spent most of the day mining dirt and hauling it continually in two Canycoms up to the flat area where the trails fork in order to shape it some more to prevent water from running down the trail for making any muddy areas in that flat area. It is now sloped more to sheet water into the woods all around. We also moved the bench Turtle and Cody designed last week over to the center of our little trail traffic circle and reconstructed it. Had some trouble getting it as stable there, but finally got it. We also moved the toolboxes to our next work area. It was good to clean them out a little. We hope to get a nice gentle rain this week to help pack in all this dirt but hopefully not wash it away.  
  
Equipment Maintenance and Repair 		 Canycom #1  Pathfinders  Tool & Equipment  0.0  0   11/11/2024  Replaced two track brake handles that both broke in the same place but on different machines, I swapped the CC2 one out from one on CC1 that was down anyway. Had to get a brake cable also for left side of CC1 and install. This is time over a few months. Need to order more brake handles for backup also as we used the two back ups. Also note that CC2 has a small gear box leak at right front bearing. I ordered a new bearing and seal, will install when changing oil in a month or two. 
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Roanoke River Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  3.5  2   11/7/2024  Trash pick up at Wiley Drive/Roanoke River Greenway 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  84.0  12   11/6/2024  Last week was almost hot; this week was hot. Still, the digging got to the nose, so headed into the home stretch for this year. Pulled stumps beyond the crew, but not all. Tom entertained by renting an electric mountain bike and riding it in. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  6.0  1   11/5/2024  Naturalized all the new sections of trail that we have completed. Built a bench with left over large boulders.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  14.7  2   10/31/2024  Today we added more dirt to 3 of the jumps/water diverters near the top of the jump line connector to Schoolhouse Problem was that the dirt was just too dry. We thought we had moist dirt and the wind would dry it up before we got it compacted. Also it just kept raining leaves to the point we could hardly keep them off where we were working to get anything done. We are hoping for some light rain. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  103.0  16   10/30/2024  Glorious October became almost hot. And soil definitely became dust. With a big crew we had another day over 200'. Jim Brown collected rocks and built an entrance wall at the trail start to encourage bikes and water to follow the desired path. Numerous trees got pulled. Lots of trail building on moderate slopes. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  14.2  2   10/29/2024  First we installed the handle on the hood of the DW with new hardware. Then we went up to work on the 2nd jump of the jump line. We added a bunch of dirt to blend the ramp to the rock with the rest of trail for stability and lengthened the landing and approach. We used the jumping jack compactor and hand tamper to pack in the new dirt. We are not totally done with what we want to do, but this is much better than before. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  70.5  14   10/27/2024  Today Just The Right Gear sponsored our work day today by promoting it with posters at the Cove and in the shop and on Facebook. They also provided snacks and Lunch. This created a great turn out! We focused on clearing down trees along the corridor of the next section of the trail that has been flagged. I think we got at least half a mile of the mile that has been flagged.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  15.9  2   10/24/2024  Today we shutdown the dirt mines between toolbox and rock bridge. We also used organic materials around those mines we saved before to stage for naturalizing on the next work day where we expect a lot of volunteers. We set up several demo spots of naturalizing along the way to provide guidelines for group to fill in. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  73.0  11   10/23/2024  We are ohhh so spoiled by the weather this October. Chilly mornings, shed layers, warm afternoons. Thankfully we had the hurricane rain at the end of Sept, so it has taken a little while for the soil to dry out to dust. Bud ran the weedeater with saw blade today to knock down the worst of the huckleberries. Others built over 200' of trail. One carload left an hour early to get to Greenway Commission meeting. The next nose is the last for this year, then a long run into the first of the double drains. We will quit there for the year.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  18.8  3   10/23/2024  We added dirt to the banked turn before rock bridge and added some dirt before that to change the alignment of the trail a little bit to match the turn better. We are pretty close to closing down the 3 dirt mines between tool box and bridge. Leaving only one open on the access road to do a bit more at toolbox area and jump line before finishing with that. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  13.1  2   10/17/2024  Today we added a few more rocks to our big horseshoe bridge to finish it! We then worked on filling in dirt to blend the upper side into the hill side. We also added dirt to a few more places between the dirt mine and the bridge. We have a little bit more to do and then we will shut down those two dirt mines between tools and bridge. We will still have a dirt mine open on access road to finish the improvements to the Schoolhouse Rock jump line/connector and maybe a bit more shaping by the toolboxes. Put the new cable on cannycom broken down out there, but forgot to get a new handle as I forgot two had been broken recently. Darn. Maybe we have another back up one, but worried we don't. I looked in our trailer and truck today and did not find one. Still need to look at home. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  98.0  14   10/16/2024  What a beautiful October day and productive crew. We built 270' today, inspired by a 50 year old friend who took a day from work to volunteer. We are beyond the "nose" now and into long sidehill sections. Jim Brown continues to polish, Chris and Shannon pulled trees with come-along, Blanche and Liz got into a huckleberry thicket. Soil is already drying out. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  17.2  2   10/13/2024  First we filled all the buckets 3 times to repair section of the road on the way out. We are putting a thin layer of gravel down on sections they hold water because they are lower than the edges of the road. Next we mined dirt and added it select areas of the section between tool box and rock bridge. Most of the issues were on the uphill side of the trail. Also moving the alignment of the trail a little on the turn before the bridge to move it into a little wider turn and we are banking a section of the turn just a little. We also had the worst widowmaker I have every seen with a whole tree hanging by a branch about 10 feet above the ground at its lowest point. I think the section of tree was about 40 foot tall! We pulled it out with a very long rope and Ditch Witch.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  16.7  2   10/10/2024  We started the day by filling buckets along the way out to the worksite to spread along the road in places that can use it. We filled them twice today. Then we decided since it was a week day and the soil has perfect moisture, we would work on School House Rock to make jumps better and control water better. We want to get this finished before we move much further out on Rock-N-Roll. We mined and installed about 30 buckets of dirt.  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  100.5  14   10/9/2024  We dedicated four or five people to cutting the big tree. It had positioned itself nicely so that the binds were not too bad. Whittled away at it in sections, knowing they would be heavy. A tape measure revealed that it was "only" 36", not four feet. Very tight, consistent growth rings. A nice feature on the trail. Meanwhile another 170' of trail got built, with soil moisture improved from the rain. 
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Hanging Rock Trail  City of Salem  Trail Maintenance  5.0  3   10/3/2024  Picked up trash along the Hanging Rock Trail in Salem. 
  
Hinchee Trail/ Brushy Mtn 		 Hinchee Park/ Carvins Cove  Roanoke County/ City of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  84.0  14   10/2/2024  In the wake of Hurricane Helene on Sept 27, we went in knowing we had many trees to cut to get to Laurel Canyon. To the extent possible, we leapfrogged along, cutting trees, clearing branches and limbs from ditches. At least twelve big trees and then lots of little stuff. By the time we got to the landing at LC, it was too late to hike in. However, some of our scouts went down the trail enough to find the four foot tree we have to cut next week. Considering a crosscut to finish it off! 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  11.3  3   9/19/2024  After working on the road we finally got up to the Rock-N-Roll. We collected rock and smashed it between the hillside and our rock bridge on the newest end. Then added some dirt on top. We want to blend with hillside and eventually naturalize it. But we need to let it sit and add more dirt later. We still need to finish the entrance to the bridge, but that is for another day. On the way out we loaded the buckets with rocks from the larger delivered stone and added to a spot on the road that had standing water for some time now. We needed the larger rock as a base....we will need more next time also. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  9.5  3   9/19/2024  With all the rain we got the last two days we decided to do some road work on the way out as we did not even know how much trail work we could do. We luckily had all the buckets at the first pile of material by Tuck-a-Way. We loaded up and put that up by the Tunnel Road intersection area mostly. Then we stopped at the pile near Enchanted and worked on road right there with buckets and then filled them all up and went down to other side of Enchanted and put them on the road there. Then we stopped at the next pile at 4 way and put some on rileys loop which there and loaded up all the buckets and then before using them decided to stop at low area where more left over material was left from Little Bell and worked a whole lot on the road in that area using up most of the 21Bs there. Then we took the full buckets and added to road on each side of the new culvert that was soft. Then we spent a lot of time cutting back some invasives that were overtaking the road in about a 200 foot area. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  73.3  11   9/11/2024  Another nice fall day. Stopped to cut a big oak on the way in. What brings these things down when we have had no storm? Got to the nose. YEAHH and some flat land, however short lived. Welcomed Tom as a newbie and Dave B back. Had some minor dehydration issues, which reminded us all to bring more water. Good preparedness by our team to help others. 
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Roanoke Greenways  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  14.0  9   9/5/2024  Litter pick up near Bennington on the Roanoke River Greenway 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  79.0  12   9/4/2024  A good crew so soon after a holiday. Great to see how much you can get done with a dozen workers.  
  
Hinchee Trail 		 Hinchee Park  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  2.0  2   9/2/2024  Removed fallen trees.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  16.5  3   8/29/2024  The dirt was too dry to do any dirt shaping. So, we focused on the big rock bridge. We placed the rest of the big rocks today. We have some smaller rocks to mess around with and a lot of fill to do, but we are pretty happy with it. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  29.5  4   8/24/2024  Today we moved a whole lot of dirt and rock. We worked on the large ravine route the most today and have it almost finished. We need some light rain to get the dirt to stick....but we think it will be ok.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  20.3  3   8/22/2024  Today we finished the far side of the rock creek crossing that we have been working on off and on based on weather and crew. We are so happy to have that side done in a way we can still take the machines through since we can not use the rock bridge with the tracked machines. We did stir up a hornets nest in the base of a tree and had to work around those upset critters but they ended up not stinging anyone. We added a lot of dirt to the finished side of the bridge to work the whole thing into the hillside with a nice tilted curve with great drainage. When we get around to naturalizing this it will look like it has always been there. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  71.5  11   8/21/2024  Great weather this week. Jim B. worked on clean up and polishing behind us.. Blanche clearing beyond the nose. Crew rounding within sight of nose. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  18.8  4   8/17/2024  Today we continued to focus on shaping two drainages and the trail around them. Adding dirt where needed and sorting out the organic material. We are also placing the large rocks we uncover when digging to places where we can use them to build up the trail. We are working to improve the flow through an area with lots of drainage and steep slopes by tilting and shaping the trail for user fun and also to control the water so it will sheet across the trial even in high flow areas. When we are finished and naturalize this area, we think it will really look great. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  16.5  3   8/15/2024  Today we moved a lot of dirt and rocks. We worked in the ravine behind the trail to use the dirt to built up the trail in the turn and to make a small water retention area with controlled flow across the trail using a small dam. This is a very rocky digging area and we used all that rock to build back up the back slope on a section of trail that required us to dig sharply into the side hill in order to take the skid steer through some tight and steep areas while taming that extreme steep side hill. Everyone was very tired from moving so many heavy rocks. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  79.8  11   8/14/2024  We had an alert that there was a big tree fallen across Hinchee. Great opportunity for group analysis of hazards, bind, methods. Woody made short order of it, with Bud on cut up. Once we got on the trail, we enjoyed not too hot temperatures. Shannon and Liz used come along to pull black gum trees. Only one with yellow jackets. Blanched raked to the nose. Others dug trail, headed for the "flat" area. It is always a long haul going out. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  45.5  7   8/7/2024  We had a slightly delayed start, as I-81 was closed due to a tractor trailer fire and thus traffic was backed up in every direction. Then we had a shower at 1:30. We cleaned up what had been left undone from last week, plus about that much more. Great core group of professional trail diggers. Blanche raked to the big dead tree. Liz cleared line of sight along the flags beyond the nose.  
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Roanoke River Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  9.3  6   8/1/2024  Trash pickup at Vic Thomas Park on Roanoke River Greenway 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  84.0  13   7/31/2024  Renee announced that the heat index was supposed to be very high, so we agreed to quit "early-ish". Renee and Liz laid out another 1000' beyond the nose to the first crossing of the double drainage. Others worked on digging with Blanche back out in front. Good sized crew, but still very dry. Lots of black gum to get out. Removed some yellow jackets in the gate. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  19.3  3   7/28/2024  We added dirt to a section of trail that had a lot of tree roots that we did not want to dig into. But we wanted good drainage and proper outslope. Also adding a lot of dirt in an S-Turn we have been working on that includes a significant drainage crossing. We got much of the dirt from another place on the trail we are trying to improve the grade on before a deep ravine crossing. It has been a tricky section to work in due to very steep side slope and old stumps and large rocks.  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  54.0  8   7/24/2024  Smallish crew but got about 200' done through a section with huckleberries instead of roots and rocks. Underneath the duff, the ground was just powder. The drought is not overcome by a few showers. Chuck's phone now says we have done .84 mile from this end. Rats. We thought it was farther. Got to the drainage above the big trees. When we got out to the parking lot, the rain just dumped and we all sat there a little while.  
  
Craig Botetourt Scenic Trail 		 Parr  Botetourt County  Trail Maintenance  65.5  8   7/18/2024  We switched to Thursday based on the prediction of temperatures below 90 and some Wed conflicts. We did have the off and on forecast of rain materialize into steady rain for two hours, just as we got to the work site and started up. Everyone stuck it out, but got drenched. Always better to be drenched in warm weather than cold. Greg ran the walk behind mower and was challenged to keep up with it, now that it had a new belt. Shannon was on the tractor and bush hog, had to stop and adjust that belt at one point. In addition Shannon brought his ATV and a small trailer and carried stuff and people to the work site. We could not have done this project without his equipment. Liz and Bud were on electric saws. We had two failed culvert areas to cross. It took five hours for all of us to cut through 1900', so definitely a thick section. Then broke out onto a road section which Shannon mowed to the bridge. We have now finished the Parr section, 2.6 miles. Kelly and Trevin (VDOT) were there to do their engineering work, quick before it could grow up. (We suspected they sat it out in the truck through some of the rain, as they didn't look very wet when they got to us after lunch.) They were thrilled with all we had done, saying they couldn't have done it til November if we hadn't cleared it. 
  
Equipment Maintenance and Repair 		 Parr  Craig and Botetourt County  Tool & Equipment  15.0  2   7/17/2024  This was multiple days of work, starting with a belt replacement on Sunday on the walk behind, only to have the belt shred and discover the pulley had a sharp edge. Trips to three belt shops, Outdoor Power for the pulley and replacement chains for saws, oil and filters for both walk behind and the tractor (dealer specific), and then putting it all back, including new belt on the bush hog, in the week of suffocating heat. Plus loading four machines for the work day Thursday. Getting ready for work days is more work than the day! 
  
Craig Botetourt Scenic Trail 		 Parr  Botetourt County  Trail Maintenance  3.0  1   7/16/2024  Weedeated from 2020 out to the 66 bridge at 2026. We had cut this section three weeks ago but never mowed it, due to mud puddles and washout. VDOT coming to do the engineering work. Managed to knock back nettle and stickweeds, plus sedges in puddles.  
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Lick Run Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  4.5  3   7/11/2024  Trash pickup in Washington Park on the Lick Run Greenway. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  22.4  3   7/11/2024  First we loaded up buckets for 21b from pile at 4 way intersection and spread it in a section of road that has been muddy in the past as it was on our way. Then we tried to figure out where the oil on Cannycom 2 left track came from...could not find the source and the transmission had enough fluid in it. We used it and kept an eye on it...never a leak...hmm. We first started on extending the rocked creak crossing when I was just two of us out ther. When a third pair of hands came, we switched to adding dirt to the area around the tool box. Then whe it was the two of us again we went back to the rocks. Made great progress. But there was a huge yellow jacket nest that we stirred up near the toolboxes. 
  
Craig Botetourt Scenic Trail 		 Parr  Botetourt County  Trail Maintenance  27.0  3   7/11/2024  Repeat of last week, starting at 1958 and hoping to get to 1920. Did not make it. Had numerous issues - thrown belt on bush hog, loose belt on walk behind, , 24" poplar across the trail when we only had half-done electric saws 12", washout not noted by VDOT, washout noted by VDOT., much thicker brush, etc Still, it was not as hot as Wednesday and we got to 1929 - Thus 2900'. Need one more day and some reinforcements for culvert. Swampers would help too!! 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  49.5  9   7/10/2024  We knew it was supposed to be hot again, but truly the humidity was so bad we were all dripping before we started. Blanche and Liz worked on brush clearing and raking out front; others worked on digging trail. When it thundered at 12:30, we were all game to start hiking out. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  21.3  4   7/4/2024  To start we did our usual filling buckets of rock to put down on places on road that need it while we are driving out to work site. Today we also stopped mid way to take an old access trail remenint up to a place where trees were down and tangled on the trail....We cleared that up in about an hour counting hike in/out. Then we went to near the end of our extension to trail and worked on moving dirt to shape two crossings and making an S turn. We got poured on around noon and that was unexpected. We had to stop as ground was soaked and muddy where we were working. We decided to fill buckets up with larger tunnel trailings to put down on Song Bird enterance on way out....the rain had stopped. Also on Song Bird we went up to work on the downed tree mess that pulled up huge root ball and wedged trees all allong the trail...We got a good start before being dumped on with rain again. We called it quits at that point. 
  
Craig Botetourt Scenic Trail 		 Parr  Botetourt County  Trail Maintenance  26.8  3   7/1/2024  Loaded tractor and walk behind mower, gear, etc to clear section VDOT needs to work on. The farmer had already done some in the field, which helped as that part was in the sun. Wooded part had grown up in cedars. The two machines were great combination, with chainsaw also running. Lots of down stuff. Once we got to the part the 4-wheelers were using, it was clearer but still needed mowing and clearing. Went from 2010 at gate to 1958. That's about half way, so more to do. 
  
Craig Botetourt Scenic Trail 		 Parr  Botetourt County  Trail Maintenance  6.0  2   6/30/2024  Walked out grown up trail to assess equipment needs for doing brush work VDOT requested. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  18.9  3   6/27/2024  Hot day. We first filled about 8 buckets of 21B to spread on a constantly damp section of road in the sharp right over culvert before the wooden bridge. Then we worked up near the toolboxes changing the grade of a large area around the toolboxes by adding dirt to sheet water toward the toolboxes and away from the School House Rocks Jump line/connector. This is something we have had on our to-do list for a long time, but needed proper moisture in fill dirt and the right sized crew. We moved many tons of dirt and shaped and packed it. We will monitor the resulting water flow over time and improve were possible while we are in the area. When we are very happy in the future we will do a major naturalizing of this area and consider a possible picnic table. 
  
Craig Botetourt Scenic Trail 		 Parr  Botetourt County  Trail Maintenance  45.0  8   6/26/2024  Special request from VDOT to help clear brush near bridges 66 and 92, so that they can work on engineering. Weather forecast was for the hottest day so far this summer, so we planned to focus on the 850 feet from Parr parking to bridge 66. Lots of small trees already cut, or laid across the trail to cross mud puddles. Tons of grape vine. Three saws running. The bank failure was significant - possibly from 85 flood. So fun to see the beautiful bridge. We finished shortly after lunch, so avoided climbing temperatures. After crew left Woody and Liz did some weed eating from the creek under bridge 71 up to the trail, so we could at least get there through the high grass and blackberries. Need a way to get a mower there. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  65.0  10   6/19/2024  Roger focused on cutting trees and limbs ahead of the crew; then raked. Crew worked through mountain laurel section and into huckleberry section. Blanche worked on correcting sections where duff had been buried.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  13.8  2   6/13/2024  First we cut a downed tree off a new section of the trail. Then we worked on the rock armoured creek crossing that is really wide. We made some good progress. But we are a little concerned the turn might be a little too sharp...If so, we think we can modify it without too much work. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  89.5  13   6/12/2024  Renee came in with us this week, to help with layout and reviewing alternatives Liz had flagged. They finalized flags through two drains and out to the nose. Crew kept digging and fighting with rocks. Still looking for the "easier grades" and sidehill not so steep. So glad to have Barry back after his knee surgery. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  10.4  2   6/11/2024  First we cut the tree on the Arrowhead side of Rock-N-Roll near the lower switchback. Then we loaded the Cannycom up with saws and tools to work on the huge tree that is still partially blocking the trail before the big rock bridge. We went up an old access route to get there, but it was hard to follow...we managed though and that saved time. We cut it by the stumb, the the root ball would not settle back into the hole. It was also too big for the saw we have. But we made do. We left a section for people to try to ride over and also made the upper go around into a technical feature by also adding two half logs we had made in order to cut through the large diameter. We also cleaned up the backup drainage around the main bridge of all the tree tops that were left in there. That drainage is important for overflow and it even has its own bridge also. It was a lot of work. But if it were to back up, water might flow in places that would tear up the trail all around the bridge. 
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Tinker Creek Greenway  Roanoke County,Town Of Vinton  Trail Maintenance  10.5  7   6/6/2024  Trash Pick-up along the Tinker Creek/Glade Creek greenway. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  65.0  10   6/5/2024  Some iffiness about the weather, and in fact it drizzled on us as we traveled in, but not on the trail. Very humid all day. Some steep sidehill construction. Some new trees down beyond the drainage. With various folks traveling and returning, we had new stories and tales to hear. Poured on us as we drove out, revealing all the ruts. 
  
Song Bird Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  1.5  1   5/31/2024  Repair wet areas with rocky fill. 
  
Song Bird Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  3.0  1   5/30/2024  Clearing out drainages and removing downside buildup preventing water from draining from trail.  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  76.5  11   5/29/2024  Went in expecting trees down, given the tornado in Salem on Sunday. No trees but clearly there had been very hard rain and Hinchee was very washed and rough. But it was a beautiful day, with coolish temperatures and a lovely breeze. Continued on around the nose, across a steep section. Built about 115 feet. Cleared to the end of the pin flags, and then laid out more. At the end of the day, one vehicle went out toward Bennett Springs gate to check for trees, and sure enough there was a huge mess of them right at the end. 
  
Song Bird Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  3.0  1   5/29/2024  Clearing out drainages and removing downside buildup preventing water from draining from trail.  
  
Song Bird Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  2.5  1   5/27/2024  Clearing out drainages and removing downside buildup preventing water from draining from trail.  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  65.0  10   5/22/2024  We stopped on the way in to clear two of the areas covered in heavy leaves from the rains. Woody brought his leaf blower, which helped. Worked on building on quite steep sections. Jim B and Blanche still polishing on the older parts. Liz attacked some trees that had fallen in the next section. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  74.3  11   5/8/2024  Had some key issues at first, as newly cut keys needed some work. Found Hinchee pretty washed from the Monday hard rain. Enjoyed having AK to help us again, even though he is not yet retired. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  21.4  4   5/2/2024  First we installed a new wheel on the gate. It was only $12 so Pathfinders purchased it instead of waiting for someone else to fix it. We have kind of been maintaining that gate by straightening it out after cars hit it and fixing the hinges. We fixed the wheel a while back, but this time it needed a new one. Then we stopped at the Rilleys Loop gravel pile and loaded up 8 buckets to spread and different spots needed on the road. We also spread some near the rock pile on Rilley's loop where we can see it has been muddy in the past. We worked near the end of the new section of Rock-N-Roll today focusing on adding dirt to an S turn and taking out some of the grade change on the trail further down that was high. This is good dirt. Around 1:30 Renee came out and walked the flag line of another .5 mile section of Rock-N-Roll and said she liked the route and we can carry on with construction.  
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Roanoke River Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  13.0  8   5/2/2024  Trash Pickup along Bennington Drive on Roanoke River Greenways. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  75.0  12   5/1/2024  Back to Laurel Canyon to build the middle of the trail. Trail was in pretty good shape, but of course had leaves. Used a come- along to remove a big maple root mass. Lots of duff out there. Nice day. Ticks. 
  
Nature Trail 		 Benjamin Franklin Middle School  Franklin County  Bridge Maintenance  18.0  4   5/1/2024  Roger was notified that one of the bridges had some rotten boards. He got materials, donated by BRSWD, pre-fabbed the bridge. A Friday work day wasn't doable, due to school kids on site, so the four went on Wed. Carried in, carried out, installed the bridge. Found 4x6's rotten, but other boards ok. Replaced all. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  23.3  3   4/25/2024  We started out by gathering around 6 buckets of crusher run from pile near Enchanted Forest and used all but 3 for road in spot that has been wet/soft. Then we used the other 3 buckets later to mix with dirt we were packing on the Schoolhouse Rock trail. We spent the day adding about 30 scoops of dirt to several places from the S turn up to the biggest rock drop. We made that drop less harsh and made the water diverter/dirt part of the jump much better. On the S turn we are bringing the turn in tighter as it was too wide before to be much fun. Doing a lot of work on the drainages also to make sure we are getting the water off the trail as soon as possible. 
  
Oak Grove Trail 		 Oak Grove Park  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  31.8  19   4/24/2024  At Jim Brown's request, we went to Oak Grove Trail to help him with maintenance, root balls, and general spring clean up. This turned out to be an easy day, as Jim does such an amazing job maintaining the trail. Plus we had a big turnout. We had to laugh that two trees that had been down for months suddenly were cut by the County the day before we got there. we did help the County load the last of their debris. Good to have some old timers join us. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  16.8  3   4/18/2024  First we sharpened the big chainsaw while waiting 20 minutes for new person that did not show. Then we worked for a long time clearing the top out of a leaning tree near Arrowhead making the road not passable for trucks. We had to stand in truck to cut some of the limbs. But it is a lot more clear now. Then we cut some tree trunks out of the ditch near Rock-N-Roll from several weeks ago when we ran out of gas and then time and W.A. did not worry about stuff blocking the ditch flow. We even discovered an old culvert right there! Then we dumped some buckets of rock we filled from new pile by Enchanted Forest and added to road in a section of road we reworked a month ago and trying to firm up some new dirt we added very think when wet. It is slowly firming up nice. Then finally we got to work on the creek crossing rock armoring and had to finally remove a large cantankerous rock that just could not be adjusted to set in a good position. Pulled it out and went with another rock after hours of effort. Did some rock chiseling on the new junction for a good fit. I think these will work. 
  
Big Spring Park Trail 		 Town of Fincastle  Botetourt County  Trail Construction  113.0  15   4/17/2024  This was a marathon day. We didn't know until late Tuesday whether they would be ready for the classroom installation. Our focus was to be on the trail itself and any work needed while we had the rented compactor. last minute shuffle. Roger drove the truck with equipment, Shannon brought his dump truck for moving stone, and Roger and Jim brought tools. But, in our opinion the site was not prepped, although the holes were dug. So we had six people spend an hour and a half prepping the site, digging out roots, raking, etc. Meanwhile, another crew worked on digging the ADA extension, and two other crews worked on drainage repairs on the trail. The bench construction crew found the Town had purchased the wrong size & kind of washers, so sent them off to the store. We had weedeater running the length of trail, compactor running on multiple sites, Canycoms up and down and stone being hauled from the park to the top all day. The Town provided lunch from Heritage (big hit) and the case of water they brought was all gone by end of day. Everyone worked non-stop til 4, so long day. And warm. But the benches were beautiful. 
  
Big Spring Park Trail 		 Town of Fincastle  Botetourt County  Trail Construction  81.5  13   4/10/2024  At last minute, weather cooperated and we got three sitting benches installed on the trail. Lots of prep from Roger to build the benches and deliver them. Many tools and equipment brought, with help from Shannon and whole team. Ed, Barry, and Melanie provided lots of discussion about classroom and whether we do something there next week. 
  
Big Spring Park Trail 		 Town of Fincastle  Botetourt County  Trail Construction  4.0  2   4/9/2024  Delivered benches to the site for Wed installation. 
  
Equipment Maintenance and Repair 		 DW  Pathfinders  Tool & Equipment  20.0  2   4/8/2024  Work over many days. Hour meter = 997. Changed engine oil and filter. Changed gas filter. Fixed hydraulic leak from filter that was a bit loose. Cleaned up some of the mess from that. Went to DW for parts. Replaced left and right arm to equipment plate bushings. The left one (if driving machine) was gone. These required extreme force to install!!!! Lots of sledge banging. The right arm cylinder was leaking at bottom seal and I decided to try to fix it with the kit I got from DW. It was quite an interesting experience. But now I know it is doable. Lots of time and needed to use very hot torch to melt lock tight during part of the mission. Seals were hard to install. No leaks! Turtle helped clean the tracks. Added a lot of Hydraulic fluid to make up for the losses. Installed the new warning light module (oil pressure/hyd temp) that I have had for a while.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  32.6  5   4/7/2024  We started out once again filling ~8 buckets full of old tunnel rock material and putting it down out on the road near where we are parking where we did a lot of road work changing the shape of the road and drainages. Since we did some dirt fill, we need to get it hardened. Then we checked to see if we could mine some dirt for a change and decided we could. We worked on the S curve jump on what will be School House Rock and about 4 jumps down from the top. Really worked also to improve the drainage. We used the jumping jack compactor to try to really harden the dirt we added. 
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Roanoke River Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  6.7  4   4/4/2024  Litter Pick up near Wiley Drive 
  
Craig Botetourt Scenic Trail 		 Charlton  Craig County  Trail Maintenance  30.0  8   4/3/2024  The rain in the night and early morning discouraged some and made decisions difficult. Still decided to go. No rain at 9:00, but got rained on at 1030 and again at 11:30. Finished the task at hand, cutting up all the remaining brush in the road and getting it off to the side. Mud boggers again. Between us and the contractor, Craig County is cleared! 
  
Craig Botetourt Scenic Trail 		 Charlton  Craig County  Trail Maintenance  8.0  2   3/30/2024  Got the hung trees down; the wind had already helped move them. Moved some other heavy stuff off to the side. Last cutting day. 
  
Big Spring Park Trail 		 Town of Fincastle  Botetourt County  Trail Construction  12.0  1   3/28/2024  Construction on various days of the benches for Big Spring Park. 
  
Craig Botetourt Scenic Trail 		 Charlton  Craig County  Trail Maintenance  48.5  7   3/28/2024  We all started from the Little Mountain Trail end and spaced out into sections, focusing just on felling. The puddles were covered in green as the pine trees lay from one side to the other. We felt like we were making good progress til close to the end, when two trees got hung up and we couldn't get them down. Wrapped orange ribbon on t hem and walked away. Still had all the big stuff cut before bats. The Roanoke crew headed back to town. Woody, Shannon and Liz went and cut for an hour near Walker Lane. More there than expected. Got tired and left it. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  25.3  3   3/28/2024  We started out by filling ~8 buckets with old tunnel tailings and spreading on a place on the road where we have worked and needed some rock mixed with the dirt. We will do this every time we come in for a while. Next Turtle and Derek worked on hand building the upper end of the trail coming out of the the ravine at the dead end of the trail. Brian used the Vermeer to pull a huge rock off the side of the hill and use to start our support for the banked turn before the ravine. Added many more rocks throughout the day to that turn and Turtle and Derek focused on that later in the day. Brian worked on the turn at the bottom of the ravine using the Vermeer. 
  
Craig Botetourt Scenic Trail 		 Charlton  Craig County  Trail Maintenance  78.5  11   3/27/2024  The early rain discouraged some from coming, but in fact we did not get rained on. Realized we had a long way to go to get through the mud puddle section before bat season. So we split into two groups, one coming in from each end. Lots and lots to cut. One crew made it from Little Mountain Trail to 1370, with pretty good swamping and disposal of stuff. The other group worked in from 1400 to 1388, with about half swamped. Long day. some agreed to come back on Thursday to try to finish cutting the big stuff. We were discouraged by the mud boggers driving through and splashing frog eggs out of ponds. Deliberately wallowing out the holes. Heard one got stuck. 
  
Song Bird Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  2.0  1   3/24/2024  Work on places that were holding water. Deberm and cut knicks.  
  
Craig Botetourt Scenic Trail 		 Charlton and High Water Road  Craig and Botetourt County  Trail Maintenance  6.0  2   3/21/2024  Picked up tires from several marked locations and hauled 14 to the dump. Interesting to see all the traffic on high water road, given that 635 is closed at a culvert replacement. Scouted remaining sections needing to be done before April 1. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  45.0  8   3/21/2024  Good turn out today. First we filled around 10 buckets with shale and put on a muddy section of road on the way in. At Rock-N-Roll work site we continued hand building a steep side hill trail.  
  
Craig Botetourt Scenic Trail 		 Charlton  Craig County  Trail Maintenance  99.8  15   3/20/2024  Started with a repeat on breakfast at Pine Top, where the waitress already knows us. Then moved down to the big mud puddle section at Charlton. One team went toward the High Water Road, finished that section cutting lots of little stuff; then drove out the high water road a little past the county line picking up tires to go to landfill. The other two saw crews spread out headed back, with lots and lots of sawing from 1400 - 1399. Joined after lunch by the other crew. Lots of trash picked up. Took 9 tires and 5 orange bags of trash to the dump. Hard to straddle these huge mud holes. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Work  17.0  2   3/15/2024  Walked all of Laurel Canyon, clearing limbs from built sections and flagging the whole middle section. Ready to go for the MWC in April. Got first tick and first snake. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  43.0  8   3/14/2024  Today we had 6 members of the Navy Reserves come out to help for a team building event. We all worked together to hand build a section of trail on a steep side slope. We made great progress and it was a very nice day. Then Turtle and I laid out a long section of trail heading toward the boat dock.  
  
Craig Botetourt Scenic Trail 		 Mill Creek Section  Craig County  Trail Maintenance  105.0  16   3/13/2024  Great turnout and lots of work. Split into three teams to attack it from multiple directions. Then, after lunch, we leap frogged down to the big puddle area at Charlton. Lots of saws running, lots of swampers, good work day. Got too warm. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  14.3  2   3/13/2024  Well, our goal was to prep for the Navy Volunteers tomorrow. I guess in a way we did by opening up the road! Lots of fallen trees. One very big mess including a very large 2 foot diameter tree that was not dead and whole root ball had pulled up. It fell over Rock_N_Roll and the road knocking down a tree over 1 foot in diameter and other smaller trees on the way down. This was a huge mess with tricky cutting required. When we ran out of fuel and chain lube and on way to get more from work site down the road, we ran into two guys from Water Authority coming from boat dock. They said they had got all the trees from that side. They made a few more cuts on the large log we had not totally gotten off the road, but they left everything they cut in the ditch. We will have to clean that up later when we have time as we still had to finish cutting the trees off the trail which they said they don't do.  
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  16.0  2   3/7/2024  We headed out hoping to prep for next week's group from Navy Reserves, but it was way to wet out...actually the worst we have seen in a long time. The road was so bad we just focused on that (lucky I brought hand tools just in case). First though we had a big fallen tree mess going up the hill near Arrowhead. We was very hard and time consuming to remove. We also had to cut up all the heavy wood to haul up the sides of the ditches to keep the wood out of the ditches. Then on the way out to where we normally park we use hand tools to dig out significant paths for water to drain. When we finally got to parking area around 2pm....We decided to just focus on the 90 degree turn on way towards boat dock where we had the piles of stone. We cleaned up those ditches some and but all the stone we could find into the turn.  
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  5.5  3   3/7/2024  Trash Pickup at Mill Mountain Park 
  
Craig Botetourt Scenic Trail 		 Mill Creek Section  Craig County  Trail Maintenance  45.5  7   3/7/2024  We cancelled on Wed due to all day rain. But several were willing to come on Thursday. With two weedeaters, we got a spot cleared on the landing above the trail, which was very helpful for brush storage. So with 3-4 saws running at any time, we were able to make a huge brush pile and open up the trail. Once we got to the woods, we worked on cleaning out the edges and ditch lines. Hard to make the trees fall when they are tied up with vines at the top. All of this was dragged into the woods out of the corridor. We worked from Station 1305 at Mill Creek Road to about 20' beyond 1312. Approximately 720-750 feet; not bad for half crew. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  12.8  2   3/5/2024  First we had to clear 2 significant downed trees on the way out. The road was more muddy than expected, so we decided we could not harvest the dirt we had hoped to. Instead we worked on the road. We focused on a very wet area that we had already gotten better, but we saw more we could do. We focused on tilting the road to the downhill side and cut out wide drainages. We used whatever dirt we could to build up the road. 
  
Craig Botetourt Scenic Trail 		 Mill Creek Section near Cemetery  Craig County  Trail Maintenance  46.5  10   2/28/2024  We knew there was forecast for rain after lunch, so we doubled down on the section from the cemetery to Mill Creek Road. With five saws running and good support swampers, we got it done. Stick by stick, as Dave F. says. Cleaning edges and cutting out dead trees gave significant improvement. After lunch, we moved to start across the road, but the rain came in immediately and quickly. Poured rain before we got out of New Castle. So far we have seen dead deer, dead bear, dead pig, and today dead calf. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  17.6  2   2/22/2024  Today since there was just two of us and we had so much nice stone the City delivered, we decided to work on the road in some troublesome wet areas. We focused on 3 areas towards Bennett Springs from where we park. On of them is a very significant problem area and we spent most of our time there. We make a retention pond and tilted the road down from the bank of that....The idea is to have the water gently flow across a hardened road in order to stay dry. Lots of shaping of road and above and below road to make it happen. The road is the lowest point for a long section here....that is what we worked to fix.  
  
Craig Botetourt Scenic Trail 		 Mill Creek Section near Cemetery  Craig County  Trail Maintenance  82.0  13   2/21/2024  Jim Brown had organized for some to eat breakfast at Pine Top. It was an amazing, huge breakfast, with free cinnamon rolls. Then, at the request of VDOT, Liz and seven breakfast went to the end of 682 to clear brush around puddles in preparation for a stone crew and brush mulching crew. Woody met the others at the cemetery to work the section we had skipped over last week. The puddle crew cut and piled brush on the edges, finishing around lunch to move to the cemetery. There with four saws running we did significant widening of the trail for VDOT. Great day, but we were all pretty tired in spite of our breakfast nourishment.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  14.8  2   2/18/2024  We decided to do a Sunday workday for a change...but nobody but Turtle took advantage of it. On the way out thankfully Turtle noticed something odd about a section of road. He told me to stop and we got out to look. There was a giant sink hole under the road and only a few spots had fell in so far, but there is no question that the truck would have went down in in and gotten stuck if we tried to go through!! We gathered a bunch of rocks from the area and hardly made a dent in filling it! We debated about what to do and tried to call Renee. In the end we got turned around and drove all the way back to the bridge to load up about half a truck load of rock. We went back to site and decided to back a long way down the road to make unloading easier. We had to place the rock in the hole in order to get them to slide into a deeper section of the hole. We barely had enough tock to get close to full. Later we found that the City had delivered our requested stone for road work in another area. Turtle took a scoop down to top off the holes. Then we pushed on with roughing in trail because the dirt mines were too wet and the stream we are building rock bridge in was flowing and we did not feel like getting wet. We made it all the way into the bottom of the gorge. We took the material back to dump over steep side slope to lessen the steepness and it seems to be slowly working. We also worked on cleaning dirt off a giant root ball near a place we want a banked turn. Got a lot of organic material out of that area. Also worked in the small drainage before the big gorge. We may try to make a retention pond upstream to slow the water down and get it to flow even across the trail. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  14.5  3   2/15/2024  We were limited to what we could work on due to how wet everything was. We decided to push forward with roughing in some trail working our way down into the large ravine. We also hauled some rocks we had in piles along the way back to where we needed them for the creek crossing. There are some extreme steep areas going into ravine and we used some of the dirt we were digging to try to lessen the steepness just a bit. Planted some large rocks on the hillside to help hold the dirt. Before it was almost impossible to climb up the steepness, now you can at least climb out. Also makes me feel better driving the machine over that area as the edge of trail is a bit more supported.  
  
Craig Botetourt Scenic Trail 		 Mill Creek Lane to Cemetery  Craig County  Trail Maintenance  93.8  15   2/14/2024  We had hoped to work from 615 to 611, but Monday night's rain left it standing in water. So we moved down to the Mill Creek section. Woody, Bud, Shannon and Blanche cleared from the road to the bridge fence. The others parked at the cemetery on the other end and worked toward the bridge from that side. With four saws running, we made good progress. The crew from the other side came in at lunch and definitely speeded up the tempo. We made it to the bridge fence, but still have a large section to do at the beginning near the cemetery. Lots of interest in helping VDOT get a 20' bridge in that location to open this section up. 
  
Craig Botetourt Scenic Trail 		 Craig County  Craig County  Trail Maintenance  2.0  2   2/9/2024  Reviewed Mill Creek section for feasibility and needs for next week. Tons of trees to be cut. Could take many work days. 
  
Craig County Greenway 		 Craig City to the School  Craig County  Trail Maintenance  3.0  1   2/9/2024  Mowed edges the length of the trail, using personal tractor and whirl mower. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  22.1  3   2/8/2024  We hauled the old repaired 4 way bucket and the jumping jack packer (I changed the oil on it), out on the trailer and brought back the new narrow bucket that needs repairs. We smashed rock again for under the big rocks in the creak crossing. We added some rocks to the crossing and got them close to in position. Knew we would be tweaking them as we build this. We added a bunch of dirt to the uphill side of the creak crossing area to really get the banked turn shape right of the whole area and behind the area where we have to drive the equipment. We also did a bit of road work at the end of day to make a place for rock to be delivered and drain two spots on the road near where we park. 
  
Craig County Greenway 		 Craig City to the School  Craig County  Trail Maintenance  49.0  7   2/8/2024  Small crew returned to use chipper while we had it. The section from the farmer's road through the woods was not bad. We moved fairly quickly, although we had to cut the bigger stuff and throw it over the bank. The chipper would not take 4". Blanche followed raking any trashy stuff off the trail. Then after lunch we got to the far section, where the materials were neatly piled on one side from Wed. Materials were multi-flora rose, grapevines, and autumn olive. It was horrible and very time consuming. Multi-flora was difficult to feed into the machine, wanting to ball up, and of course poking you all the time. We all became more and more exhausted by the fight, but finally got through it after three hours on that section. We then hustled to return the chipper before closing. The manager had no clue about our issues and wanted to charge us for an extra day! In the end, Liz convinced him that he cost us a lot of money, time and wear and the machine should be free. 
  
Craig County Greenway 		 Craig City to the School  Craig County  Trail Maintenance  103.8  15   2/7/2024  So much for the best laid plans. John R and Liz picked up the chipper at Aztec at 7:30, noting that it was the old one. And also having to start it when the staff could not. We arrived in good time to the trailhead, where Shannon and Woody awaited. we split the crew for half to be at the chipper and the other half to be cutting the brush out to the school. The chipper, however, would not cooperate, would not rev up enough to turn the feeder. We took apart various sections, digging out frozen chips from around the flywheel, adjusting the belt so that it would engage, finding the brake mechanism to be gerry rigged. Finally called Aztec and they said they would send a repairman to "show us how to run it". He followed his GPS instead of my instructions and thus took longer than anticipated to arrive. He immediately did all the things we had done, noting it wasn't jammed up. Finally pulled the plug and declared it had blown a head gasket. Then he said he would go get us another chipper and be back in an hour. Two hours later, with crew sitting around twiddling their thumbs, I called and they were just getting on Electric Road. Some crew had to leave, and they called on the way to say there was a chipper on the side of the road with a flat tire. The chipper finally arrived about 3, with a very frustrated repair crew. Our crew had left except Shannon, John R and Woody. We made them demonstrate that it would run. It was a smaller machine and thus would not take 4" trees. The four of us set to work feeding it and got through that section to the farmer's road. John R then took the chipper to Shannon's so that he could bring it back over Thursday. Long day for not much work. 
  
Big Spring Park Trail 		 Town of Fincastle  Botetourt County  Bridge Construction  5.5  2   2/5/2024  Trip to Home Depot and to Lowes with trailer for purchase of lumber and hardware for pre-fab of the three benches for Big Spring Park. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  25.2  4   2/1/2024  We collected small rocks and smashed medium rocks into smaller rocks and spread those all through the creek crossing in order to firm up the creek bed and allow us to build the large stone crossing. Near the end of the day we reworked the section of rock bridge we had built last time to lower it by about 6 inches. I think this will make it easier to build the rest of the crossing. It is amazing how many buckets of rocks we collected/smashed and spread....yet you can hardly tell as we smashed them into the ground with Vermeer.  
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  7.5  5   2/1/2024  Trash Pick up at Mill Mountain Park 
  
Craig County Greenway 		 Craig City to the School  Craig County  Trail Maintenance  89.5  14   1/31/2024  We decide to rent a chipper for Feb 7. This allowed us to be more organized in our cutting and stacking this week. John R, Liz and Chuck worked on cutting and stacking in sections 1 and 2. Others worked in section 3 and through the woods. We felt good about getting all the stuff cut in the woods. weather cooperated. Hauled trash to dump. 
  
Craig County Greenway 		 Craig City to the School  Craig County  Trail Maintenance  71.0  13   1/24/2024  We started in the mist and ended in the mist, but no one complained about it being cold or "raining". We met Woody and Brandon (County) at the trailhead, then moved to the center section. In general Woody and John R worked on the big tree in the woods. Roger worked on cutting the walnut and other invasive trees. The electric saws focused on small saplings and the crew stacked brush. We loaded 6-7 dump truck loads and disposed of them farther down the trail. We had one invasive local who wanted to help with chainsaw and ended up taking firewood home. 
  
Craig County Greenway 		 Craig City to the School  Craig County  Trail Maintenance  4.5  2   1/14/2024  In anticipation of the snow and being shut down Wed (which proved true), Shannon loaded his "whirl mower" to test mowing the trail edges with it. It sticks beyond the tractor by two feet, so can mow more than a bush hog. It did a nice job, cutting many saplings also. Particularly in the vines, it did an amazing job. We hope to use it on other sections. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  20.3  3   1/11/2024  Trail was too wet to do dirt work on today. So we hunted for large creek crossing rocks. We also prepped the creek that was flowing today by sorting through the huge pile of rocks to lay down some smaller ones and get the crossing angle right before we install the crossing boulders. Opened up the creek more and widened the flow area. We were able to put down two support rocks and a bridge piece. I think we will be able to add several sections of bridge over the next several work days. Time to bring in all the rock working tools also in order to get the rocks to fit well. 
  
Crown Pointe -Trail #12 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  50.0  10   1/10/2024  In spite of the 2-3" of rain on Tuesday, we decided to go and see how it was. We were glad we did, until about noon when it started getting colder. Due to shattered automotive glass in the parking lot, we decided to leave no vehicles there. Two cars shuttled folks from the school parking lot, and two parked near the water tower. Barry blew leaves off first thing. Most worked on finishing the trail construction, with a few doing polish work on what was behind us. Suddenly about 1:00 the soil started getting sticky. We were pleased to get our part done (cut a ribbon), but the City has more to do (guardrail, signs). There was running water from the rain in all the drainages. 
  
Craig County Greenway 		 Craig City to the School  Craig County  Trail Maintenance  6.0  3   1/10/2024  Met with Woody Lipps to walk the trail, assess needs, decide equipment and tasks for our work day next week. 
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Lick Run Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  4.3  3   1/4/2024  Trash pick up at Countryside park on Lick Run Greenway 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  22.5  3   1/4/2024  Today the soil was good again for a little work on the Schoolhouse Rock jump line section of Rock-N-Roll. We focused on two grade reversals and added a lot of dirt and gravel and jumping jacked the material all day long. We are pretty happy with those two humps, but after the ground firms up more we might have to touch them up a bit. Maybe in the spring. Turtle brought the Jumping Jack compactor to my house as it needs an oil change and I will take care of that before the next workday. I will also clean the air filter and see if anything else is needed for maintenance.  
  
Crown Pointe -Trail #12 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  57.5  10   1/3/2024  The cold start to the day developed into warm and sunny. No one parked at the parking lot, due to the presence of two homeless vehicles. We got very close to the end, but several spots require some fine tuning and one spot needs full benching. We dug the holes for the sign posts and Blanche raked to the end. The City got the old guardrail removed, but the new one still needs to be installed. There were tracks on the trail from an ATV and from dirt bikes, so the signs need to go up asap. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  24.8  4   12/21/2023  We broke into two groups where one harvested rocks and the other roughed in some new trail. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  19.6  3   12/14/2023  We collected large flat sided boulders to use on the creek and ravine crossings. 
  
Crown Pointe -Trail #12 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  85.3  15   12/13/2023  A great turnout for our last work day of the year. The weather was warmer than expected and the rain had helped soil conditions. We made significant progress, Roger cut numerous dead trees close to the trail, and Renee's staff worked on removing the guardrail at Crown Pointe. Could finish next work day. The big "downer" of the day was to return to the parking lot and find that two vehicles had been vandalized. Chris's Honda had the driver's door lock DRILLED out - that's a very prepared vandal. No one noted any things stolen, but a drilled lock is significant damage. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  20.8  3   12/7/2023  We worked on the Schoolhouse Rock trail connecting Rock-N-Roll to Schoolhouse. Continued rework of the water diverters. Making it more sustainable. Today we added more dirt and rock and used the jumping jack compactor to harden the added material with a lot of compacting. This is a lot of slow going work. We only focused on 4 humps.  
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Roanoke County  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  4.5  3   12/7/2023  Trash pickup along Hanging Rock Trail. 
  
Crown Pointe -Trail #12 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  63.3  11   12/6/2023  We had seven digging trail and four digging trash and invasives at the end of Crown Pointe. It remained chilly all day, with breezy conditions. Trail diggers felt like it was slow. Invasives removers felt like it was a huge visual change. 
  
Fern Trail 		 Happy Hollow Gardens  Roanoke County  Trail Construction  3.0  2   11/30/2023  Installed temporary signs on each end to tell users the new trail name and who built it. Several users we had seen had no idea trails are "built". We used the old posts from the bench. We'll see how long "temporary" becomes. so far the trail looks good and no one is removing the deadfall to use the old trail. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  18.0  3   11/30/2023  Nobody had signed up for trail work, and Turtle was going to be later. So we decided to cancel online and not show up for the public at any specific time. Adrienne freed up and got out there on her own which is just fine and we enjoyed her help. The first thing we did was to put a new washer, lock washer, and 3/4" nut on the top gate bolt. It fit well and really made the gate work much better. It was about to fall off again. Today we focused on 3 of the water diverter/jumps we recently had been reworking with dry dirt. The rain had made a mess of our unpacked dirt. We added some of the rock Renee had left us for road work and the jumping jack compactor to squish it way in. It was a lot of work and messy. We still have the next 3 up that need the same treatment. But we are almost out of rock. 
  
Crown Pointe -Trail #12 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  62.0  12   11/29/2023  After two days of wind and frigid temperatures, we were happy to start with 20 and go up to sunny and windless. A good turnout in spite of early lows, and good progress digging trail in real dirt. Renee helped in the morning. At lunch we had birthday cake for Blanche (our forever cook). And after lunch we were visited by Doug the homeless guy who lives on Mill Mountain with his dog. A very nice day. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  8.0  2   11/19/2023  Added dirt to shape trail before wide creek crossing. Moved dirt to shape the entrance into the creek crossing to lessen the grade change and take out a hump that would effect the drainage. Was able to raise the entrance into the crossing to keep it high and dry if we every get lots of rain again. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  20.5  3   11/16/2023  Today we focused on 3 water diverter/jump humps on the jump line from Rock-N-Roll down to Schoolhouse....what will become Schoolhouse Rock. We are adding much more dirt than was there before and removing some of the rock jumps and improving one probably with more rocks and much longer run up. All the jumps will have better run ups and landing areas. We wanted to do something to improve these while in the area. Our big issue has been dry dirt. So today we worked on perfecting our water adding technic with gas pump, check dam in creek to pump from and very long hose for gravity effect when emptying the tank we filled and even had cannycom full of buckets to refill the tank with. It takes much time to work like this, but the alternative is to cancel work days. 
  
Fern Trail 		 Happy Hollow Gardens  Roanoke County  Trail Construction  80.3  17   11/15/2023  A great day to finish this trail. Bud inspired us all with the promise of a hotdog cookout for lunch (with careful attention to fire suppression ). We had one crew on the first climbing turn near the cemetery and another on the final climbing turn to the Old Logging Trail. Also took down and carried out a bench no longer on the trail. After lunch, we put all spare people on the connection to the Big Oak Trail and on demo of the old trails. Our wake up call was hearing a tree fall over near Spicebush Trail - a big crack and then thunderous noise of falling and exploding limbs. Be careful in the woods and watch for falling ash! 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  36.0  6   11/12/2023  Since we had some rain Friday and it helped the ground, we were hopeful about the dirt. But after we dug a little, it was dry again. We still put down a lot of dirt on the jump line part of the trail to improve the jumps and we removed some of the jump rocks. We tried to pack the dirt with limited success. We hauled 6 buckets of rock on the way out to help repair a section of road. We made a dent with that. 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 CSC  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  6.0  2   11/12/2023  In anticipation of the closing of McAfee parking lot and increased use on the Catawba Greenway for access, we hiked the trail to assess maintenance needs, remove downfall, etc. Went from CSC parking lot to saddle rock on the fire road. It would be nice if the section parallel to 779 from the Community center to CSC were mowed better. Removed numerous fallen smaller trees and vines on the trail. Saw several other hikers. No fallen ash at this time. The August maintenance seemed to have kept herbaceous vegetation in control. Surprisingly, lots of bluebirds up on the fire road. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  32.0  6   11/9/2023  Today we had yet another dry day. Soil is powder, so we tried to add water between putting dirt down and compacting. Turtle was leading that effort on improving a big diverter/jump near bottom of School House-Rock. Brian lead another group working on roughing in more trail and smashing rock for a large creek crossing as we removed large rocks to build the trail. Later Turtle joined Brian roughing in trial after rest of volunteers left. We made good progress.  
  
Fern Trail 		 Happy Hollow Gardens  Roanoke County  Trail Construction  76.0  14   11/8/2023  Back to a beautiful day. Got almost to the Old Logging Trail. Hope to finish next week. Two kinds of cookies, thanks to Blanche and Roger 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  11.8  2   11/5/2023  We added the often requested weekend work days, yet nobody showed up. First Turtle and I walked up and cut a large tree that was hanging very low over Rock-N-Roll just past top of the climb near Arrowhead side. It took several cuts. We moved the cut pieces to where they would not block any drainage. Then we decided to open up two new dirt mines near where we need the dirt to improve the Schoolhouse Rock jump line. We want to get this better while in the area. We have a lot of dirt ready to go....but we are very sad about how dry and powdery all the dirt is and not sure it will compact at all. We might have to deal with bringing water out to the site.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  21.5  4   11/2/2023  It was a cold start and DW was a bit hard to start. Ground was a little frozen on top...so it took a little more work to break up the dirt in the dirt mine. But once we got going, we hit some good dirt. The dirt did not have many roots and the crew was able to move and spread a whole lot of dirt today to raise up the trail in some flatter areas to improve drainage. Also did some roughing in work on the side hill coming out of first major creek crossing on phase 2. This is a VERY rocky and steep side hill, so was slow going. Had to move a lot of rocks by hand to prevent rubber tracks from damage or being thrown. Made it about half way up the side hill.  
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Tinker Creek Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  6.0  4   11/2/2023  Litter pick up along Tinker Creek and Glad Creek greenways. 
  
Fern Trail 		 Happy Hollow Gardens  Roanoke County  Trail Construction  81.5  15   11/1/2023  The first "winter" day with cold temperatures and flurries in some places. Still the crew was pretty excited about the short hike to the site and dirt to dig trail. Side hill was not as steep and fewer rocks. The leaves were coming down fast and unfortunately a few tools hid themselves in the leaves. Roger got most of the saw work done, Blanche's crew cleared most of the first section of trail, and trail builders got about half of the first section built. Great to have some folks we haven't seen for awhile. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  18.0  3   10/26/2023  Testing out the new bucket for the Vermeer and it worked great. The new teeth really were able to pull the roots and organic from the dirt. We pulled organic out of new sections of trail and added dirt to raise up the tread. We also worked on removing organic from a large drainage crossing where we plan to make a rock crossing over time as we build this section of trail. Really nice day. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  56.5  9   10/25/2023  Another beautiful October Wed work day with lots more color, especially sourwoods. The crew got trail built to the first above-the-drain crossing. Then wore out a few people on a maple stump/root. In anticipation of changing weather conditions and other projects, we pulled out all the tools and left Laurel Canyon til next year. Welcomed AK to the crew on his day off from work in Salem. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  33.0  6   10/22/2023  Start cleaning up the wide drainage crossing and moving rocks to use as base and downstream support of larger crossing rocks. Work on cutting approach down steep slope to drainage bed. Spent a lot of time sorting organic out of that dirt. Added dirt to raise a long section of trail and sorted the organic out of that dirt. Added more dirt to the top banked turn and the water diverter and start on the next diverter/jump down. All that dirt was sorted and shaped. Had to cut some trees off the road on the way in. Brought the Vermeer out and to my house because our new bucket should be coming tomorrow. Will do some maintenance also and take old bucket to be repaired.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  27.0  4   10/19/2023  We mined dirt and raised up the trail tread with it to improve drainage. Also added a lot more dirt to top banked turn and grade reversal. Merge two small reversals into one into one longer one for better sustainability and wider drainage opening. Mined some extra dirt and piled and covered it for use Sunday when we will have a bigger crew and need to move dirt quickly. Pictures here: https://www.meetup.com/pathfinders-for-greenways/photos/34032521/  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  58.5  9   10/18/2023  Another beautiful day, but met some not-so-welcome yellow jackets. Three people got stung, in spite of persistent spraying, They just seemed to like the warm day. Trail construction got to the fallen pine. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  77.0  11   10/11/2023  A beautiful October day; started in jackets and finished in shirt sleeves. We finished the approaches to drainage 4 from both sides, hauling good dirt in and out. Roger finished the next not-a-drainage. Crew worked out through numerous rock ledges. Jim B. cleaned up spots behind us. Blanche clearing and raking to the top of the first of the top-of-drain crossings. Liz flagged to saddle. Lots of bear scat in this area. Lots of flagging pulled down. Beautiful day. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  27.2  5   10/5/2023  We mined dirt and added it to the sections of new trail where we have removed the organic in order to raise the tread back up and let water have a place to run off the trail. We raked the organic out of the dirt and compacted the soil. Also added many loads of dirt to the first banked turn of School House Rock trail. While we are in the area we are going to improve that trail a little. Some of our banked turns are a little too far out and some jumps/diverters could be improved now that the trail has settled in and we can see the path people are taking. In some places we did not put enough dirt on top of the rock bases.  
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Roanoke River Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  8.0  6   10/5/2023  Trash pick-up Vic Thomas Park on the Roanoke River Greenway. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  75.5  11   10/4/2023  A glorious fall day. Enthusiastic diggers surpassed the goal of reaching drainage 4 and went on beyond it. Blanche dug a goat path and trimmed shrubbery. Renee and Liz found and laid out flags to the third drainage crossing, just below the saddle. Terrain is getting easier for this section. Beautiful trail work, beautiful day in the woods. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  58.5  9   9/27/2023  How did we squeeze in work on this day? It had been raining/misty/foggy/drippy for days. It was raining on 311 to within two miles of Hanging Rock. But we had enthusiastic trail builders gather, knowing we were headed into the clouds. Once in the woods, we could hear the precipitation but not feel it and eventually we shed our jackets. Lots of large roots and rocks required great persistence and determination. Drainage 4 is within sight. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  18.8  3   9/21/2023  We cut some downed trees on our old access trail. Then we started roughing in some new trail and two new drainages/dirt mines. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  52.0  8   9/20/2023  We tried to focus on building trail from where we were to the fourth drainage, rather than being too spread out. While there had been rain, the soil was still dusty underneath. After lunch we got into a section with lots of large tree roots, mostly chestnut oak. It was a lovely, coolish day, so we enjoyed our time, especially since it was critter free. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  8.3  2   9/19/2023  We moved the machines down to an old parking spot for Rock-N-Roll and cleaned up the parking and made it so we could turn a trailer around. We improved the drainage and made it a little larger. Mostly did this by cleaning up the piles of dead trees in the back and spreading them around further back. We did smooth things out a bit also. We think we might be parking here for a while.  
  
Crown Pointe -Trail #12 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  4.5  2   9/18/2023  Bucked trees in preparation for National Public Lands Day 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  3.0  1   9/15/2023  Weed eat parking area for continued construction on Rock-N-Roll. Open up old access trail. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  23.6  4   9/14/2023  Today we Finished the Arrowhead work!!! We added much dirt to a low area on our latest water diverter and then naturalized that area and it's drainage. We naturalized the next drainage up that we had worked in again. We also added a small banked turn and improve the drainage up hill in a flatter area of trail and naturalized those areas after. Then finally we naturalized our big dirt mine that has been there for over a year. We carried all the tools out and took them to Rock-N-Roll. Then we did a bit of planning on how we were going to get in and out of the Rock-N-Roll work days and looked to make sure the ribbons were up at least enough to get us started and they are. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  52.0  8   9/13/2023  Beautiful weather. In spite of recent rains, the soil is dusty way down deep. 
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Roanoke River Greenway  City of Salem  Trail Maintenance  7.3  5   9/7/2023  Litter Pickup at Cook Drive in Salem on the Roanoke River Greenway 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  24.0  5   9/7/2023  We split into two teams to start and one did hand tool work in a flatter area where water sits on the trail. We wanted to make an area where it would drain. The downhill side of a 30 foot section of trail was trimmed down. The other team added more dirt to the big water diverter we are building in one of the steepest and most eroded sections of trail. In the afternoon we mostly finished that and made a drainage area also. After the huge rains tonight, we might have some touch up work as the dirt was dry and hard to pack. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  55.0  10   9/6/2023  A friendly copperhead was curled up on the trail opposite the first log and stayed there all day; it must have just eaten, as it couldn't have been cold. In act, this was projected to be one of the hottest days of the year, so we all agreed to quit work early. The soil was better due to the rain over the week end, but still dusty when you got down under the duff. Shannon and Tom worked on the crossing of drainage four. Blanche and Liz worked on a goat path beyond; John V. worked on goat path to get to drainage. Others faithfully dug trail. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  25.2  5   8/31/2023  First we removed a fallen tree/vine mess off road just past where we park. Was able to push most of it off with Vermeer which turned out great as it would have been a mess to cut. Then we went up to around the halfway point of where we have been working and have the tools stored. We got the nearby shale and dirt mine open for business again. Then we added material to a banked turn uphill from there to make it much better. Later we will expand the drainage bowl in that area which the turn feeds water into. We also added dirt to a diverter downhill a bit from the mine in a very steep section of trail that has seen huge erosion over the years to the point it is hard to get water off the trail now. We also started on another grade reversal drainage half way between two diverters in a very steep section that needed more help. We are not finished with that one as we need to build it up a lot. Turtle walked up the trail to check out the results of the rain on our powder dirt work from last week. It had gotten soft as we expected might happen. We decided to haul some of the good shale up with Vermeer all the way up from the dirt mine we were at now. Long way and we made 3 trips. That pretty much finished the day for us. We will be back out in this mid area gain next week. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  56.3  9   8/30/2023  Thanks to Blanche for coordinating. Jim Brown and team worked on finishing drainage crossing 3 and widening the trail there. Rain and runoff had come through and helped soil conditions where the trail had been dug. In new places it was still like powder. Lots of digging and root snipping 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  22.3  5   8/24/2023  First we went out and cut the huge tree mess off Rock-N-Roll. Many trees fell against each other in a big tangled mess. Took a lot of effort to cut up and move away from the trail to prevent holding water near trail or looking like a mess. Then we Finished the Reroute on Arrowhead and all the work above it. We moved the tools down to an area on the way up where we did not shut down the dirt mine yet and will do a little more work in that area before being totally done with Arrowhead repairs. I predict two more work days. Chance for 3 if we really get into it. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  54.0  10   8/23/2023  Not too hot, but several had to leave early for meetings. Jim B and Bud worked on digging out drainage 3. Shannon worked on rocks in drain 4. Blanche raked to drain 4. Renee and Liz laid out more trail. Others dug in the chalky soil. Need rain. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  23.1  3   8/17/2023  First off we decided to try to fix the gate that was totally off the hinges and not locked. Since it was laying on the ground we decided to try to straighten it some by running over it carefully, we really took the bend out. Then we worked on the hinges a whole lot. we tightened everything we could, but the top bolt was missing the large nut. So we used an old hitch pin to jamb in the hole next to bolt to hold it. We would like to get a nut and washer. We also decided to put a flag and old chainsaw oil container on the bolt sticking out that we thought might be dangerous. The gate works better than it has for a long time. The City lock is another mater...probably needs replacing. We know how to hold it so it does not fall apart.... Then we added dirt to two water diverters and shaped the big turn onto the upper reroute. We also added one more water diverter near the top of trail between a live and dead tree. We did not dig a drainage, but made it work without doing that. We used dirt from next dirt mine down. Then we shut down the big dirt mine by top of reroute and naturalized that whole area. Maybe a bit more to do there, but close to done. We wanted to wait on closing the upper dirt mine to see how things hold up after a rain due to how dry it is now. We took out a tree that broke in half over the trail using the Vermeer to pull out stump and all without even needing the chainsaw.  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  58.5  9   8/16/2023  Great team effort going in to hit the worst of the summer growth. We had four weedeaters running, operating out of three vehicles, so took care of the worst of it in about half an hour. Should help the users, as well as the vehicles. Once on the trail, John V. hit some of the stilt grass with the weedeater too. Blanche worked hard to finish the raking to drainage four. Shannon and Liz talked about the options and started working on the crossing, favoring the route that would best accommodate the horses. Others dug lots of trail, in pretty dusty conditions. Roger and John V. had some excitement on the way out when a rattlesnake rattled at them to the side of the trail - while no one else had seen or heard it. Nice day, not too hot. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  63.5  10   8/9/2023  Another day on Laurel Canyon inching our way from drainage three to drainage four. We are always thankful for temperatures in August that are not over the top. Thanks to Jim Brown for his finish work and "non-encounter' with the copperhead, 
  
Roanoke River Greenway 		 City Of Roanoke  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  9.0  6   8/3/2023  Litter pick up on Wiley Drive on the Roanoke River Greenway 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  84.5  13   8/2/2023  A fairly cool day as we worked from drainage three toward four. The ground was super dry and the soil like chalk in places. Lots of work to create a bench out of drainage 3; Need to widen the trail a little going in. The crew got to the ditch crossing and the clearing crew got beyond the pieris/laurel to the fairly clear woods headed into drainage 4. Jim Brown continued his magic polishing the trail behind us and smoothing out tread and backslopes. 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 CSC  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  74.5  19   7/26/2023  We brought lots of weedeaters and chainsaws to attack the worst of summer growth and wind damage along the trail. We met at McAfee parking lot, along with two County employees. Tom, Dave and Shannon walked out the fire road and down the trail to the field, cutting several large tangled ash trees. Roger, Eric K, and Frank went south and down the trail to cut a 32" red oak and other fallen trees. Bud, Tabby, and Bob started the weed whacking in both directions from 311 crossing. John V, Jimbo and Dave worked the lower parking lot and up the old road to the trail. Barry, Chris, Greg, Chuck and Blanche attacked the old field and grass field. Liz and Jim Brown did the section from the road to the open field, with Jim rebuilding the drainage crossing; lots of poison ivy on this section. As crews finished, they gathered at the field or picnic shelter to help wrap up other pieces. By 11:30 it was too hot to work anyway. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  25.8  6   7/20/2023  Today we continued with Naturalizing. We shut down the largest dirt mine. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  71.5  11   7/19/2023  Delightfully better weather with a breeze blowing and slightly cooler temperatures. Rain quit at 7:00 am, so the road was still wet but that dusty soil was much better; no stickiness. Thus reached drainage 3. We left the crossing "unbuilt", in hopes that it might work to just use the naturally made crossing. Steep terrain, so hard to stand up. Tom and Dave got the big oak cut near drainage 4.  
  
Tree Clearing 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  2.3  1   7/16/2023  Cleared 5 large trees from road and trail at an access point for Rock-N-Roll. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  43.8  9   7/13/2023  Great turn out today! Hot day also! Huge amount of Naturalizing was done from bottom of reroute all the way up to where we were pretty much done with naturalizing before. The crew did a great job and the trail looks really finished well. We also were able to shut down the dirt mine/drainage at the bottom of reroute and naturalize all around that. We even made it clear where the old trail was with a narrow 6 inch to 1 foot route to allow that trail to be open for people that don't like change until that trail falls into total lack of maintenance and nobody uses it. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  61.8  11   7/12/2023  Hot day, so glad for shade. In spite of recent rains, soil was dusty. Tom and Shannon worked on trees between drainage 3 and drainage 4. Jim Brown reworked the entrance. Blanche and Liz raked truckloads of leaves down drainage 3. Others started rounding the turn toward drainage 3. We might get there next week 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  2.2  1   7/11/2023  Cleaned out a section of ditch where none of the material was good enough to put on the road, so took it up in the field that we are making into a small parking/turn around area since we have some medium quality material and it seems to be working. This area could be useful for trial work or emergency vehicle turn around. This also seems better than just piling it up somewhere. Continue spreading the 21b thinly on the sections of road we have been working on to cover the dirt and larger rocks. Almost used up the pile of 21b. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  2.3  1   7/10/2023  Worked on fire road between Enchanted Forest and Arrowhead. Spread some of the new 21b material in finished areas. On the way back to top I would dig good dirt out of ditches where it was still too shallow and road was not crowned right, then I would put the dirt on the road where needed. I would scrape the more organic dirt out of ditches first and put that up where we are expanding the parking area a little with it to put it to good use instead of wasting it. Then I would be up by 21b pile and ready to grab another scoop of rock. Mostly putting rock was down at bottom near Enchanted Forest where there was still a lot of dirt on surface of road that could use a bit of rock. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  6.8  1   7/6/2023  I guess the heat scared off some of the volunteers. I ended up working by myself. Focused on the upper most water diverter banked turn. Probably moved about 25 loads of dirt and spread and sorted. Also did some naturalizing on the big diverter section that used to be the old trail route around one side of the tree...the trail actually went on both sides of the tree. Now we just have a nice banked turn around the tree with good drainage. We will work on this some more yet to get a bit better shape.  
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  24.6  4   6/29/2023  We used two Canycoms and the two Skid Steers to haul rock up for the next water diverter. We got some Rip Rap and Railroad ballast that Renee had left near Enchanted on Arrowhead side. We could not get all the Rip Rap, but made a big dent in what was left. The Ballast is gone. Then the team gathered rock from around the work zone. Brian started mining the dirt an shaping the diverter/banked turn. We worked in such a way the rock could still be added while the dirt was added in different section. Turtle worked on adding some more dirt to the banked turn a bit further down the trail that we did many months ago to make it better. He ran into yellow jacket action while tamping the sides of turn....Paused that work, but it might be done except for naturalizing and that is where the bees are. 
  
Wolf Creek Greenway 		 Route 24 Tunnel  Town of Vinton/ Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  43.0  11   6/28/2023  After being rained out last week, we had a great day (except for the smoke and haze). The sand in the culvert was not nearly as deep as in past years, so maybe the stormwater project is starting to work. Shannon and Bud ran the Ditch Witch, loading, dragging, carrying, relocating, smoothing. Others used the two Canycoms to carry dirt/sand up into the field. Blanche attacked the six feet of overgrowth on the trail edges, with Greg on the seedeater. Barry orchestrated removal of the decrepit Lynn Bryant stream crossing. A good relaxed day, winding up before lunch. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  28.0  4   6/15/2023  We added dirt to places on the reroute that could use some fine tuning and also working on finishing the upper intersection to the reroute which is requiring a lot of dirt to get the shape and function desired. I think we are very close to being done with reroute dirt and will be able to do naturalizing on it soon. We also started on the next water diverter on old trail above reroute at a spot on the trail where people are going around both sides of a large tree. We will make the upper side the main route and it will be a nice banked turn with great drainage and not too much work. We got the organic striped back on the drainage/dirt mine area and now we can work on that next work day by putting down rocks first and covering with dirt before end of day to make usable even if we need another day to finish it. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  12.6  2   6/14/2023  We decided to do a little road work while we were needed out there to load up some rock into City dump truck for Renee's upcoming work day. Chad drove the City dump truck and did some work on Tuck-A-Way. He barrowed our Cannycom to move some fines to where needed. Then once he dumped the rest of the load out by Little Bell, we used the Vermeer to load up all the railroad ballast on Tunnel Road intersection and Chad took that load out to Little Bell and dumped it. The rest of the time Turtle and I worked on the fire road near where Tuck-A-Way comes out. We pulled down and cut up some danger trees which we were a little afraid to work under in the wind. Making really good progress on the road and what we have done is draining really well and with some fine touches today with 21b and final finishing grading in some areas, those areas are very smooth with nice even crown.  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  59.8  9   6/14/2023  A tough day. Lots of rock, steep slopes, dry soil. It was tough just to standup. Renee marked areas that needed finish work and Roger attacked many of those. Renee and Liz fine tuned the line from 3 to 4 and cut pieris as they went. The digging crew had a super tough day attacking rocks. Some people saw a bear on the way out and a hiker reported seeing six bears the day before. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  21.7  4   6/8/2023  Today we had great weather. We spent the day mining dirt and using it to shape the trail in some places. Picked the organic out of the dirt and compacted it.  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  26.0  4   6/7/2023  Working our way toward drainage 3. Lots of roots and laurel to deal with. 
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Roanoke River Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  7.0  4   6/1/2023  Trash pick up along Roanoke River Greenway near Bennington Street 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  65.0  10   5/31/2023  Had to stop and cut two fair sized oaks off the road on the way in. Glad to have John V. as Sawyer, since other sawyers were not there. Trail construction required being picky. After several days of rain, many sections were too soupy to work. So there was some hopping around. Headed now into steep sidehill going into drainage 3. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  13.0  2   5/31/2023  Today we did an impromptu work day on the road using both skid steers. It was too wet for anything else. Turtle can not work tomorrow. Not even sure if it will be dry enough tomorrow to work on Arrowhead... I don't want to drive skid steer up the trail if trail is soft. On the road work today we continued working in the area we worked in before moving the ditch from the road, back to the side. This requires the moving and sorting of much material. Trying to shape the road in a crowned shape. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  23.8  4   5/25/2023  Today the dirt mines had dry ready to use dirt in them, so that is what we focused on today since we could not do it last week. We fine tuned several sections along the whole reroute to improve the shape of the trail. We also removed a few small trees that were causing odd flow due to the way they were leaning into the trail. We added much more dirt to the upper reroute junctions trying to make a good turn while allowing for a working water diverter and drainage. It is a tricky shape to accomplish it all and allow the old trail to remain open on top of that. It is just a lot of dirt to mine, sort out organic, spread, shape and compact and repeat over and over with just a few people. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  65.5  11   5/24/2023  Back to Laurel Canyon with a smallish crew. Roger and Shannon decided that the hump leading into drainage 2 was going to need some retaining wall, so they worked on that. John V. worked on widening the approach to make it full bench. Several helped dig out the hump in the drainage (years of leaves and duff) in hopes that the water would not cut out the trail route on the edge. Others moved beyond the drainage with clearing, grubbing, and digging more trail. Not many blooms on mountain laurel in the woods, but peak under the various power lines. So galax was the bloom of the day. 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 CSC  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  2.0  1   5/21/2023  Clipping and brushing. Documenting down trees 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  26.3  4   5/18/2023  The existing dirt mines were too wet to harvest dirt from. So we did some naturalizing to narrow the trail back down and worked on connecting the reroute to the main trail at the upper end. We needed to cut a drainage up there too and that made for a good place to get dirt for that area. To shape the big drainage and make the turn flow well is tricky and we are not finished with it, but we did get a good start. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  13.9  2   5/17/2023  Worked on the Happy Valley fire road where Tuck-a-way comes out. We did a bunch if reworking of the ditches and taking the good material we got out of there and used it to reshape the road into a nice crown. It took a lot of material and we had to sort out the organic and large rocks....also some glass. We spread all the 21b stone on top of parts we were finished with until the stone ran out. This section of road used to have a ditch in the middle of the road. We are working our way down the road towards the gate. There is still a long section of road where the road is lower than the ditches.  
  
Mill Trail #10 and Wood Thrush Reroute 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  70.8  13   5/17/2023  We finished Mill Mountain Trail #10, recommending as a name either Roots 66 or Wren Way. A small group finished up the bottom, while others went to the top to build out and connect with the wall and connection done last week. We also cleared overhanging branches at the start. We had good interaction with three neighbors and left the pin flags, so they could find the trail with confidence. Trails we have done out of the MM Trail Plan update now include Yellow Jacket, Silk City, Fern Park Extension, Wood Thrush reroute, and this latest .22 mile neighborhood connection. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  4.5  1   5/14/2023  Worked on the ditch at top of hill and shaped the slope of the road to sheet the water to the ditches. Spread out the 21b pile on the finished grading to try to smooth out the final finish. 
  
Song Bird Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  2.0  1   5/11/2023  Raked leaves out of drainages. 
  
Mill Trail #10 and Wood Thrush Reroute 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  66.0  13   5/10/2023  We split into two teams, with one focused on building the trail at the bottom and the other focused on building the wall at the top. The wall required finding and hauling lots of big rocks. The bottom required removal of an inordinate, never-seen-before, ton of roots. Some declared it the hardest trail they had ever built. Still hoping to finish next week. Had some interaction with neighbors because we were parking on the road. Most were mollified when they learned what we were doing. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  4.5  1   5/7/2023  Work on reestablishing the ditch at top of hill by Arrowhead entrance. Use some of the good material found here on the road after the top lay of organic was removed and used in the turn around area that is not as critical. 
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Lick Run Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  13.4  7   5/4/2023  Trash Pick-up on Lick Run Greenway near Valley View. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  33.6  6   5/4/2023  Today we added more dirt to the trail tread in places we thought still needed it. We sorted out the organic, raked to shape, and compacted it. We did a little naturalizing and added one small grade reversal.  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  48.5  11   5/3/2023  To go, or not to go. To believe the forecast or to look at a different one. We gathered in showers, with some saying it was pouring at home and others saying there was no rain at home. Finally, Tom and Hugh opted not to go and the rest of us drove in. Then we sat in our vehicles for 20 minutes through a significant rain.John V. and Jim Brown decided to work piles of leaves out of culverts, thus staying close to their vehicle. The rest of us hiked in, disturbed by the damage to the trail by a horse going in when it was still too soft from the 3" rain. With a smallish crew, but great leadership from Shannon, we finished the wall and the trail up out of drainage 2. Barry and Chris worked on trail down to the drainage and almost finished. Still need some work there and on the crossing. Weather games all day as the sun would come out and then we would get a 60 second shower. We stopped at the "big" culvert on the way out and congratulated ourselves on its performance. Huge pile of leaves at the outfall, as water had gotten to the culvert and the culvert had handled it. Still this is a location that needs frequent surveillance, so that limbs and tons of leaves don't obstruct it. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  26.0  4   4/27/2023  Today we focused on the area where the reroute meets the old trail on the lower side. We made a huge water diverter that will remove water from both trails and prevent water from old trail from getting to new trail. We used a bunch of rocks for the base layers so we would not have to use as much dirt, and we had the rock available. We tried to leave the dirt mines so they would not hold much water with all the rain forecasted.  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  84.5  13   4/26/2023  Another beautiful spring Wed, not quite so hot. One group worked on the drainage 2 crossing, building rock retaining wall. Used a great variety of tools and rock nets. The other group built trail, getting almost to drainage 2. Violets, phlox, wild comfrey, and the first of the mountain laurel. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  35.3  7   4/20/2023  Great progress today. We added a lot of dirt to the trail and are getting a good shape. We also naturalized a big section with 2 drainages. We roughed in trail all that way to the old trail and worked on the intersection on the lower side of reroute. We will add a huge diverter that covers old and new trial drainage. We will not be shutting down the old trail at this time. We also need to connect on the upper end once we get the lower end finished. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  90.0  15   4/19/2023  Another nice spring day, with violets, wild comfrey and dogwood blooming. Great turnout. Built about 300' of trail and raked/cleared leaves to drainage crossing 2. Tom and Dave worked more trees out to drainage 3. Those measuring with phones said we had completed about 850'. 
  
Equipment Maintenance and Repair 		 Vermeer, CC#1  Pathfinders  Tool & Equipment  15.0  2   4/16/2023  Vermeer: Change Oil 4.8 quarts of full syn 10-30. Change oil filter. Clean outer air filter by blowing air from inside out with shop vac. Found bad bearing on left side front bottom small roller. Removed the old bearing from roller (very hard to do). Install new bearings that I had on hand. Oiled the new style roller on left side that was turning hard like when it was new. We noted that it had a flat place on wheel where it does not always turn. This new type of bearing might not be any good or we got a bad one. Vermeer would never send me any details on this bearing type. I have no idea how to even work on it....now I like the old ones better. CC#1: Changed oil (full syn 10-30 around 1 qt). Found that fuel pump lost a bolt and had one loose one. Found a replacement bolt in my spare parts and replaced. The muffler is VERY bad now and we must replace before more use. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  22.2  4   4/13/2023  We added dirt to grade reversals and sections of trail. We shutdown and naturalized two dirt mine/drainage areas. Also roughed in some more trail. The end is in sight.  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  72.0  12   4/12/2023  Smaller crew but built beautiful trail. Tom and Dave cut trees through drainage 3. Blanche and Liz raked and cleared huckleberries off 300'. Dave F built start of trail out to the road. Others built trail through and beyond drainage one to the double tree. 
  
Bridge Repair 		 Benjamin Franklin Middle School  Franklin County  Bridge Maintenance  21.0  4   4/11/2023  Roger noted an ash had fallen straight down the creek cracking the crossing. He totally pre-fabbed the materials in his barn. We carried it all in, carried the old out, assembled, slightly higher than old one. Roger had all the materials and tools. We felt fortunate that the school was empty for spring break. Classroom benches and tables were in good shape, all ready for the April water quality classes. 
  
Equipment Maintenance and Repair 		 DW, Canycom #2  Pathfinders  Tool & Equipment  17.0  3   4/10/2023  Liz picked up the right front tension wheel for from DW. The bearing had went bad. Turtle and I installed it. Then we changed the engine oil and filter. We had to go out and get oil and filter. We also changed the fuel filter and cleaned the air filter. I got a hydraulic filter from DW and we changed that. We cleaned out the pump compartment of DW with Gunk and hose. We changed the engine oil on CC#2. We also adjusted the drive belt to try to keep the machine from moving when clutch is in neutral. Got it a little better by adjusting the metal piece around pulley mounted to engine. 
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Roanoke River Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  6.7  4   4/6/2023  Trash pick-up along greenway near Bennington/Riverland Road 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  88.5  16   4/5/2023  Back to Laurel Canyon, with a start in the 30s but ending close to 80. First we cleared pine sprouts from the landing at Buck, pulling them rather than cutting off. Then we started the trail construction from that end. The first drainage crossing was a huge mess of fallen ailanthus, which Roger attacked meticulously, a little at a time. Tom went ahead cutting other trees. Crew built almost 300' of trail. Flowers of the day were the hillsides of pieris and shadbush. Wild comfrey was up. We faded quickly after lunch when it got so hot. 
  
Clean Valley Day 		 Hinchee Park  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  3.0  2   3/30/2023  Picked up about 200 pounds of trash along 311 and Mason Creek. Always trash here for Clean Valley Day 
  
Tree Planting and Trash Pick-up 		 Garden City Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  30.0  15   3/29/2023  Beautiful short day, in spite of starting out cold. Planted 20 serviceberry along the trail, with Renee and Caleb pre-drilling holes. Then moved to trash pick up along the greenway and from in the creek. Great Clean Valley Day week project.  
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  39.7  6   3/23/2023  Weather was very nice today. Good turn out. We got a whole lot done. We mostly put dirt down on the trail for a pretty long distance. Later in the day we switched to roughing in more trail. Did a little work by hand near a really nice tree that we did not want to damage. The dirt was very nice to work with today. We did have a bit of a delay due to the Ditch Witch having an issue where one of the track tensioner wheel bearings went out. When this happens we usually have to replace the whole wheel. Liz went and picked one up from DW today so that we can get the machine back in service soon. That wheel assembly is $550. So thanks for all the Pathfinders donations that help keep our equipment up and running!  
  
Big Spring Park Trail 		 Town of Fincastle  Botetourt County  Trail Construction  84.6  13   3/22/2023  Our last day on the trail construction and it was a push to get it done. One crew worked on the school side, finishing edges, adding a little stone, raking out dirt piles. On the park side, we were fortunate to have Roger and his tractor to load stone in Canycoms, run stone on the trail, keep up with which section had what. Shannon was on the Ditch With cutting the trail. Melvin showed up to uproot walnuts from the bank, which held us up a little. It was harder in the sod sections, but we used several loads of dug sod to do bank edging. Brian Batteiger came out for a few hours to run the Bobcat and uprooted invasives for practice. With David out of town, there was no lunch, which proves how easily we get spoiled! 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  3.3  1   3/21/2023  Worked on road near where Arrowhead goes up as that is where we have been leaving the Vermeer for this purpose. Did round trips of scooping up old shale from piles along road and running it down to where needed near bottom of hill and spreading and sorting out big rocks and organic. Then digging a load of material out of high places in the ditches and hauling that up to the field for dumping in a way that it can be used for the turn around loop as it dries. Then repeat about 20 times. Cleaned up one of the small piles of shale and made it look nice and natural with good drainage. Some of these areas are even good enough to park or turn around if ever needed. They should drain and naturalize over time. They used to be mounds that trapped water on the road. The loop is also shaping up and I did a little shaping of the dirt that is drying from the last few months. The ditches are really working hard and it is amazing how much water flows even when you think it should be dry by now. No wonder the road had such a problem in this area over the years.  
  
Big Spring Park Trail 		 Town of Fincastle  Botetourt County  Trail Construction  4.0  2   3/20/2023  Picked up the big trailer that had hauled the lumber. Pulled the flags from the school side trail and then remarked spots that needed more stone or compaction. 
  
Equipment Maintenance and Repair 		 Canycom #2  Pathfinders  Tool & Equipment  5.0  2   3/17/2023  Removed drive belt from Canycom on Wed, drove to three places to find a replacement on Thursday, and re-installed on Friday. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  30.3  5   3/16/2023  Cold this morning. But surprising we did not have any freeze/thaw conditions. I guess all the wind kept things dry. But it got pretty warm in the afternoon. The dirt mines were producing some nice dirt with just the right moisture. Part of the crew started on extending two water diverters in a finished section of fall line trail so that the water would be diverted away from the trail even more. Since this is not part of the trail, we did not have to sort the organic out of the dirt which speeds things up. Also a few other places got some more rock around the trees and a bit more banking on the water diverters. The rest of the crew started on adding dirt to the roughed in trail to improve the drainage and lifetime of trail by raising up the trail with clay and rocky dirt, thus giving a nice run off for the water on the downhill side of the trail. Raked and pulled organic material from this dirt and shaped the trail. We also moved a bunch of rock for the base of the next water diverter. Also roughed in the naturalizing of one of the retired dirt mines. And did the same for two dirt mines we had tried to create further in the forest away from the trail....they were wet also back then and we don't need them now. They are easy to shut down and naturalize.  
  
Big Spring Park Trail 		 Town of Fincastle  Botetourt County  Trail Construction  94.5  14   3/15/2023  After several days of cold cold and significant wind, we started all bundled up in winter garb. By the end of the day we had shed multiple layers. Today's goal was to finish stone and compacting on the school side and we did it! Started with Roger loading Canycoms and running fines with his tractor, while Shannon and crew worked on final prep of the lower section. Then started the crush down there. Melvin was a huge help in moving large quantities of stone to the lower section for easier loading and shorter hauls. Two compactors were run all day long, as well as Canycoms. We had to borrow stone from the piles in the park, but that wasn't too far. Another great day in Fincastle. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  33.5  7   3/9/2023  Finally it is drying up enough to work with the dirt! We added dirt to a long section of trail and we used some rocks to save on dirt in a grade reversal. Then dirt was added on top of the rocks.  
  
Big Spring Park Trail 		 Town of Fincastle  Botetourt County  Trail Construction  119.8  15   3/8/2023  Great weather led to a long day and group commitment to finish the drainage crossing! Roger headed that team with the trailer for layout, sawing, etc. Shannon loaded Canycoms to double the stone on last week's section and then worked on digging new trail. Just before lunch one of those walnut stumps, cut off at ground level, grabbed the DW and pulled the track off. Fortunately, we had Melvin and his backhoe to assist with suspending the Dw and getting the track back on. Lots of trail digging and stoning by hand on the park side. Lunch provided by David Tickner and the Town! What glorious weather Fincastle has provided. 
  
Big Spring Park Trail 		 Town of Fincastle  Botetourt County  Trail Construction  8.0  2   3/7/2023  Met the Town Manager at Home Depot and then Lowes to get materials for the drainage crossing. Loaded them on the big trailer and took them to the park for use on Wed.  
  
Catawba Greenway 		 CSC  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  2.0  1   3/6/2023  Clipping and brushing 
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Tinker Creek Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  10.5  7   3/2/2023  Trash Pick up at Tinker Creek Greenway 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  12.7  2   3/2/2023  We decided it would be OK to go up and rough in trail....It was too wet to dig dirt out of drainage areas to use on trail. But roughed in a long section of trial in some heavy concentration of rock...actually nice for a change. Tried to keep as much as possible in the tread area. Mike spent the day removing any remaining organic from the tread area on a section we had roughed in last work day. 
  
Big Spring Park Trail 		 Town of Fincastle  Botetourt County  Trail Construction  82.1  13   3/1/2023  Another great day. We had a compactor to compact last week's stone, plus all we put down this week. We had Melvin on the backhoe from 10-12 to help load the Canycoms. We had great team work on building the next leg of trail, cleaning it and getting stone on it. Plus we had lots of visitors. Robbie Simmons came out, looked at the project and offered equipment. All the engineers from ECI came by to see the project coming to reality. We are about half way on the digging and stone, plus we have the crossing to build. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  21.8  4   2/23/2023  Well, there was much more rain than expected over night and throughout the morning. We had to abort our plans to work on the trail. Instead we worked on Happy Valley fire road. We focused on an area where Tuck-a-way comes out that is wet very often and the ditch is now that road. This area of road is very messed up. We made big improvements to the ditches and the shape of the road. More work needed though. We used up all the material that the City delivered and that barely made a dent. We used some of the material we were digging out of the ditches, but we had to sort through it and only did so much. Oh, and we cut and moved a huge amount of wood off the side of the road. We will keep working on the road when it is too wet to do trail work.  
  
Big Spring Park Trail 		 Town of Fincastle  Botetourt County  Trail Construction  79.8  15   2/22/2023  Another great February day. We got to start on the project in Fincastle, building cinder surface trail from Big Spring Park to Breckinridge Elementary. We had the Ditch Witch and two Canycoms. Did lots of hand cutting the edges and huge amounts of root removal. The invasives in this area are out of control - no they are in control - and we were glad that it had been bush hogged at least twice. We were able to get about 200' ready and put an inch of stone on it. Will compact next week and add more stone. Hats off to Shannon for running the DW so expertly and achieving the "dug out" for the base stone. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  19.5  3   2/18/2023  Because of all the rain Friday, we did road work today and it was sure wet out there. Of course some people were using the wet trails. Turtle used the DW to fill his truck with shale we are harvesting from very old piles near the road at Arrowhead area. He and Dean hauled it down to where tuckaway hits the road. We have added quite a lot of shale to that area. The road toward Bennett Springs has a filled ditch and the ditch is now in the road. It channels all the water down to the lower road making it very wet. I used the Vermeer to harvest from another pile and put down in the road all around Arrowhead exit and down to Enchanted forest. Then on way back I would dig out mud from the newly forming ditches we have been working on. We are shaping the road to tapper into the ditches instead of dropping into them with a cliff. This makes them much easier to maintain in the future and helps now with the equipment we have. After Dean left, Turtle and I both worked on road near Arrowhead. That road is really shaping up. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  16.3  3   2/16/2023  We thought maybe the dirt would be dry enough to work on Arrowhead today. Well, the last 3 places we were getting dirt were way too wet. Be got what we could and spread it out where we wanted it and left it to dry until end of day when we compacted it with Vermeer. We tried to get dirt from two places away from the trail and had same issue. So switched to roughing in trail in hopes of getting to better dirt. Did the rough in pretty rough and will have to go back and touch up (getting more organic off). The good news is way down the trail we found some better dirt and many more rocks which will come in handy. By the time we found that, it was late and we did not get to use much of it. At the very end of day, we compacted the dirt that had been spread earlier. 
  
Mill Trail #10 and Wood Thrush Reroute 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  69.0  16   2/15/2023  We had a small group that worked on finishing the intersection of the Wood Thrush reroute and Sidewinder, adding quite a bit of dirt. Jim B installed the modified sign. The others worked on extending Trail #10 toward Estates Road. Got all down that was flagged. Beautiful warm day for Feb. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  3.1  1   2/14/2023  Moved down the road a bit towards Riley Loop to investigate the other piles of material. Decided to look into one of the closer small piles first as that could be used to improve the road in the immediate area. Was able to use up one whole smallish pile to do about 250 foot of road. There were a lot of larger rocks and roots to separate out of the material. So slow going. Made the area right by the pile that we are finished with to look a little better. We will likely harvest some more rock from a smaller pile to the right before leaving that area. 
  
Tool & Equipment 		 Truck  Pathfinders  Tool & Equipment  16.0  2   2/10/2023  Drove to Bentonville in hopes of buying a dump truck. Too rusty. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  23.3  4   2/9/2023  Finally we were able to work up on the Arrowhead Reroute again. Doesn't look like the soft trails have stopped some users based on the deep horse tracks and some bike tracks. We were able to move dirt and shape it between the big banked turn and the place we have been storing equipment. This includes three grade change areas where we added lots of dirt. We also raised up the trail some for better drainage. We used the BROC jumping jack compactor to pack a tight area we could not do with Vermeer. The crew naturalized everything remaining from the end of the banked turn back. Also shut down another dirt mine/drainage area and did rough naturalizing with Vermeer. Brought the Vermeer down in case we want to do road work and also loaded up the Ditch Witch for Midweek Crew to use on a big project in Fincastle.  
  
Big Spring Park Trail 		 Town of Fincastle  Botetourt County  Trail Construction  4.0  2   2/9/2023  In anticipation of starting Feb 15, we went out to check flags, measure width, tweak turns, consider equipment needs, and other logistics 
  
Wood Thrush Trail 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  92.5  18   2/8/2023  Continued on the re-route on Wood Thrush, built a retaining wall near the junction, moved the sign post, naturalized the old trail, armored the muddy crossing more. Then started on Trail #10 in the Plan 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  2.5  1   2/8/2023  I rode my bike out and ran the DW to clean out some ditches between Arrowhead and Tunnel Creek crossing since is was such a nice day. It will be a bit of a mess there until we are done as the ditches are really bad in an area where we have to haul the junk material pretty far. Also we are trying to use the better stuff to raise up the road above the ditches so we don't have to dig as much out and to make a better crown shape. But that material is not great and very wet right now. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  25.7  5   2/2/2023  Another very wet day, so we stuck to fire road maintenance. We had home base at the bottom of Arrowhead again where we were able to almost finish getting all the shale available at that site. We have used all that up and in the process really opened up the area where is was stored all these years. Decided to start working on a loop turn around on the border of the field to connect to another spot we have been parking. It also allows a good place to sort out the material we are digging out of the ditches in the area. The crew has been hauling shale on the equipment flatbed trailer and hand spreading it on the road in the worst spots. But large areas can use material to help raise and crown the road and hand spreading material without a dump truck is a very slow process. One of these days, Pathfinders may get a dump truck :)  
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Lick Run Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  7.3  4   2/2/2023  Picked up litter along the greenway near Countryside Park. 
  
Wood Thrush Trail 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  76.8  16   2/1/2023  After torrential rain last week and significant rain on Tuesday, I considered cancelling, but it turned out to be a great day. The leaves had protected the soil, the slight out slope had helped it drain. We worked on a short relo recommended in the Mill Mtn Trail Plan to eliminate a steep, eroding section of Wood Thrush trail. With 14 crew, 3 City staff, and a City volunteer, we made significant headway. About 3/4 of the relo got built, and Chad worked on armoring a muddy spot in the main trail. Several springs there, so hauled stone in buckets. The weather was milder and drier than expected, but occasionally a cold wind would blow, warning of the incoming front. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  23.1  4   1/26/2023  Photos Here: https://www.meetup.com/pathfinders-for-greenways/photos/33143929/ Due to all the rain the day before and the continual wetness out there, we decided to do road work instead of trying to work in the mud. Since it is best to not make volunteers load rock by hand if possible, we came up with a plan to use some existing shale that was located near a place Brian wanted to run the Ditch Witch skid steer and shape the road between loading the Pathfinders trailer full of shale. The crew took the truck and trailer of rock down to a very wet stretch of road where Tuck-a-way hits the road and spread the rock by hand. They also did a bit of draining the water by de-berming a little also. Brian focused on sorting through the shale piles and using a bunch of it on the road in that area to crown the road. While working in the area where the piles were, that whole area got a reshape to the point of opening up a large access to the nearby field and providing a very nice parking and turn around area. More work to be done, but shaping up nicely. The worry right now is the possible massive poison ivy exposure. Have fingers crossed on that one. There is a very nice pile of sorted shale to use if we have a repeat of a road work day in same areas.  
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  19.5  4   1/19/2023  The muddiest day yet. It just keeps getting worse out there. The road was the worst I have seen it this year (but it must have been worse one day past week with rain and freeze/thaw). Someone rode a horse and bike on lower trails when it must have been all mush out there. Very deep holes and ruts all over the place even on sections of trail that are normally fine....huge damage from just a few idiots that just kept on trashing it. Well, we were very careful to make sure we were not doing much damage getting to site and we were not making much of a print at all. However we could not hardly do any mining of dirt (even though we started a small deep mine to get some slightly usable stuff. Mostly just focused on roughing in some trail. The crew did a great job of removing any left over organic material missed by the Vermeer. Was able to finish closing down a big dirt mine drainage area and rough in the naturalization with Vermeer from the top down to keep out of muck. Did get the new battery put in the Vermeer first thing and that is working good so far. Thinking charging system must be good with all the stopping and starting today. 
  
Fern Park - Trail #13 		 Fern Park  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  32.0  12   1/18/2023  After reviewing all the tasks yet to do, we decided to put the whole crew here and just have a good half day. Actually, it was a terrific half day with lovely warm weather. Three went up the main Fern Park Trail to do the benching. Others extended the trail to the street, spread fines, while Caleb compacted. Bud and Barry hardened approaches to the culvert. Jim B hardened the muddy crossing. And others worked hard to re-establish the hump, haul riprap to the upper drainage and lower drainage, and finish naturalizing. Caleb and Kenny from the City helped. 
  
Fern Park - Trail #13 		 Fern Park  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  10.0  2   1/13/2023  Knowing that there wasn't enough work for the whole crew next week, we met Renee and went in to finish up the culvert work. City staff will put out the last of the fines and do naturalizing. Two neighbors warned about how much water comes down that drainage, so we hope it holds up. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  14.7  2   1/12/2023  Large planned turn out ended up being only one person. New volunteer Mike worked all day. We got some lingering organic pockets out of trail path and added dirt to raise the tread. Started to close one of the dirt mines near the banked turn. Also had issues starting the Vermeer, but had jump pack with me. Still hard to start as the battery must be bad. Removed battery at end of day in order to get a new one. 
  
Fern Park - Trail #13 		 Fern Park  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  100.5  14   1/11/2023  Whew. We were all worn out after this one. Renee had had her staff use Ditch Witch to dig out sod for the trail location out to the playground and natural surface trail. Lots and lots of shoveling and transporting stone - first 3", then 21A, then fines - to make the trail. City staff Caleb ran the compactor all day and Michelle ran the truck for more stone. We were a little short on 3" and a little short on 21A, but used up those piles and worked on fines. Meanwhile the culvert crew worked on building stone walls and providing a culvert to direct the water. Got some, but not all, naturalizing done. We were close, within an hour or two, of finishing but didn't have all the necessities like materials and energy! 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  3.5  1   1/10/2023  Road out with shoes and jump starter to see if I could get Vermeer started. After some work, was able to finally get it started. Left machine running entire times. Roughed in new trial in order to have enough work ready for 5 volunteers signed up for Thursday.  
  
Tree Clearing 		 Catawba Greenway South  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  4.0  2   1/6/2023  Clearing trees felled by the Dec 23 storm and prior. Some tricky things in here. How do trees land like this? 
  
Tree Clearing 		 Catawba Greenway  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  4.0  2   1/5/2023  There was a huge wind on Dec 23. Bob Egbert had walked the trail to assess damage and sent pictures of down trees. Got the ones he had sent on the north side plus two more. Left the big widow makers hanging over the trail but not obstructing it.  
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Roanoke River Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  3.0  2   1/5/2023  Trash pick-up Bennington 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  12.3  2   1/5/2023  The dirt was still a little wet today. But we were able to move some out of drainage areas and to where needed to build up the trail. Later in the day I took a break and the Vermeer would not start after. The battery seems dead. I may have stopped it too often today. I cut the day a little short on Arrowhead and brought DW down in case the weather gets bad before Midweek crew needs it. I figured we could use it for road work in mean time. I decided while I had it warmed up, I would work on the wet area near where we park. I mined shale from piles by road and crowned the road in the wet area and packed it down. I sorted out the largest rocks and roots. 
  
Fern Park - Trail #13 		 Fern Park  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  48.8  17   1/4/2023  All the weather reports were dire - washout, rain, etc - but the radar looked like it wouldn't get to us til 11. So we took a chance, started in a drizzle and rain was gone within half hour. Great turnout on a warm day. What do you get when you put 15 people on building 330' of trail? Half day of work, as Dave Foster says. We also removed old fencing for Renee, and planned and prepped for stone work next week. This trail is a connection to Yellow Mountain Road and the neighborhood from the Park, to replace the fall line path along a gas line. 
  
Gladetown Trail 		 Craig Recreation Center  Town Of Vinton  Trail Maintenance  86.8  15   12/14/2022  What a tremendous effort today to work on Gladetown Trail and repair the bridge. All of the trail got weed eating - some of it more than once with different blades - and most of it had re-digging or raking, plus lopping and hacking back shrubberies. All the needed lumber got carried in - manual labor style - and some of it got carried out, plus all the old rotten stuff. The ramp got rebuilt and top andrails replaced. Special thanks to those who both carried lumber and worked on trail, as I know we were all fading at the end. Special thanks to Roger, for bringing materials, all kinds or tools, and expertise to get the ramp rebuilt. And yes, we did see a trail user, who is a neighbor of the trail. Plus we hauled off the debris to Public Works. 
  
Gladetown Trail 		 Craig Recreation Center  Town of Vinton  Trail Maintenance  18.0  9   12/8/2022  After another rainy Wed, we opted to use the window Thursday morning to attack just the tree clearing. All agreed the tangle of large cherry, elm, and a few boxelders was significant. A dead 6-point buck had us keeping our distance. Tom and Roger did the cutting with several swampers and spotters for each team and lots of communication. We then rolled some cherry logs to the truck to be future bowls. Meanwhile John V cut all the downfall on the loop and Dave B worked on cleaning the bridge. We assessed the bridge and did a count of lumber needed. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  31.7  6   12/1/2022  The morning was just above freezing. The dirt was wet. But we ended up getting a lot done. Bill and Tony took on the naturalizing job and made the trail sides look great almost up to where we are working now. Gerry and I used the skid steers to work on getting dirt out of dirt mines even with it wet. We were able to get quite a bit and put it in three areas of the trail where we wanted grade changes and a banked turn that is also a big grade change. Both Alison and Adrieanne worked both in the dirt mines and the dirt we piled on the trail to pull out most of the organic material and spread the dirt. The dirt was compacted with skid steer tracks. Later on another work day when drier, we will pack the areas the tracks could not reach with tracks by using the jumping jack compactor. It was too wet to use it today. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  30.0  10   12/1/2022  After several rained out Wednesdays, we went in on a Thursday to pull all our tools out of Laurel Canyon for the winter. Great turn out and nice day. Started with birthday wishes to Blanche. Good leaf and pine needle fall on the trail. 
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Roanoke Greenways  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  4.8  3   12/1/2022  Litter pick-up at Vic Thomas Park near Memorial Avenue Bridge 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  10.4  2   11/17/2022  Well I have not seen it this wet at Cove for some time. The Fire Road was wet and all the Arrowhead Drainages get a work out! But they did very well. The bear paid us a visit again and had yanked the tarp off the machines and carried one about 500 foot away. We got it back with only some damage. The bear ripped the cushions on the Vermeer a bit where they were taped from another bear run in. Not too much damage. We could not mine any dirt from our existing mine as it was way too wet. We each made new drainage/mine areas and neither were viable today....I have never experienced a new dirt mine that was too wet...NEVER. We gave up, and left early. When I got back to County lot, I moved the big trailer up to upper lot to make sure it was drivable. Had issues with brakes and lights. I messed with plug for a long time pulling it in and out and jiggling it. Got the trailer brakes working and even the brake lights, but only with plug part way out. Maybe it will be good enough to get it to County garage. 
  
Big Spring Park Trail 		 Town of Fincastle  Botetourt County  Trail Construction  5.0  2   11/14/2022  Met Donnie Underwood on site to layout the trail, in anticipation of January-February construction. Worked on materials list for the stream crossing and logistics. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  19.6  3   11/10/2022  We sorted through fill dirt and spread it where we needed to raise the trail up after the extra thick duff was removed. Also using a lot of dirt for a grade reversal banked turn which is our transition from fall line trail to almost flat side hill trail. Give me steeper sidehill any time over this stuff where you have to add dirt back in. But better than the fall line section.  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  54.0  9   11/9/2022  Back to trail building after the culvert project. A smallish crew, but managed to put in about 75-80 feet of new trail. Lots of stumps and huckleberries in this section with pines crowding in from the sides.(old burn area). A few carried out tools in anticipation of only two more work days on this site, before shutting it down for winter. Glad to have John Robbins back after knee surgery  
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Tinker Creek Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  8.0  5   11/3/2022  Monthly trash pick-up at Fallon Park & Tinker Creek Greenway. 
  
Brushy Mountain Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  22.0  4   11/3/2022  Fourth and last day of the culvert install. Brian worked on reshaping the ditch. Shannon mined additional material to go over the pipe and build up the road. Blanche and Liz raked and sorted materials from both. Renee stopped by to drop off lunch. We then put rocks on the intake, cleaned up the site, leveling piles and covering them with leaves, getting up caution tape, smoothing the edges. Brian loaded the Vermeer to take out. Shannon drove the backhoe out. 
  
Brushy Mountain Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  90.0  13   11/2/2022  Day 3 of the big culvert install, with a great turnout from MWC. First issue was that many of our regular drivers weren't there, but others stepped up. Renee went in with us with the cement bags on the City truck. First task was unload the 94# bags. One team worked with Shannon to do that and then build the end walls. Another team used the Canycom to transport the gravel and crush-r-run out of the ditch that the machines couldn't get; this was essential as fill behind the wall. Third team worked with Brian on cleaning ditch and reshaping the road so that water would go in the ditch. The City truck came back with a load of stone about lunch time, but had gotten a flat tire on the way. MWC continued to work with Shannon and Brian to finish the walls, install riprap below outfall, shape road, pull out rocks, cover the pipe, compact the material. A great day of team work, with willingness and good cheer. The City truck was not fixed til about 4, so Liz and Shannon hung back to be sure they got out. 
  
Brushy Mountain Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  24.0  3   11/1/2022  This was a long hard day with lots of raking gravel, compacting, etc. But it wasn't raining. After Shannon got the hole approximately finished, Brian cleaned out the bottom of the hole with the Vermeer. Then we did lots of measurement to be sure we had it deep enough, allowing for the 12" of gravel around it. Assembling the pipe was not easy, but we used a little brute force (ie Vermeer and a maple). Then filled and raked, filled and raked, compacted, etc to provide the required bedding. By the end of the day we had the pipe in place, a causeway over the middle, and stone around the center of the pipe. Stone seemed almost gone, so we asked Renee for more for the next day. City also picked up the cement from Roanoke Cement to have it first thing Wednesday 
  
Brushy Mountain Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  22.5  3   10/31/2022  After much planning and a few delays, the great culvert project got underway. The City had hauled in the culvert and riprap, gravel, and crush-r-run. Plus the backhoe. Shannon and Brian hauled in our Vermeer, Renee drove the City DitchWitch, and Liz and City staff Michele and Larry drove in trucks. First thing, before they left, was that Renee and Michele did leaf blowing around the work site. Then Shannon lifted the oak trunk out of the drainage for Larry to finish cutting it. Then Renee and her crew headed on up the road to work on ditches. Brian attacked the duff and peat in the drainage. It was amazing. Truly looked like peat in places, and even gave the appearance of working its way to an energy resource. Shannon used City backhoe to dig out the place for the new culvert and dig up the stump and the old black culvert. Liz flagged the "detour" for bikers, dug rocks out of culvert, and provided observation and support. Moving dirt and re-moving dirt were the big tasks, as there was lots of dirt and rock. Very very dry and powdery. The rain was welcome to settle the dirt and dust, but didn't take long for things to get sticky. With the predicted steady rain at 1:00 and then 2:00, we quit for the day. Shannon and Liz went to Roanoke Cement to secure the cement donation. (successful) 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  23.3  4   10/30/2022  First we went out and got the jumping jack compactor. Then we worked on the Arrowhead reroute. We sorted the organic out of our mined dirt and used it to shape some trail tread. Started the naturalization of 2nd drainage/dirt mine. Roughed in some more trail and worked on banked turn. At the end of the work day, brought the Vermeer out to use on Hinchee culvert project all next week. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  45.7  8   10/27/2022  Great turn out today and wonderful weather. We got a lot done. We had two dirt sorting stations going the whole time and spread countless loads of dirt to raise and shape the trail. In the afternoon some of the crew also did a lot of naturalizing all the way down to the 2nd drainage. 
  
Brushy Mountain Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  56.3  9   10/26/2022  This week was prep for the culvert replacement next week. The goal is to get that entire downhill section of ditch and culverts working, all 1.4 miles of it. We spaced out along the road, doing sections with a Sawyer in each section. Within an hour or so we were clustered together, helping each other, and then others moving on down. Removed several ash and lots of paradise, as well as other trees in the road, along the back slope, plus general brush. Got a few culverts cleaned also. The foggy, very damp, just rained morning improved to late sunshine. Another great October day. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  1.0  1   10/21/2022  Did some roughing in work with Vermeer between crew days. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  20.6  3   10/20/2022  Did tread finishing work by adding in clean dirt, shaping and compacting. We are ready to naturalize the 2nd drainage/dirt mine area and we are getting good dirt from the 3rd dirt mine.  
  
Tree Clearing 		 Green Hill Park  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  1.0  2   10/19/2022  Cleared a tree from Craig's Climb, as requested by Eric Kohler. Appeared to have been there awhile, ash. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  101.0  15   10/19/2022  Most of crew worked on digging new trail between drainage crossing 3 and 4. Blanche is doing duff removal and clean up on Segment 1. Liz and Renee pin flagged to drainage 4. Then they hiked out to do signs/post holes and found a flat tire on the truck; changed that. Windy and chilly all day.  
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  23.8  5   10/13/2022  Sort and spread dirt on second water diverter and drainage. Open up 3rd dirt mine and pile up dirt for future sorting and spreading. Collected rocks while mining the dirt and placed for base of banked turn.  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  67.5  10   10/12/2022  Another beautiful October day. Jim Brown finished the approach to the drainage crossing #3, others dug trail. Super dry on one side, super steep on the other. Steve worked on repair of sections where the duff was not all removed. Glad to have Frank back. Phones are showing 1.4 miles in. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  13.7  2   10/6/2022  We moved dirt, sorted out the organics and spread dirt on the trail where needed for the shape of our drainages. Packed it down with the skid-steers.  
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Roanoke River Greenway  City of Salem  Trail Maintenance  5.3  4   10/6/2022  Salem Rotary Park on Electric Road Trash Pick-up 
  
Tree Clearing 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  7.0  2   10/5/2022  Tom and Dave B. drove through from Bennett Springs to Laurel Canyon, cutting trees on Brushy Mtn Road. Also got a few out of the ditches. Then they rejoined MWC on Laurel Canyon, and continued cutting shrubbery and brush on the next section toward drainage 4. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  62.5  11   10/5/2022  Another beautiful fall day, starting cool and ending warm. Shannon, Barry and Jim B. tackled drainage crossing 3. John V and others tackled the whoop-de-woo; lots of rocks available. Others worked patiently on the rocky/duffy sections leading to drainage 3. Spray on hand if the yellow jackets get persistent. Dave and Tom cut trees on Brushy before coming out 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  67.3  11   9/28/2022  Gosh, we sure do love this fall weather. Just walking in - albeit over a mile - makes a great start to any day. Most of the crew dug trail all day, with Chuck and Greg learning how to build a retaining mini-wall to get over roots, and Dave B. hauling lots of dirt and duff. John and crew worked on naturalizing the shoulder at drainage crossing 1, given the forecast for tropical rains. Then John moved down to drainage 3, to help install a goat path, as Liz finished up on layout, with Dave F. assistance. We all left a little early. given the meetings some were to attend. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  18.5  4   9/25/2022  We worked on two areas where we have drainages and needed to add fill to shape the trail around the area and build up grade reversals. Roughed in a bit of new trail and started another grade reversal for the second drainage. Used all the small number of rocks we have been collecting to get a good start on the reversal.  
  
Catawba Greenway 		 CSC  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  2.0  1   9/24/2022  Clipping and brushing 
  
Administrative 		 IT - Trail Work DB  Pathfinders  Administrative  5.5  2   9/22/2022  Aron is interested in helping with Pathfinders IT committee. We went over how the trail work database is built. We also went over the google drive and the Wordpress website. After this introduction, he will decide if there are areas he would like to help.  
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  7.0  2   9/22/2022  Naturalized a section of finished trail and added 3 Cannycoms of sorted dirt on large grade change/water diverter. Took some time to show Adrieanne what we have been doing and why. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  84.0  14   9/21/2022  Lots of different things going on today. Roger and crew added another level to drainage crossing 1, given the mud on the first significant rain. Shannon and crew finished drainage crossing 2. Renee and Liz worked on layout from drainage 5 to drainage 6. Others worked on the connections between all these points. We do love fall weather and Blanche's refreshments!  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  47.5  9   9/14/2022  Gorgeous day with most of the crew in long sleeves. Blanche dropped off refreshments. Never got hot; in fact the sun felt nice.At drainage crossing two, Renee and John V. had laid out an alternative route. After checking grades, Liz and Shannon agreed to the alternate. Shannon, Steve and Barry worked on it the whole day, basically building a rock wall and digging out a hill. Others worked on trail digging beyond and trail clearing to connect. More to do in all locations. 
  
Tree Clearing 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  7.0  2   9/14/2022  Tom and Dave met up with the Crew at 8:30, but then headed out to cut trees on Brushy Mtn and Jacob's Drop. They reached the crew on Laurel Canyon at noon. 
  
Administrative 		 IT - Trail Work DB  Pathfinders  Administrative  3.5  1   9/12/2022  Added the sublevel totals for all sort types except for dates. This will help when doing reports to get totals for each project, jurisdiction, Type of work , or location.....used to just be for location which we used for jurisdiction. Had to do a bit of coding to broaden that. It is more flexible now for future expansion if needed.  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  63.5  10   9/7/2022  Roger and Jim Brown did finish work on first part. Others were digging along from drainage one to drainage two and beyond. Renee and John flagged an alternate line at drainage two for consideration next week. Others worked on beyond that, mostly digging sidehill. This is a beautiful trail, and generally so easy (once you get to it). 
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Roanoke Greenways  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  16.0  8   9/1/2022  Trash pick up Smith Park near Wiley Drive 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  94.5  14   8/31/2022  Beautiful day, with a nice cool breeze. Great turnout. Good progress. Tom attacked the pine stump. Multiple crews got across stream crossing 1, with a crew working on serious digging to get benched up the far side. Then after lunch the crew took off and got almost to the next drainage. Needs some "polish" work, but walkable! 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  21.6  4   8/28/2022  The ground was really wet today and had to only get dirt from the newer dirt mine and mix it up some in a big pile to dry it out a little before sorting out the organic. We sorted from skid steer buckets to Cannycoms which we found works really well. We ended up making pretty good progress. After everyone left, I worked on trying to get the water out of our dirt mines and started to do some basic naturalizing on our first one, lots more to do on that when it dries up a little.  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  71.5  11   8/24/2022  Some worked on polishing on segment 1, others on digging through steep terrain toward the creek. Rough going with lots of rocks in some places and not enough in others. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  84.5  13   8/17/2022  Beautiful weather, great turnout. Continued on with digging trail, while Renee flagged the front, Tom and Shannon cut trees, Bud attacked huckleberries, John built ledges, Blanche polished Segment 1. Great team work and camaraderie. Hinchee showed lots of washing from last week's rains. Getting to be a fair hike to get to work site. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  9.6  2   8/10/2022  Worked on Arrowhead reroute. Disappointing turnout. The repairs we have done are working great. But the dirt mine was wet in our reroute which slowed us down. Got a new mine open with good drainage while working to keep it more dry. Put dirt on banked turn to raise it and in the large hole from root ball removal. Got out before storm hit. Got truck and trailer ready for inspection and maintenance appointment. Had to unload the truck bed and cover equipment in lot. Almost beat the downpour, but not quite.  
  
Tree Clearing 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  81.5  16   8/10/2022  Split into groups to address some of the 55+ trees that had come down in week end rains and storms. Roger and Steve K on Gauntlet/Decks and Horsepen,; Steve P and Barry on Hemlock/Lakeside; John V and Greg on Songbird/Rattlin Run; Tom and Dave B on Bennett Springs/ Rattlin Run, Shannon and Jim B on Tinker, Liz and Blanche on Riley's Loop/ Arrowhead, Bud and Chuck on FG Ext/ Upper Comet/Tuck, Renee and Dave F on culverts. All were hit by torrential downpours about 12:30 - 1:00 
  
Tree Clearing 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  3.0  1   8/6/2022  Reports from the storm said 3" in an hour. Paved road was littered with trees, but you could get by. Cleared branches and debris on HDH to Midway to Hotel to Buck to road. Cut several small trees with handsaw. Saw several big trees down off in the woods. At the bottom of Buck, cut enough to clear a substantial tree out of the trail, but it could use more clean up with a chainsaw. On the road, there are two uprooted oaks on edge of creek that are hanging over the road.  
  
Tree Clearing 		 Hinchee Trail  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  5.0  2   8/5/2022  Went in to clear the oak that had blocked the crew on Wed. Also cut a maple broken off and hanging. Users reported no other trees down on Hinchee and out Brushy Mtn. 
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Lick Run Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  10.0  5   8/4/2022  Trash Pickup on Lick Run Greenway 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  48.0  8   8/3/2022  Headed in Hinchee as usual and got waylaid by a big oak totally blocking the trail. Had only handsaws, but managed to cut it out enough to get by. On LC, found it dry and almost dusty, so obviously the recent showers had not hit there. Blanche worked on finish work on the first segment, while others were digging new trail on Segment 2. 
  
Tool & Equipment 		 Trailer - Homestead Enclosed  Pathfinders  Tool & Equipment  5.0  2   7/26/2022  Finished the tool holder mounting to wall and bucket ring mounting. Then refilled the trailer with tools and stuff. Really have much more space in trailer now. Also the trailer has been dry in all this rain since Roger applied the roof sealant a few weeks ago. Brian took the trailer back to county lot and parked it where it has sat before but out enough to maybe get in back door. Everything held in place on trip back. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  24.0  5   7/24/2022  Today we planned a short day due to the +100 forecast. We also had Scott from RVTV out to film a little trail work to go with a campfire chat Pete Eshelman did with me a few months ago. Glad we had a good turn out for that. We took out a huge stump connected to dead tree from the trail route. The crew chopped one big root and that was all it took today to get the skid steer to take it down. Then we worked on getting as much good dirt as we could from root ball and refilling the hole with good filtered clay. Cut up that tree and other deadfall in order to move it further from the trail. We also mined and sorted many cannycom loads of dirt and spread it and compacted in in a banked turn/raised tread area before our first big grade reversal/water diverter. 
  
Fundraiser 		 Roanoke Greenways  City Of Roanoke  Special Event  21.0  7   7/23/2022  Helped with the Cardinal Fun Ride Event to benefit Roanoke greenways 
  
Tool & Equipment 		 Trailer - Homestead Enclosed  Pathfinders  Tool & Equipment  6.4  3   7/21/2022  Brian purchased some more 2*4s, angle aluminum and screws at Lowes. We made the legs to go between top and bottom and then installed them. We cut the angle aluminum into 8 brackets and drilled holes for screws. Notches were cut out of bottom rail for tie down access. Holes were made to store rock bars tighter than buckets would do. We had some trouble hitting metal with 3rd bracket and gave up as it was really dark.  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  65.0  13   7/20/2022  Great crew on a day we knew would turn hot. We attacked Segment 2 of Laurel Canyon, with Renee guiding the way along the flagging and chainsaw and two brush blades following. Then the rest of the crew clearing out the brush, lopping, etc to get the corridor clear enough to pin flag. Got to the third drainage, about 1000' by Chuck's measurement. Blanche worked on cleaning up sections on Segment 1. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  13.5  3   7/17/2022  Today Brian (me) biked out to the work site. I texted a group of 6 regular volunteers since it was last minute and got two takers. Gerry drove out and met me at the work site at 8am. We used DW to dig dirt out of harvest hole and parked bucket over Cannycom so dirt could be sorted from bucket to Cannycom much easier than bending down to sort on ground. We added the dirt to the Banked turn we are working on and to raise the trail bed a bit for better drainage. I used the Vermeer to rough in some more trail and work on taking out a large dead tree that is right in the middle of the best trail route. I want to get the whole stump out, so digging all around tree and using good dirt to in places on trail that need to be raised. Not enough room to store it all around base of trail now. Got the tree weakened, but a large root needs to be chopped. I have to be careful to not shake the tree too much as the top might fall out. 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 CSC  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  2.0  1   7/15/2022  Clipping and brushing trail 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  60.5  11   7/13/2022  After a big storm, we had some clean up work with limbs and leaves on the way in. With several of the long timers back from trips, we forged ahead to get to the end of Segment 1 of Laurel Canyon, the maintenance section. Lots of huckleberry and laurel on the edges of that last section. Jim Brown spent the day on fix-it pieces, and there are several more we need to spread out and do. The next new section has significant clearing to do before the pin flags can even be set. Access is becoming more of an issue as we walk 1.2 miles in on the trail or come down the steep ATV trail for 1/3 mile. 
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Glade Creek Greenway  Roanoke County,Town Of Vinton  Trail Maintenance  10.0  5   7/7/2022  Picked up Trash on Glade Creek Greenway 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  3.5  1   7/6/2022  I biked out to work site today and took a chance that I could miss the possible storm. I must admit that I am getting pretty disappointed with the trail user community's lack of help on the Arrowhead project. They seem to like the work and complain about how long it takes us, but heck, how many times is it that the same 3-5 people that do 95% of the work. People are out using the trails in droves almost every time we work, so it is not like they don't have the time. Anyway I mined and filtered 7 Cannycom loads of dirt and spread and packed it in a banked turn we are making. Was pretty nice out. Heard what sounded like a large pack of coyotes screaming.  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  48.0  8   7/6/2022  We worked on the next to last drainage crossing on this section - lots of leaves. Discovered lots of rock hardening underneath the duff. Then dug trail on out to the next nose. Moved the tools cache. Liz worked after lunch on cutting the shrubbery beyond the next drainage crossing. Suddenly at 1:30 the heat got to us and we hiked out. Thankful for Blanche's drinks and cookies. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  14.6  3   7/4/2022  Worked on reroute. We dug and sorted a bunch of dirt and then added it to the trail and packed it down. We are making a large water diverter trail feature and a raised banked turn to help get water off trail and provide some fun at the same time. 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 Catawba Greenway South  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  4.0  2   6/30/2022  Reset a step and weed whacked 
  
Brushy Mountain/ Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  86.3  13   6/29/2022  Good to welcome back some folks we haven't seen for awhile. We started with everyone working on cleaning debris, small trees, etc out of the ditch uphill from the big culvert. This was prep work for the August culvert replacement, as we are hoping to use the backhoe to dig out and re-establish the ditch, so that water is not running down the road. Some hard labor went into finding the culvert next above the big culvert; totally buried, feet deep, in mats of leaves and roots; clearly it hasn't worked for a long time. We also worked as far as two culverts above that, neither of which was as bad. Then, as people finished where they were, they moved out onto the trail to work or worked on other sections of the road. Blessedly cooler than the week before. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  16.4  3   6/29/2022  Started off cutting back some small pines that were leaning into the trail where a biker had a bad wreck. This also helps with site line. Then we gathered 3 canycom loads of rock from around where we are doing the reroute. We used those as a base for a water diverter hump. Then in the afternoon I started sorting organic out of mined dirt and applying it over the rocks to build up the water diverter/grade reversal. Where we are mining the dirt will serve as the water collecting area. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  10.9  2   6/26/2022  We cut and moved fallen trees, branches and rocks out of the corridor for the trail reroute. We wanted to get the machines to the top of the reroute and work down because the machines dig better going downhill. We then started roughing in a section of trail and started making the first grade reversal water diverter and drainage area. We will also have a bit of a banked turn through an area with big trees we want to raise the tread in a bit to protect the roots. Even the reroute is not a side hill trail in places, so we have to focus on getting water off the trail. 
  
Brushy Mountain/ Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  50.0  10   6/22/2022  Tom and Shannon went around to Bennett Springs to cut trees that had come down in the big storm Friday night. Did Little Bell and all of Brushy Mtn Fire Road, coming out at Laurel Canyon. Big trees. The rest of us spent some time reviewing the culvert project and looking at the evidence of rain coming down the road. Then hiked in and worked on the trail. We have two drainages and .24 to go before we get to the end of this existing section. Several people had 3:00 meetings, which gave us all an excuse to escape the heat and head out at 12:30, to get back to parking lot at 1:30. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  14.6  3   6/22/2022  Today we finished the last two water diverters before we start on a section of rerouted trail construction. These last two diverters were extra challenging due to sandy soil with lots of medium to large rocks. We spent time doing a good job of naturalizing the areas we disturbed. Betsy road her bike out to help us. I went to fill cans with 20 gallons non-ethanol gas down at Dixie Cavern station before returning the truck. 
  
Song Bird Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  5.8  1   6/20/2022  Finished the last big mud hole with smaller stone. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  18.2  2   6/19/2022  First thing we did today was to lay out a reroute for the worst section near the top of trail. We spent a lot of time walking all over to find the best option to keep same downhill character of this trail with no tight turns. We will still have to do some grade reversals since some is still more grade change parallel to trail. but this time it will have some side slope and be easy to drain. Then we both worked on separate grade reversal drainages. These should be the last two before the reroute is started. We did not finish, but made good progress. Renee and Steve happened to come through and walked the reroute flag line with us. Renee approved the reroute.  
  
Song Bird Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  2.5  1   6/18/2022  Place large stones into the only remaining mud hole on the trail. It took all but 5 of the stones collected over several days.  
  
Brushy Mountain Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  37.5  10   6/15/2022  In anticipation of the heat index of 105, we planned a short day. We did prep for the culvert replacement in August by removing "100 years of leaves" from the upstream side, dragging them on tarps and dumping them outside the drainage. Finally got to the original pipe, which appears to be blocked with rocks, etc. On the downstream side we moved logs, branches and leaves that we thought would be in the way. It became easy to see how the water had ponded when the pipe was blocked, allowing deposition of sand and leaves. Several folks were eying the three feet of decomposed leaves for garden soil! 
  
Song Bird Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  1.8  1   6/14/2022  Moved three Canycom loads of big rocks in prep for mud hole repair. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  22.8  3   6/12/2022  Today we decided to review the best ways to naturalize and redid the naturalization on two of the last drainages. We also improved the shape of the drainage areas. Turtle did a complete water diverter feature himself today from start to finish, and it turned out great! We fixed an issue at a decision tree and make the trail much better on one side and made the other side look like the trail was never there by reshaping the land in the area to merge seamless with the trail and forest. Then we naturalized that also. I started a new water diverter up the trail a bit further and it is a very rocky area. Got all the organic saved away and now ready to move the good dirt and put the stockpiled rocks in the trail and cover there with dirt.  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  50.0  10   6/8/2022  Warm and muggy. The forecast of thunderstorms materialized at lunch with lots and lots of booming and rain clouds floating around. While others were digging trail and cutting trees, Renee, Shannon and Liz had worked on planning for the culvert replacement. Thus we walked out after lunch to do prep work for that (and be closer to vehicles if the sky let loose). Raked leaves to get a spot for stockpiling stone. Dug to the culvert. Rain held off. 
  
Song Bird Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  3.0  1   6/6/2022  Fixing muddy spots. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  23.5  3   6/5/2022  Worked on more water diverters. 
  
Ironman Volunteer 		 Rivers Edge  City Of Roanoke  Special Event  11.0  2   6/5/2022  Helped in the transition area to check that bikes were taken by their owners, with all tagged with numbers. Helped clean up and break down afterwards. Very intense sun. 
  
Ironman Volunteer 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Special Event  21.0  5   6/3/2022  Helped unload bikes and rack them at Carvins Cove 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  18.0  4   6/2/2022  We started by loading up Turtle's truck with more material from lot using DW. We also knocked some high spots down where fine material is piled and spread some of that material in low spots. Even found some more gravel The crew unloaded Turtles truck near entrance to Song Bird in 3 sorted rock size piles. This will make it easier to use on the Song Bird Repairs Turtle is working on. Then we focused on Arrowhead and we spent all the time smashing shale into the trail in soft areas we had worked on. Horses and a few bikes had totally made a mess in a few spots. Maybe this was inevitable with fresh work and huge rain. It was just our most recent work that was effected from a few weeks. The stuff from more than 2 weeks was great.  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  24.0  6   6/1/2022  Short day because of the heat. Continued on, with more drainage hardening to do. Beyond the tool cache now, but will move it next week. 
  
Song Bird Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  3.3  1   5/30/2022  Finished all the "Rake Work" only areas now Rock work is needed on some areas and other tools. 
  
Song Bird Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  2.0  1   5/29/2022  Clean out drainages. 
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Roanoke Greenways  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  14.0  8   5/26/2022  Trash pick up by SFCS near Bennington Street 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  16.5  2   5/25/2022  We took advantage of a day we could not work on the wet trails to pound some rock into the fire road around where Rock-N-Roll crosses to Schoolhouse trail. We ended up using all 8 tons of #2 & #3 we had and 4 tons of 21B. We used the jumping Jack compactor to smash the rock in and boy did it do that. We are not sure where all the material went, but water came out. Once the road dries it should be better, but looks like it could use a lot more of this work. Also on the way in we had all sorts of parts to try to fix the wheel on the gate that keeps falling off and getting jammed. We had a few sizes of snap rings but none were right size. Tried to use hose clamp, but that slid off with all the force of wheel with bad bearing. Then we decided to drill hole in axle so we could use washer and cotter pin. It took a bit to drill the hole, but that worked! We also had to cut at least 5 significant trees off the road and pick up numerous large limbs. Had to break out the big gas chainsaw. Also fixed the 6 holes on the first switchback of Rock-N-Roll that was caused by horse on new wet switchback. ALSO---WAY too many people out riding bikes and horses on trails on a day that should obviously be bad for trails. Could these people possibly not know this??? 
  
Tool & Equipment 		 Trailer - Homestead Enclosed  Pathfinders  Tool & Equipment  7.5  3   5/24/2022  Went through all the tools and stuff that had been stored in the trailer. Hashed over ideas on tool storage. Decide we would try using 12" drain pipe 30" tall tied to. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  13.8  2   5/22/2022  Shorter day due to storms coming in. We were able to patch up a few spots with more dirt and then build two improved water diverters where some old ones used to be. We also reshaped and naturalized two of the previous dirt mines. 
  
Tool & Equipment 		 Trailer - Homestead Enclosed  Pathfinders  Tool & Equipment  15.0  3   5/20/2022  Shannon towed the trailer to Roger's, where we pressure washed it and cleaned it. Then emptied tools into the barn in anticipation of some storage improvements within the trailer. Shannon and Liz went numerous places before purchasing material to reseal the roof. 
  
Tool & Equipment 		 Trailer - Homestead Enclosed  Pathfinders  Tool & Equipment  3.5  2   5/19/2022  Shannon picked up the white enclosed trailer, with Brian helping check lights, etc and tie down inside equipment. Shannon had it inspected by 8:30 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  24.7  5   5/18/2022  We worked on building more water diverters. The last two we have made are also a banked S turn. Naturalized two of the drainage areas. We also filled in some of the worst rutting and made one side of the trail lower instead of the middle. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  54.0  9   5/18/2022  Beautiful day. we started the day with excitement, as we spotted hundreds of Turkey beard on Ms. Stewarts land between MM 0.5 and the power line. Then saw a scarlet tanager as we crossed the powerline. The trail itself also had tons of TB, with lesser amounts of mountain laurel. Many on crew out of town. We continued on with widening the trail tread, digging out some of the backslope. Worked on two drainage crossings/inside turns. The first had about a dump truck load of leaves; raked them down hill below the trail. Roger got conned into rebuilding the trail edge out of stone, with Steve helping. The second one had fewer leaves, having been raked last year. This one has a natural stair step waterfall above the trail. Most of rocks were laid, but need to finish digging next week.  
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  78.0  13   5/11/2022  Started back on Laurel Canyon on a beautiful day. Worked in from the beginning, fixing spots, drainage crossings, deberming, widening, brush blading. Turkey beard was blooming in full force, mountain laurel just starting. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  36.3  7   5/11/2022  Add some dirt to some previous areas we worked to try to put the finishing touches on. But before that had gotten very far, the whole crew moved on to transporting rock to one of our next water diverting features. The Vermeer was trapped above that feature once the rocks went in, so I stayed up there and worked on our next feature. It was one that could have used some rock, but instead I used the rocky soil available from the drainage area digging. Elsa came up and helped me with the spreading and sorting of the material to shape the grade reversal and banked turn feature. We are hitting some soft black rock....I wonder if this is coal. It seems to bind nicely with the dirt and pack well. Turtle lead the work on the feature below this were the rocks were used and the feature got a nice covering of dirt on it before we left.  
  
Song Bird Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  5.0  1   5/10/2022  Cut nicks in several wet areas and raised low tread with rocks and shale.  
  
Song Bird Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  2.0  1   5/9/2022  Drained water from 6 low spots and cut nicks and worked on drainage areas. 
  
Tool & Equipment 		 Vermeer  Pathfinders  Tool & Equipment  5.3  1   5/8/2022  @741 hours. Change engine oil and filter 10W-30 full syn. Change Hyd Filter. Change Fuel Filter. Clean machine. Clean Air Filter. Add square metal tube to top of bucket to protect hoses when chaining down the machine to trailer. Add a little coolant. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  37.3  7   5/5/2022  We started out by hand loading some of the riprap from the parking lot into Turtle's truck. Then we went out to Arrowhead and worked on naturalizing drainages we were done with. We added dirt in places that needed it to improve water diverters. Turtle unloaded the rock from his truck later in the day when we had a good place to use it. Steve chopped a tough stump out for us. Made a lot of progress. Elsa was new to the team and she did a great job with naturalizing.  
  
Hinchee Trail 		 Hinchee Park  Roanoke County  Road Maintenance  63.5  12   5/4/2022  Worked up the Hinchee Trail clearing the inlet and outflow of all the culverts. All were full of leaves, but not always packed leaves. The tarps were a huge help on the ones that were 4-6 feet down. The count as we went out was 37, including the one going up to the second landing,. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  7.3  2   5/1/2022  Since we had rain all day yesterday, we canceled the trail work. However, Turtle and I decided to do some road work as wetness actually helps with that. We spread the rest of the pile of 21b that was at Rilley's Loop on the road between Bridge and Gate in places that could use it. We got done before the rain hit, but I did not get the equipment back to lot before it hit and had to cover the machines in the rain. 
  
Tool & Equipment 		 Hand Tools  Pathfinders  Tool & Equipment  7.0  1   4/30/2022  I sharpened many hand tools using angle grinder over several days. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  19.3  3   4/29/2022  Today we teamed up with the City of Roanoke Parks and Rec work day. We started off by meeting Renee early to load up their dump truck with rip rap from the parking lot while the volunteers were gathering. Pathfinders let the City lead team use one of our Canycoms so they had two running all day. If they would have had their expected volunteer turn out we would have had a few more to help us on the Arrowhead maintenance project we are working on. As it turned out we just had our three planned volunteers. We got some good work done though with building up the water diverters on Arrowhead and repairing the trail tread in places. We did naturalizing of some of the places we are harvesting dirt from and improving the drainage at the same time. Later in the day, Renee was able to use the dump truck again to get us another load of rip rap. We brought the Vermeer out to the lot to do the loading of the dump truck. A car had parked right next to the pile which slowed us down. 
  
Foresters Trail Extensions 		 Explore Park  Roanoke County  Trail Construction  43.5  13   4/27/2022  Finished up construction of segments 1 and 2, with some additional work on water diverters on the main trail. Super windy day, but great temperatures. Bob from SAF was blazing. If the County decides on additional sections, we may be back, but off to the Cove now. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  21.3  5   4/24/2022  The crew did a huge amount of naturalizing. They really filled in the old trial with material so that things will grow back. Also on the new trail they narrowed the trail down even further in a few areas to guide users where we want them. We added a bunch of dirt to the backed turn where old trail was. We also worked on a few of the water diverters. One was tricky because of the odd angle the original drainage was at and it had collected a huge amount of material. Had to dig all that organic material out and get rid of it. Then had to replace with rocks and dirt combo.  
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  17.3  3   4/22/2022  Today we did a bunch of naturalizing along the edges of the reroute. Rex focused on that and Turtle harvested some material to help supplement what Rex was finding. We also shut down the old route and did it with significant blockages. We even opened up the ditch on the fire road and filled in the old trail with a bunch of dirt and organic material that should grow nice. We worked on several of the water diverters moving up the trail. We used rock for base on the big ones. We are making sure the drainages work well. Worked on shaping the fire road a little also. 
  
Foresters Trail Extensions 		 Explore Park  Roanoke County  Trail Construction  63.3  13   4/20/2022  Sunny cool day. Finished Segment 1 and pulled the flags. Got to within 60-75 feet on Segment 2. Had three folks on finish work/QC. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  22.1  4   4/20/2022  Steve moved the sign for Arrowhead as we knew we would have it open by end of day, just not naturalized yet. If was hard digging where we put it....but he was determined and got it done. Turtle and Gerry focused on moving a bunch more rocks to shape the first banked turn and add a bit onto the end of the second one. Once that got the shape right, we put the dirt on top. I focused on adding some gravel to the fire road in the area that was pretty soft. I used the old shale material in some overgrown piles next to road. Then I worked on some water diverters doing up the trail. Also cut a tricky leaner that was hanging low over the trail and hard to get under.  
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  15.3  2   4/15/2022  Made great progress on Arrowhead entrance reroute. We finished 3/4 of it including two banked turns and elevating the trail with a rock base to establish good drainage. We found a great out of site place to get quality dirt and we also used a bunch of the RipRap from parking lot that Renee helped us haul out in the City dump truck. We just have one more small banked turn left and some elevating of the drainage section of trail to make sure it has a good drop down off the trail. We are going to wait until we get part way up the trail past a few water diverters before we close this dirt mind and then close the old trail. 
  
Foresters Trail Extensions 		 Explore Park  Roanoke County  Trail Construction  93.5  17   4/13/2022  A warm day moving up to hot by the end. We had a great team effort to carry Tom's pre-cut locust steps down to the site, plus rock bars, etc. Bud and crew worked on moving a 400 lb rock to the edge of creek as one of the step over rocks, plus another monster. Roger worked on steps. Stew and Chuck on digging steep trail to get there. Others worked on digging trail. After those two objectives were accomplished, we moved whole crew to Segment 1 to try to finish it up. Not quite, but a great effort and almost there. Jim B. spent most of the day on finish work on Segment 1. All those attacking beech roots were totally "beat" by quitting time. Definitely a tough section. We hope to finish next week. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  10.8  3   4/13/2022  Today Renee drove the City dump truck out and we made 3 runs of hauling rip rap from parking lot to Arrowhead entrance area. I loaded the truck with Vermeer. Turtle loaded his truck with larger rocks and made several trips. We consolidated what was left of the pile and cleaned up the parking area a lot. We did not have time to get all the material though. We work on it again some other time. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  12.2  3   4/12/2022  Loaded 21b gravel mix at 4 way intersection. Gerry used his trailer and went one way (towards Tunnel) and Turtle used his truck and went the other (towards Rock-N-Roll). They spread it thinly in areas that needed it. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  10.0  2   4/12/2022  Dean loaded up organic material (mostly logs) and hauled them down the road to a place we could get them way back in the woods. I worked on roughing in the reroute at bottom of trail. Had to cut up a whole bunch of deadfall which Dean hauled out of the area. Started to shape two places for banked turns and drainages. Put some of the rocks we found as we went in the places for banked turns. Lots of dirt sorting to get organic out without wasting usable dirt. The area was full of invasive vines. 
  
Arrowhead Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  8.7  2   4/11/2022  We wanted to get two loaders out there for Tuesdays work, so we took the Vermeer out there today and roughed in the entrance to the reroute. We spent a lot of time clearing out a bunch of deadfall piles and made a place to pile some rock and stage our work. The Cannycom was used to haul the organic material a ways down the road to an area we could dump it out without any future issues and out of sight. Got enough done to get machine up and into the woods from our new entrance. We now have a free trailer for the DW tomorrow that will be used to load rock for road repairs. 
  
Foresters Trail Extensions 		 Explore Park  Roanoke County  Trail Construction  72.0  14   4/6/2022  Started the day a little wet because of the hard rain in the night, but parts not previously raked and dug were not bad. Made good progress on leg 2, almost to the big drain crossing, with Dave working solo on leg 1. Hit a rocky section which Barry attacked, and then he and Shannon did a short retaining wall there and a rock feature. Planned for next weeks steps and drainage crossing. 
  
Song Bird Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  1.8  1   4/6/2022  Added a few 5gal bucket of rock to harden a few drainages.  
  
Song Bird Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  3.3  1   4/4/2022  Shape trail at drainages to get water off the trail.  
  
Appalachian Trail 		 AT from 621 to bench near Audie Murphy  Jefferson National Forest  Trail Maintenance  21.0  3   4/3/2022  Blazed and clipped AT from 621 at Lee Hollow to ridge road going to Audie Murphy. 3.5 miles. Saw a group of Tech students leaving from an overnight, just within the wilderness boundary, with unbelievable amounts of stuff. Those ridges and the steady climb are always so much longer than they promise to be.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  22.2  3   4/3/2022  Finished all the improvements on Rock-N-Roll today!! We added some dirt to both banked turn and a few other spots. We added moss to the banked turn exits to help guide users where we want them to come off the banked turn before the drainage. Some deberming of places we messed up with Cannycom trips. Also cleaned up the area we were getting rocks and dirt from. We packed up everything and moved all the tools to our next project on Arrowhead. 
  
Nature Trail 		 Benjamin Franklin Middle School  Franklin County  Trail Maintenance  6.0  2   4/3/2022  Had reports of a big wash out with a 2" rain. Went down to check out the damage. They definitely had a huge rain event - lots of leaf piles, washing, limbs piled under stream crossings, down ash. The concern is that the environmental education classes that use that trail are scheduled for April. Good news was no structure damage to tables, benches, etc. With the electric saw we were able to cut all trees impacting the main trail; also kicked off leaf piles, but it could still use raking. 
  
Song Bird Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  2.0  1   4/1/2022  Added 3 buckets of dirt to trail for out slope. Raked out 5 more spots for future work. 
  
Foresters Trail Extensions 		 Explore Park  Roanoke County  Trail Construction  84.8  16   3/30/2022  Started on the relo for the Foresters Trail to separate it from the mountain bike trail and Illuminights trail. Great progress early in the day, but definitely slowed by the beech roots after lunch. Lindsay Webb from the County helping with logistics and consideration of alternative alignments. Great weather for trail work. 
  
Song Bird Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  1.5  1   3/29/2022  Worked on two wet spots. Gravel and dirt to out slope the trail for drainage. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  24.8  4   3/27/2022  Our focus today was improving the upper switchback. We extended and built up the bottom side of it to improve user flow and drainage. Betsy rode her bike out and smashed rocks like a machine. Those came in very handy later in the day and we used them all. Turtle was the lead man for the switchback design. He did a great job. My job was to supply him with materials. We still have another day to tidy everything up in this area and add a little dirt to a few places. We want to clean up the new parking area and place we got dirt and rock from. 
  
Appalachian Trail 		 AT at Newport Road  National Park Service  Trail Maintenance  4.5  2   3/23/2022  Shannon gathered and loaded rocks and transported in his dump truck to help Pete with re-enforcing the culvert where it was washing out. Put rocks in the hole. Pulled the fallen trees out of the creek with the truck, cut up trees, cleaned out backed up material. A great completion of a major project, thanks to two hard working, persistent volunteers, and Shannon's equipment. 
  
Song Bird Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  6.0  1   3/21/2022  Turtle worked on wet areas of Song Bird Trail near the Tunnel Road crossing. He used 8 wheelbarrows of large roack. 18 5 gallon buckets of gravel and 10 5 gallon buckets of dirt. 
  
Appalachian Trail 		 McAfee Knob Fire Road  National Park Service  Road Maintenance  40.5  4   3/21/2022  Long day on fixing rolling grade dips roughed in by contractor. Had Ditch Witch with Shannon and Vermeer with Brian. DW blew a seal around noon. Brian did double time in the afternoon to complete 7 more, for the total of 16. Pete jumped back and forth to fire training, two RATC members helped. Worked on culverts, some had outfalls covered by debris. Pete was thrilled to find one outfall after significant digging. One still buried. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  16.7  2   3/20/2022  I collected and smashed rocks and collected and sorted organic out of loads of dirt. Turtle was using the material to improve the grade reversals up near the second switchback. We had two cannycoms going. I would fill them up and Turtle would use the material. If I had to smash rock or sort through a particularly organic batch of dirt, then Turtle might be down with empty cannycom before I had the other one full. But when I was able to fill one up before he came down, I would bring it up to him or meet him part way to exchange cannycoms. This section of trail is very tricky to navigate with the cannycoms as it is very rocky in places. We take our time to be careful with the tracks on the machines. Later in the day I came up to help work on the upper switchback to shape it a little better with hand tools. We decided that we will bring rock up to improve the bottom exit of that switchback to help keep riders out of the lower side of drainage. At the end of the day we cut a poison ivy covered fallen tree off Enchanted Forest near road and cut up another tree on edge of road to push it off more. Also in the morning we had to cut many branches off a high hanging tree near Arrowhead so we could drive in. 
  
Silk City Trail 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  87.8  17   3/16/2022  Great turnout to finish up Silk City Trail. Barry, Shannon, Steve, John worked on extending the banked climb near bottom. Jim B., Roger, Bud, Stew, Tom did finish work on lower sections. Blanche raked. Dave, Dave B., John, Jimbo, Chuck worked on digging the last section near top. All ate at the top, when phones showed a threat of rain. We jumped to it with focus on finishing up, but only saw a few drops of precipitation. Finished with a ribbon cutting on the bottom ramp and left before the rain moved in. Probably need another feature at the top, to prevent development of campfires. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  13.8  3   3/16/2022  We collected rock and dirt and smashed rock. We used that material to improve the Rock-N-Roll trail on the Arrowhead side. We are going to work up through the top switchback before we are totally finished. Chad Smashed rock almost the whole time! Thanks Chad! 
  
Appalachian Trail 		 McAfee Knob Fire Road  National Park Service  Road Maintenance  24.0  4   3/15/2022  This was a trial day to see if our mini-skid steers could be used to help RATC with finish work on the water diverters on the fire road. The contractor did the rough in work on the last day he was there, but didn't have time to finish it all. Beautiful day, and, with Brian on the DW, tremendous improvement in the rolling dips and the whole appearance of the road. At least for three of the 16 locations. Shannon helped with rock and root removal, Pete hauled rocks to the Rt 24 culvert project, Liz dug out one culvert. thanks to Brian for his work getting the DW ready and changing the oil. More work to come next week. 
  
Song Bird Trail 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  3.3  1   3/15/2022  Smash rock into wet sections of trail near the Tunnel Road section of Song Bird. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  13.2  2   3/11/2022  While I went to repair the DW which would not start, Turtle laid rock base to some places that had some irregular rocks and roots that were sticking up more than when we built the trail. We wanted those areas to flow better. Then he covered with dirt. After I found that the fuel was not getting to engine and battery needed charging, I was about to prime the fuel line and charge and jump start the DW. I loaded it up on the trailer. This will be used by MWC on repairs to fire road to McAfee Knob. I joined Turtle and focused on using the Vermeer to mine for dirt and rock and adjust the level and drainage of the field parking area we are improving in the process of getting rocks and dirt. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  11.2  2   3/7/2022  We smashed rock and hauled it to places on the trail to build grade reversals and fix some rough places. Then put dirt on top. Set aside some larger rocks we found while collecting dirt and smaller rocks and stacked them by some trees and will use them later. Spending some time to shape the field for slow water sheeting and to get water off the road. Getting this field graded nicely will allow for many possible uses if needed. I expect grass to grow in here like the field above the bridge which we graded several years ago and used for trailer turn around.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  16.7  3   3/5/2022  We just focused on collecting rock. Both smaller rocks we will use to finish Rock-N-Roll improvements and large rock we will use later for phase 2 or other projects. We are combining rock and dirt mining with road improvements and regrading the areas around the road. We improved drainage from the road and spreading out mounds of dirt and rock that ended up here from grading or something. Some rocks we found were huge and odd shaped. We used some of them to fortify a corner of the big wood bridge landing that had eroded away. We positioned the rock to fortify the bank also and catch any runoff and dirt. We also have two huge show rocks we moved around. We are not sure where they will land in the end. We have more leveling work to do and will end up with a nice little field that will allow for parking and turning around trailers or even dump trucks and emergency vehicles. 
  
Oak Grove Trail 		 Oak Grove Park  Roanoke County  Trail Construction  53.3  14   3/2/2022  Beautiful day, big group, finished this project. Roger ran weedeater to scalp the trail of invasives. Shannon and Barry built a feature out of rocks, since no materials were available for a bench. Others worked on digging, invasives, normal trail work. Jim Brown, who lives in the neighborhood, is going to adopt this trail. Good to have Chuck back and Jim O. and Stew with us. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  21.3  3   2/28/2022  We gathered rock for the big banked turn near beginning of trail. Dean did a lot of rock smashing for us. We did a lot of shaping of the turn and then added dirt over the rocks. We were strategic on where we got the rock and dirt in order to try to also make improvements to the road and turn around/parking in that area. We improved the drainage and knocked down some odd dirt mounds. We still have some more work to do in that area and we need more rock and dirt anyway for some grade reversals up the trail a bit.  
  
Oak Grove Trail 		 Oak Grove Park  Roanoke County  Trail Construction  55.0  13   2/16/2022  Started today on the Oak Grove Park lollipop trail, an out and back with a loop on the end. The area is covered with English ivy, bittersweet, greenbrier, and other invasives, with lots of pine downfall. Our initial task was to open up the flagged corridor enough to walk through. The battery saw bought with RO grant was a help and safety factor, with the tangled footing. John V. brought his pole saw which helped attack vines. We made good progress, with the loop receiving initial raking and some of the sidehill sections built. Great to have Stew and Greg back. 
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Lick Run Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  21.3  8   2/9/2022  Another pleasant Wed when the ground was still not suitable for trail digging. Thanks to Renee for alternative projects. We all enjoyed the walk from 10th St to Valley View and the opportunity to chat as we walked and picked up trash. One homeless camp across the creek, another in the field and another off the end of Rockland. 
  
Tree Clearing 		 Catawba Greenway  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  2.0  2   2/5/2022  County had had a report about another large ash. Tree was simple but large. Trail was not in good shape. Frozen snow - ie ice - in many places. Other places thawed and very muddy. Better to have it closed. 
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Fallon Park  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  19.8  9   2/2/2022  Given the continued snow cover and wetness of the ground, we opted to help the City with greenway maintenance by doing a significant trash pick up in Fallon Park and on Tinker Creek Greenway. The frosty morning did in fact warm up, with sunshine, and we all enjoyed getting out. Still plenty of snow cover. Trash items of interest included heavy duty Kobalt bolt cutters and a grill.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  18.8  3   1/13/2022  We moved some small trees off the road on the way in. We collected rock from where the Vermeer was parked. We loaded the trailer with rock. Then we drove back to first switchback on trail and hauled rock up. We also drove Vermeer down to where we were working and thought we would need it to get dirt. However we did not have enough rock yet. Since the machine was down there and we knew there was a bit of road work to do there that would also allow us to get some more rock, we did that. There was a place the bridge was getting undercut, so we cut some road drainage and moved some of that material over to fortify the bank next to bridge. We found some rock while we were at it and saved two big ones for future work. We could not get the DW to start. The pull rope on the old canycom broke and I took the pull mechanism home to repair. 
  
Silk City Trail 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  59.5  11   1/12/2022  We knew the ground was frozen and totally expected freeze thaw conditions. Started with removal of stumps from wisteria at the bottom. Tough in the frozen ground. Then Roger organized help to carry to the top the bench he had pre-fabbed in his barn. Team installed the bench and others started digging trail in the frozen ground. Blanche continued to attack wisteria at the bottom, Renee and Liz installed a sign post. Lunch at the top for all. After lunch more posts installed on Yellow Jacket. By 1:00 the thaw was a problem, and significant stickiness on the trail. But no complaints about weather today and all glad to get out. 
  
Silk City Trail 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  6.0  1   1/5/2022  Roger met Renee to buy materials and built the bench for Mill Trail #6 at his barn. Installed by crew on Jan 12 
  
Tree Clearing 		 Catawba Greenway  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  2.5  2   12/27/2021  Removed three fair size ash trees that had fallen across the trail. The ash cemetery. Trail appears to be getting lots of use. 
  
Tree Clearing 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  2.0  2   12/23/2021  Cleared Third Deck tree 
  
Silk City Trail 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  57.0  12   12/22/2021  While many were willing to work right before Christmas, none of us wanted the miserable wind we had on this day. Not below freezing, but the wind was howling. Had three on the bottom working on removal of wisteria stumps and vines, two in the middle on the climbing turn, and the rest forging ahead into the windstorm. As we were quitting, got report of the tree we had heard fall, exploding into the lower trail. We made short work of it with five people.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  12.3  2   12/19/2021  We started the work to extend the lower banked switchback closest to beginning of trail. This will improve the drainage at the bottom where some people were still trying to make the turn in the drainage area. We are also improving the drainage and moving it a little. We are in the process of collecting and positioning the rock base for the extension. We also cleaned up a bunch of wood from fallen trees in the area and moved them to a place down the trail to serve as water diversion above the trail. We cleared up a few tangles of dead fall right above the trail. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  13.3  2   12/16/2021  We started off by working on the very beginning of the trail. The banked turn heading into the road. It had a section of very steep back slope. We changed it to a nice more banked turn. We also moved a bunch of dead trees up behind the trail to divert water coming down from above so it does not flow into our kind of steep turn. Then we headed down and grabbed the Cannycom from our last work zone. Then continued down to the road just past Schoolhouse junction with this trail. We have done a bunch of work reshaping the road this year. We filled in a very low spot on uphill side and some of that is settling and soft. We hauled a bunch of rock down and pounded it into the road. It sunk like crazy. We also grabbed the Jumping Jack compactor and used it to smash the rock in also.  
  
Silk City Trail 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  91.0  15   12/15/2021  Beautiful day for December. Big crew and got lots done. Shannon and Tom cut the dead, vine covered trees at the beginning. Then Shannon, Jim b., Tom and Barry built a beautiful retaining wall to climb the hill. Required lots of rock and dirt, which Roger transported in the Canycom. Others worked up on the hill, working into the climbing turn. A lovely day. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  13.1  2   12/12/2021  Today we finished fixing the section of trail where we had a sink hole in our armored crossing of a multi layer drainage. We smashed around 3 cannycom loads of rocking into the trail on both sides of the crossing and reshaped the trail for better flow and drainage.  
  
Silk City Trail 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  72.0  12   12/8/2021  Surprisingly nice day, given the forecast. Had three focus areas - front line on trail construction, switchback turn, and bottom climb in the wisteria jungle. Lots of dirt and rocks moved. Bud brought cupcakes to celebrate the December birthdays. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  22.6  4   12/5/2021  Rex and Steve blew leaves off the downhill side of the trail to keep them from making edge that holds water. They used their shoes in some drainages to kick down some edges that grew over the years. They did not blow leaves off the backslope where they do no harm. Turtle and I worked on the repair of the sinkhole some more. We drove more rocks into oblivion We had to expand our repair area a little more. We are almost done. The normal use area is done. We are just working on the support areas now. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  14.3  2   12/2/2021  Continued fixing the big sinkhole in an armored spring fed creek crossing. We are getting close to being done, but as our rock choices are becoming more limited, it is harder to make them fit right. 
  
Silk City Trail 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  36.0  12   12/1/2021  Back to trail work. Did some clean up of NPLD work and then proceeded onto new trail digging. Renee blew off leaves in several spots to facilitate seeing the ground. Rain ran us off by noon 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  10.2  2   11/28/2021  Continue work on sinkhole section of creek crossing. We installed 3 more rocks. We also cleaned out more dirt so we could have better drainage.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  14.3  2   11/18/2021  Continued work on sink hole repair of armored crossing. Cleaned out lots of dirt and replaced with French drain under the large armor rocks. We had to partly fill in the hole of the section we could not finish and set up cones to keep people in the smoother area of the crossing. 
  
Summit View Bridge 		 Summit View Business Park  Franklin County  Bridge Construction  52.8  11   11/17/2021  Finished. Another sunny warm day in Franklin County. Started by checking bolts, and did in fact find some that needed more tightening. Then started on the deck. The first board, which they had precut with a notch, required some disassembly and cutting. The good news is that the bolts were self tapping and generally did not require pre-drilling. The more time consuming news was that the boards had lots of curvature, some variation in size from end to end, and some bowing. To overcome that we measured every board's distance from a post to keep boards running square. Barry and Greg handled getting all the boards on the deck, while deck crew was working and Dave was persuading any bolts that wouldn't go in. Then they lined up all the materials for the railings. By lunch we were within six boards of done and had half the railing up. Paul helped with some of the railing. When finished, we loaded all tools and put scrap lumber in a pile for Patrick, before having a ribbon cutting.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  13.3  2   11/14/2021  On the way in today we pulled down the big leaner tree near intersection of Little Bell and School House. Then we used come-a-long and chains and straps to move the tree into a position that would both block social trail problem area without blocking water flow. It took a while to position it. Then we moved large rocks over to the armored crossing that has sunk some. We then positioned the largest rock into a spot down off the trail but important to hold everything in place. We will be building up from the bottom sturdy base. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  14.7  3   11/10/2021  We finished the reopening of the access trail. Then we hauled rocks to fill in the huge root ball hole next to trail. Started to cover with dirt, but ran out of dirt from the root ball. Will need to harvest a bit more. We also started the hunt for large armoring rocks to repair and improve the sunken creek crossing.  
  
Summit View Bridge 		 Summit View Business Park  Franklin County  Bridge Construction  107.0  16   11/10/2021  We had great expectations, which we only partially met. We did get the top rail on and tightened all the bolts. Set back when that process caused the scaffold to break and bridge to settle. Spent considerable time on regaining the camber. Hope it holds. Finally removed the scaffolding. Will see next week. Thanks to Franklin County for great lunch and Nice water bottles. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  24.2  4   11/7/2021  First I went to get non-Ethanol equipment gas (15gal). Then met crew in BS lot. We finished up the naturalizing for the area we had been working in including shaping up the backslope also. Then we moved all the equipment over to our new area of work and reopened an old access trail to get there.  
  
Summit View Bridge 		 Summit View Business Park  Franklin County  Bridge Construction  82.5  13   11/3/2021  Great crew. Completed multiple steps in bridge construction up to step 9. 
  
Summit View Bridge 		 Summit View Business Park  Franklin County  Bridge Construction  61.0  9   10/27/2021  This seemed like a more productive day than last week. All were impressed with Shannon's scaffold and support system and relieved to see the concrete straight edge.. Started with some wind and cold, but by lunch it was warm and the wind dying down. We split into three teams - supports and level team, plates team and inventory team. It was slow going, but steady. Supports team was basically done by lunch. Still had some work on the plates team (missing plates did not arrive due to a Bridge Co error), but we were able to set the first beam (B1 and B2 sandwiched) before we left. Kudos to Frank for careful reading of the plans and interpretation of the drawings, Roger for persistence on the plates and layout, Shannon for installing the scaffold on Tuesday, Jim Brown for care on the levels and shims.and all others for providing the grunt work and go power. Also special thanks to Paul and Franklin Co for providing lunch and Patrick to providing tractor support. 
  
Summit View Bridge 		 Summit View Business Park  Franklin County  Bridge Construction  10.0  2   10/26/2021  To facilitate the shimming system (by others), Shannon designed a support system using his scaffold and some surplus beams he had at home. Then he and Liz drove to site and installed, so that it would be ready for Wed. Installation required moving lots of riprap and shuffling around, but finally got it basically level for the beams, 5 feet apart. The biggest issue was the huge wind as a front moved through. 
  
Summit View Bridge 		 Summit View Business Park  Franklin County  Bridge Construction  20.5  3   10/25/2021  To facilitate the Wed work day, Roger, Shannon and Liz met on site to cut the concrete where it had bowed and get the abutment ready. Picked up anchor bolts, rented a concrete saw, with which Shannon did a beautiful straight line and made lots of dust. Then he and Roger cut out approximate landing spot for the stringers with disc grinders. Then returned all that stuff, as weather moved into the predicted rain front. 
  
Summit View Bridge 		 Summit View Business Park  Franklin County  Bridge Construction  50.0  10   10/20/2021  As the 21 day curing period for the concrete approached, we moved back to Franklin County for the bridge. This first day was pretty frustrating, as we didn't really know what we were doing. While Roger and Jim B debated support systems, Barry and Blanche set to work on inventory of the parts, which we had just then released from their shrink wrap. Ultimately they discovered we were missing two foundations plates, needed at the very beginning.Franklin Co provided lunch, which we felt we hadn't really earned, but we had gained some critical information and had seen the parts and what we were to do. Plus, after carrying one stringer out there, we learned the concrete needed to be cut where it had bowed during the pour. 
  
Tree Clearing 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  6.0  2   10/19/2021  At Renee's request, cut trees down on Hotel and Arrowhead. In addition to the down trees, removed on both trails some standing dead, leaning over the trail trees. Maybe that will prolong the need for the next trip for tree removal. 
  
Tree Clearing 		 Hinchee Trail  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  4.0  2   10/14/2021  Report of large tree down, which brought others down, was correct. The good news is that it did not fall across the trail, but was just below the trail and fell down. Three big rootballs now showing down there and the trail is slightly undermined on the edge. Since there, we proceeded to clean up other fallen trees that were still sticking out over the ditch or trail.Beautiful day and saw no one. 
  
Tree Clearing 		 Roanoke River Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  47.5  9   10/13/2021  Continuation from last week. Some raked what was previously done, others kept up the steady stream of cutting, others pulled the bushes and trees into a continual pile along the greenway. The brush truck hauled two loads while we were there. Afternoon sun made us all fade fast when it got hot. We were agreed that working on the riprap hill was tiring. 
  
Tree Clearing 		 Roanoke River Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  51.5  11   10/6/2021  The City is going to repave the section of Roanoke River Greenway where tree roots have made it into a roller coaster. Our job was to help with removal of invasive honeysuckle bushes, siberian elms, pears, tree of heaven. We cut and stacked about 3 huge loads for the tree removal truck. Multiple saws running, lots of pullers and swampers, hand saws, etc. Those bushes are huge. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  22.9  3   10/3/2021  We pretty much finished the armored spring crossing. Used up every rock we had brought over. We might need to smash a few more rocks around the perimeter. Then we can naturalize the area. Some naturalizing material was gathered into piles in prep. Much dirt was mined and packed into both sides of the armoring to blend with rest of trail. 
  
Summit View Bridge 		 Summit View Business Park  Franklin County  Bridge Construction  13.8  4   10/1/2021  Met the concrete truck for the first of the day delivery. Did some frantic additions to the bracing. Roger had brought some stakes to add to bottom edge. Shannon worked on pinning top board. We still worried throughout that we had bulging concrete and could blow out the form. Glad for Shannon's expertise and assistance of the driver, as well as Paul and Patrick. We still felt like we had it within spec. Final finish work by Shannon. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  15.1  3   9/30/2021  We continued with armoring spring area. We also opened a small dirt mine and improved the rock dirt interface on an armored turn near big rock bridge area. Also armored a backslope that had some erosion. On the way out, we cut a fallen tree off Little Bell. 
  
Summit View Bridge 		 Summit View Business Park  Franklin County  Bridge Construction  46.0  7   9/29/2021  Installed the forms that Roger and Jim B had pre-fabbed. The holes turned out to be too deep, so we spent several hours shoveling, then getting the County front end loader to help, then smoothing out the base, etc. Finally got to where we thought we had the same elevation on each side. Put in the forms and jiggled and slid and moved to get square. Then installed the rebar mesh. Then did some bracing. Paul brought pizza for lunch. By early afternoon we were all out of water and eager for a stop for a big slurpee. 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 CSC  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  4.0  2   9/28/2021  Adam and his worker were mowing all day. Helped with weed eating around parking lot and entry areas. 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 Catawba Greenway  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  39.0  9   9/27/2021  Rained out last Wed, we worked Monday to be ready for Thursday's ribbon cutting. Tom headed up to cut all fallen ash trees. Roger and Barry did a thorough weed eating on the trail. Frank, Jim B, Jimbo blazed from the parking lot to 311 and then all of Phase 1. Liz and Blanche weedeated at the shelter and benches and blazed along the road.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  31.5  5   9/26/2021  First we reopened access to allow us to get past rock bridge from where we are accessing our work area now so that on a later workday we can send some volunteers over there to fix a few spots. Then we hunted for rocks. We also continued work on the large armored spring crossing area. Also the creek crossing was starting to get a bit of undercutting, so we added large rocks downstream to prevent that. We picked some nice rounded rocks from an old farmer's rock pile. 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 Catawba Greenway South  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  7.5  3   9/24/2021  Because we were rained out Wednesday, some volunteered to work on weed eating on Phase 1, to put us ahead next week. Ribbon cutting scheduled for Thursday the 30th, working Monday. Bud and Liz ran seedeaters; Dave got his mower to define the corridor. Bud went as far as power line. Picked up trash. Water still an issue below the wetland, but riprap laid several years ago is not a viable option for hikers. 
  
Summit View Bridge 		 Summit View Business Park  Franklin County  Bridge Construction  6.0  2   9/21/2021  Roger and Shannon met the backhoe operator to supervise digging the holes for the abutments. Some drizzle but luckily finished before the intense rain. 
  
Silk City Trail 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  206.8  41   9/18/2021  National Public Lands Day, so worked Sat instead of Wed. True wisteria jungle at the beginning, but lots of hands to help. Blanche, Dave, and Shannon led a crew from guardrail to the first big tree, Bud was in the middle section, Brian Batteiger, Roger, Barry, Frank were front runners into digging trail. Great to see so many young people, users, runners, etc. Good day with lunch provided by the City, but suddenly turned hot after lunch. 
  
Silk City Trail 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  4.0  2   9/16/2021  Cutting down trees in preparation for National Public Lands Day 
  
Summit View Bridge 		 Summit View Business Park  Franklin County  Bridge Construction  8.0  2   9/15/2021  Pre-fabbed forms for abutment in Roger's barn. 
  
Silk City Trail 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  4.8  3   9/15/2021  Renee had cut through the wisteria with brush cutter. Pin flagged for NPLD. 
  
Summit View Bridge 		 Summit View Business Park  Franklin County  Bridge Construction  7.5  3   9/9/2021  Met on site to layout abutment so that Franklin County staff can dig it with a machine. 
  
Yellowjacket Trail 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke/ Blue Ridge Parkway  Trail Construction  22.0  11   9/8/2021  Finished up the Yellowjacket Trail (#15). Added a little fill at top of ramp, built middle section, rolling grade in one spot, blazing, and built a Y connection at the road. Users already on it. 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 Catawba Greenway  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  3.0  1   9/8/2021  Bob walked Phase 1 and 2, reported to the County, removed some of deadfall. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  28.5  4   9/6/2021  Finished up most work on the first drainage area we armored and started the main one where the spring is. Also have most of the lemon squeezer ride around armoring done. We had to go harvest some more rocks. 
  
Summit View Bridge 		 Summit View Business Park  Franklin County  Bridge Construction  4.0  2   9/2/2021  Trip to Lowes and Habitat for rebar and lumber for construction of forms for bridge abutment 
  
Summit View Bridge 		 Summit View Business Park  Franklin County  Bridge Construction  6.5  2   8/31/2021  Met Paul Chapman, Parks Director, to see the site and discuss what needed to be done to get bridge built. He has ordered a put-it-together bridge, which will arrive Sept, but does not have abutments designed. Roger will draw up a rough abutment for consideration by Franklin County staff. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  23.9  3   8/29/2021  We are continuing our work on rock armoring sections of finished trail. We are still in the area between Lemon Squeezer and the armored creek crossing. Our main mission in this area was supposed to be the spring crossing trail. But we wanted to do a few other places before spring due to logistics. We might have near all the large rocks needed after the rock collection effort today. Ron was our designated rock smasher today and he did a great job even in extreme heat and horse flies. 
  
Yellowjacket Trail 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  45.0  10   8/25/2021  Dog days of summer for sure. With John R and Barry super focused, others helping, the climb up to Wood Thrush was finished. Waiting for a good rain to settle it all and see if it needs tweaking. Roger removed the cable obstacle, one strand at a time. Others worked on digging the remaining trail section. We hope to finish in one more week. 
  
Silk City Trail 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  4.0  2   8/24/2021  Flagged trail route in preparation for NPLD and in order to do Project forms for approval 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  25.3  3   8/22/2021  We worked on some rock armoring of a drainage and a go around of the lemon squeezer scenic feature that some people must not enjoy as much as some of us. The horse flies made it hard to focus on the work. We smashed a few fingers, I will blame the horse flies for making us loose our focus. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  24.3  4   8/20/2021  We are working about mid point in the trail where the 'lemon squeezer' rock passage is and down to the creek crossing. We are armoring a go around people are using that must not like the squeeze. We have reduced the drainages to two and working to rock armor them. One has a spring, but we have to do that one last so we can haul rocks in to the other ones easier. We had to stop with things part way done today as the weather was turning worse and we had stayed longer than the team wanted.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  12.4  2   8/11/2021  It was very hot today. We moved some rock over to where we wanted to armor and then I studied the area some more and decided to reshape the whole section of trail to reduce the number of drainages we need to armor. We moved dirt and smashed rock and removed organic material from the good clay. We have a little more to do before the rocks go in. We stopped early due to heat. On way out Renee caught us just in time and we helped her crew put a thrown track back on their Ditch Witch. They needed some more tools that they did not have with them because they have never thrown a track yet. It is very hard to put tracks back on in the field.  
  
Maury River Access 		 Wind River  Rockbridge County  Trail Maintenance  80.0  10   8/11/2021  Return to step building and removal of large trees. Used a rope for a handhold. Roger and Jim B finished the top flight, Shannon and Bud most of the curved section. lots of hauling, sawing, rebar, etc. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  18.1  2   8/8/2021  I filled all the no-ethanol cans & DW. Plus diesel and truck. Then we stopped on way to Rock-N-Roll to once again close all the social trails between Little Bell and Road that keep getting opened back up. This time we used DW to drag very heavy logs to this area. We spent an hour on this. Then we moved equipment and opened up an old access to mid Rock-N-Roll trail to work on improving a few areas on the trail. We spent time collecting some nice armoring rocks. We will likely start with armoring the trail in two low spots near the tight rock passage and then add official rock path for the go around people are using around the tight rock passage. We decided closing would probably not work and not sure why people are doing this, but assume people are scared to go between the rocks or don't know how to keep their flow through the rocks by putting front wheel on the outside rock. I guess I incorrectly thought all people would love to experience the amazingly cool rock slot and instead a significant few want to just blast through the area.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  32.8  5   8/6/2021  We finished naturalizing the trail and closed the access routes. We also did a bunch more road work in the area and shut down the barrow pit off the road. Before we shut that down is was producing some very nice soft shale which was used on the road. We gathered up a lot of fallen wood and buried it before capping with dirt and naturalizing. 
  
Maury River Access 		 Wind River  Rockbridge County  Trail Maintenance  180.0  15   8/4/2021  Quite a day. Large crew eager to help Bill with his envisioned trail. Until they saw it. Then confusion arose as Bill made his way down and had moved the flags; further delays when Janet fell and broke her fibula, necessitating a trip to ER. Lots of slip sliding down on the very dry, very steep hill. Still amazing progress made, using down cedar for crib walls. Lots of solid rock to make things difficult. Great swim at the end of the day and divine dinner and refreshments. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  38.5  7   8/1/2021  Today was another day of naturalizing above and below the trail. We also have been working on closing down the old access road and naturalizing that. Then at the end of day we put some time into road repairs in the area. 
  
Yellowjacket Trail 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke/ Blue Ridge Parkway  Trail Construction  33.0  11   7/28/2021  Short day due to afternoon events. John R brought his gorilla cart, which helped with rock collection. With four on rocks, the approach to Wood Thrush made substantial progress and is ready for a layer of railroad size rock and then backfill. Others worked hard on digging trail; found lots of railroad size rock. Glad to have Dave back. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  15.9  3   7/25/2021  We mostly focused on naturalizing around the trail today. We also worked on shutting down the old parallel access road. That process is allowing us to harvest some extra naturalizing material. But I had some issues today as the material is a little thin in the area we are in now. After everyone left, I worked for a bit on the Happy Valley Fire Road. The area I focused on today we between the old access trail where it hit the road and working towards where Rock-N-Roll hits the road. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  15.3  3   7/22/2021  We spent the whole day working on naturalizing mostly the uphill side of the trail starting at the end and working back. As I use the Vermeer to naturalize and shut down the access road we were using, I was also harvesting some organic mats from spread out areas which I could easily naturalize to grow future new ones. I piled up the mats for the rest of the crew to load up in the Cannycom and haul down and place where needed. We have more left to do yet and some work on downhill side naturalizing also. 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 Catawba Greenway  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  4.0  2   7/22/2021  Bob and Jim reported no trees down on section west of 311. Trimmed trees and hacked weeds 
  
Yellowjacket Trail 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke/ Blue Ridge Parkway  Trail Construction  44.0  11   7/21/2021  Continued on rehab of trail. Jim Brown and crew finished drainage crossing. Roger and crew worked on crossing of rock feature. John Robbins started on the climb up to Wood Thrush. This is mostly road fill, steep downfall. We started with forming a rock base at the bottom, using multiple folks from crew to rock net the bigger rocks. Still need another layer of tiered rock wall. Due to bad air alerts (smoke from out west) and heat, we had agreed to quit mid-day. 
  
Tree Clearing 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  4.0  2   7/19/2021  Tom and Doris removed large trees reported down on First Deck. Encountered wasps at gate at Timberview 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  3.9  2   7/16/2021  Loaded up gravel from pile near BS gate. Reshaped the pile. Hauled gravel all the way to Rock-N-Roll/School House intersection and thinly spread on the dirt we added to road to improve years of grading issues with road. The road should NOT be crowned here, but instead sloop to downhill side. That is because the road is on a side hill with no outside turn where a ditch would be needed. No creek crosses the road here either. But this is a very long section of road and we can only do a little at a time. 
  
Yellowjacket Trail 		 Mill Mountain  City Of Roanoke/ Blue Ridge Parkway  Trail Construction  50.0  11   7/14/2021  Began rehab/maintenance on Trail #15 in Mill Mtn Trail Plan, also Authorized Trail in BRP Trail Plan. First section was easy work. Then we hit yellow jackets; Alex and Liz were stung. Several nests after that. Got almost to the feature rock, but couldn't do the drainage crossing 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  16.3  3   7/14/2021  We did a little finishing work on the back slope near the bottom of the trail. Mostly though we worked on the road near where Rock-N-Roll comes out by School House and all the way to almost the sharp left turn where School House used to come out. The road would really hold water. We are trying to fix that. It is a lot of work. We are at the point we need some more gravel and we will have to haul it all the way from Bennett Springs gate area. We have the road starting to slope the right way to drain better. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  39.5  7   7/11/2021  We stopped on the way in to move some fallen trees over to block the shortcuts from Little Bell to fire road. With more people we could haul heavier stuff. Due to wet weather we could not do trail finishing work. We chose instead to harvest rock from the old fire road/access trail. We need some of these for the armoring we will be going back and doing in selected places on Rock-N-Roll. Some naturalizing was done on Rock-N-Roll using piles of organic from way up where we were gathering rock as no more piles left along trail anymore. Rex clipped the vines that were again over-running the access trail that we will be using for some time. 
  
Bridge the Gap Plaza 		 Roanoke River Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  18.0  3   7/9/2021  Installed plaque on the rock. Not easy. Required lots of cutting and sanding with angle grinder. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  36.0  9   7/7/2021  Continued on with clearing, rehab, re-benching along the old road bed 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  6.8  2   7/7/2021  Turtle adjusted the 6th from the top jump rock a little so that it had a little less lift. I worked on naturalizing old access routes roughly with Vermeer machine to make hand work easier later. We did a short day and really needed to grab some tools for a greenway work day. I am trying to recover from bad poison ivy rash I got twice working on the end of this trail. 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 Catawba Greenway  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  4.5  1   7/7/2021  Roger opted to leave the crew and finish the weedeating on Catawba. Went all the way through 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 Catawba Greenway  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  61.0  13   6/30/2021  We installed the five trail signs that the county had bought, often digging in asphalt. Blanche and Jimbo blazed the upper portion of the trail. Shannon, Roger and Tom ran weedeaters, and found it was lots and lots to cut. We moved that one post down to the trail to hold blazes. Trimmed trees along the road part. We are ready for the ribbon cutting, whenever they get around to it. 
  
Bridge the Gap Plaza 		 Roanoke River Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  8.5  5   6/29/2021  Finishing touches. Shannon brought topsoil we bought and then mulch. Laura Reilly brought the plants. With her speed and digger, she laid them out and we planted them (~250) in about 45 minutes. Meanwhile the artwork arrived and we got to see that installed, with only a minor stud movement to make the base fit right on our bolts. It was perfectly level. Great job crew!! 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  13.3  3   6/28/2021  Add some finishing dirt to shape the last part of the trail and make sure the trail is above the area below the trail for good drainage. Also worked on the road all around where School House Rock joins with School House. Also worked on the entry of School House where there was erosion from water runoff from the road. Trying to reroute a lot of that water best as can, but not easy to do in a non noticeable way. Making very slow changes to road in order to not cause mud issues where we are adding dirt. 
  
Bridge the Gap Plaza 		 Roanoke River Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  7.0  4   6/25/2021  Pulled the forms with no issues. Smoothed the circle dirt. Swept. Met an Australian going through on his bike; said he was from Victoria; knew Bill was from Melbourne. 
  
Tree Clearing 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  1.5  1   6/24/2021  Cut tree off Rock-N-Roll 8/10 of mile in from start. 
  
Bridge the Gap Plaza 		 Roanoke River Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  31.8  8   6/24/2021  The big pour day. Concrete is rush rush rush as you get it down and smooth it, then wait wait wait as you watch it cure. Boxley donated the concrete and they were right on time. The QA guy came with them, and he was a help with raking. Jim Brown meticulously measured for the jig for the artwork and got that installed on the pad. Others raked, troweled, pulled, screed - whatever Shannon told us. Lots of edging and brooming. Hot hot hot. A few stayed til 7 to be sure we got no names in the concrete. 
  
Bridge the Gap Plaza 		 Roanoke River Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  91.5  16   6/23/2021  The start of an urban project, building a "nook" to recognize donors, with artwork, a bench and a rock. Our job was to form up the sidewalk space for Thursday concrete. The ground was hard as rock, in spite of the rain Tuesday, and we would never have gotten it done without the DW from the City and Shannon's tractor. Put the rock and dirt on Shannon's truck, and then got permission to fill a low spot on Barrows and take some to a rutted area near their building. It was a day for picks and digging bars. Fortunately the forms were easier than the digging. We gave up on putting down gravel as we felt like we were already in rock. Had a deadline for folks to get to GC and on to Bill's 
  
Bridge the Gap Plaza 		 Roanoke River Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  3.0  1   6/22/2021  Jim cut the forms and made the artwork jig for us. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  1.3  1   6/21/2021  More work on clogged culvert. Water the transplanted ferns on Rock-N-Roll trail. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  1.5  1   6/19/2021  Dug out some of the dirt on the entry side of the worst clogged culvert. Had better flow for a little while at least. 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 Catawba Greenway South  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  6.0  2   6/17/2021  Removed two small blowdowns and whacked weeds and overhanging branches. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  5.5  1   6/17/2021  Got two truck loads of rocks from Tunnel Road spoils and two loads of pug mill from rock pile near gate and spread on sections of Happy Valley that needed it. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  78.0  12   6/16/2021  We focused on another site that needed widening, although flags had disappeared. Tom and Shannon cut to the current end, with Tom enjoying his new battery powered saw. Jim B finished his drainage crossing. Beautiful day, high 60s, nice breeze. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  23.4  4   6/13/2021  It was misty in the morning but cleared up later. We had to cut a 14" diameter fallen pine tree off the road on way in. I used Pathfinders new 12" electric chain saw and it worked well. Around 8 full diameter cuts and a bunch of limbs. The upper dirt mine was too wet to use, so we had to find another one if possible off the road. We eventually did find a good spot to get some dirt and provide drainage. We did more finishing work on the trail and did a lot of naturalizing of the hillside where the trail intersects the road. Also a bunch of naturalizing was done further up the trail. All our organic piles are used up and we had to mine some of that material also. Turtle transplanted a bunch of ferns from places on the road we plan to work on...so we basically saved them and utilized them. Also pulled about 25 logs out of the ditches and road up by the left turn past School House junction where the trail used to hit the road a long time ago. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  23.4  5   6/10/2021  We timed the weather perfect today. We got out and home just before the storms cut loose. We did a bunch of naturalizing today. We also got 4 cannycom loads of dirt placed on the trail tread in places needed for best shape. We cut a fallen tree off the old road access trail. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  71.5  12   6/9/2021  We all focused today on one of the flagged sections, widening the bench to a normal width. It sure is faster to widen a bench than to build one. We had expected rain by noon, but, to our regret, didn't get it. Soil was like powder, super dry and dusty. We welcomed Homer Witcher's grandson Alex (not yet in system). 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  10.4  2   6/6/2021  We closed down the lower dirt mine that is also a drainage above the trail and naturalized the area. We added good dirt to the ferns that Turtle planted in that area. We watered the ferns with all the water we had. We got dirt from upper dirt mine and did a bunch of finishing work on the trail tread. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  60.0  10   6/2/2021  Another flowering day on Laurel Canyon. This week the galax were stunning. Renee and Liz flagged areas that need to be widened, Bud kept on with the brush blade, others raked and dug trail. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  28.7  5   5/31/2021  We broke out to the road right across from Schoolhouse trail today! There was about 6 foot cliff there with all sorts of stickers and brush. We roughed in and reshaped to make a side hill trail down a much more extended length. We also worked to improve trail/road crossing viability. We are using all the good excess dirt to also improve the grade of the road at the same time to sheet the water off the road. We are getting into poison ivy that we are not seeing. I think it is from roots off giant vines we do see a way off the trail corridor. We have a lot more work to do to improve the trail and side slope of this area and also the road repairs. We still have finishing work up a way on the trail to do also. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  26.8  4   5/28/2021  Today we roughed in trail all the way down to the ledge before the road across from School House Trail. We had to clear a large area there as we plan to reshape that area for the trail down to the road. This was a huge mess of sticker vines. We will have to get the rest from down from the road before we start to push the dirt down. Gerry focused on a lot of rock smashing to start the day out. That banked turn is probably the last feature on this trail. Then John and Turtle covered the last two rock bases of the features with dirt and shaped and compacted the dirt. 
  
Hinchee Trail 		 Hinchee Park  Roanoke County  Road Maintenance  52.3  11   5/26/2021  Shortish day with many leaving for GC meeting. Cleaned ditches (by hand)- and culverts on lower end. Then around powerline and below first landing. Then up the road to the second landing. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  30.8  5   5/23/2021  First I ran and got 15 gallons of no-ethanol gas for the equipment. We worked on several projects. A bunch of naturalizing was done all the way down to the last access trail. This area took a lot of work. Dirt was mined and added to the grade reversal and banked turn before the last jump feature. A whole bunch of rocks were added to a new banked turn. To get the rocks we found some down off the road. We were careful to actually improve the road drainage and bank shape where we worked. More rocks were smashed around the armored drainage crossing. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  24.8  4   5/21/2021  We worked on the drainage above armored crossing and actually have been able to mine some dirt from there to use in other places on the trail. We raised the trail up in some spots for better drainage and user flow. Rocks were moved to shape the latest S curve through a group of trees. Then dirt was added to cover the rocks and can be adjusted for best shape. We have another small banked turn to do above this S curve. We are really close to finishing. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  2.8  1   5/20/2021  Worked on defining the landscape above our armored drainage crossing to make sure all the drainage goes across the trail where it is armored. Also finishing work and naturalizing around the trail in this area. Moving any found rock to where needed for the inflow and outflow of the armored crossing and around trees to keep dirt off the trunk. 
  
Laurel Canyon 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  66.0  11   5/19/2021  Enjoyed a great day clearing an existing roadbed, Trail #30, now Laurel Canyon. This will tie into Buck when we build it. Stunning mountain laurel and Turkey's Beard. Roger and Tom on the chainsaws, Bud on brush blade, others trimming and raking. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  30.9  5   5/16/2021  It sprinkled all day. But we kept working. Most of the crew was hauling rock to our next feature that needed a grade reversal and banked turn between some trees. Turtle did the rock placements on this feature as two Canycoms were running non stop to keep him supplied. I focused on the armored drainage crossing I have been working on off and on. Today I got it almost finished. All rocks are in except for filling the gaps with smashed rock and adding rip rap above and below.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  26.5  4   5/13/2021  Roughed in some more trail and sorted through the organic to collect rock and organic matting. The rest was distributed in the woods. Worked on armored drainage crossing and grade reversal/jump features.  
  
Hinchee Trail 		 Hinchee Park  Roanoke County  Road Maintenance  44.5  9   5/12/2021  Worked on removing tree debris, cleaning culverts, and cleaning ditches with the Witch. Tom and Jim B went on out the road to get a big tree. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  12.2  3   5/11/2021  We worked on the last two features plus the rock armored drainage. Also sorted through and distributed the rough in material piles. We hauled some dirt down for the last two features and shaped and compacted the dirt. We also cleared some fallen trees off the trail. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  1.8  1   5/10/2021  Place the next large jump rock on our current last feature. We have one more feature coming up next which could possibly be our last on this project. 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 Catawba Greenway South  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  4.5  2   5/6/2021  We removed small branches and did a little touch-up work on the tread here and there in two and a quarter hours  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  11.5  2   5/6/2021  Today we continued rework of last two jump features. One was completed with both a widening and banking of landing and adjustment of jump rock. The bottom one had its jump rock moved and more crushed rock added around it. We still need more dirt before reopening that one. We had to clear a large pine tree with tons of branches off the fire road. Also had to clear a tree from the trail right where we were working. 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 Catawba Greenway  Roanoke County  Trail Construction  80.0  14   5/5/2021  Finished up with a great effort in lots of places. Bud, Barry, Shannon, and Jim Brown finished the bottom round of steps and Shannon did the rock work. Jim B installed the sign at the fire road. Tom, Steve, Greg, Chuck and Liz cleaned the jungle where Adam wants to replace the culvert on bottom section. Greg and Liz moved one blaze post. Roger and John R cut weeds in the field and all along the trail. Dave and Blanche cleared storm debris, and Tom cut trees. Big effort to push through, clean it all up and finish. Yeah! 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  7.8  2   5/2/2021  Turtle and I wanted to keep this a small crew as we needed to focus on fixing a few features to improve landing areas. We did not get finished and had to block both areas with cones and branches. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  38.3  6   4/28/2021  We redid a section of finishing work that did not have proper shape. It was missing the proper edge of trail to allow us to naturalize later without blocking water on trail tread. We also worked on smashing rock into the trail tread in a drainage area to harden it. We covered two of the grade reversal features with dirt. A few more stones were added to what will be a rock exposed armored section. A small bit of trail was roughed in. 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 CSC  Roanoke County  Trail Construction  42.0  9   4/28/2021  Leaving the steps to sit for a week, we headed to the bottom for clean-up, weeding, etc. The truck was picking up the last of the 311 equipment, so we were glad to have our field back. Tom, Barry, Blanche & Liz went in from the bottom and cleared fallen limbs off the road from the bridge to the shelter. Joined the crew there that was doing a beautiful job on clean, weed digging, weed whacking. Roger on the weedeater hit the field plus the trail on either side. Looked much better and allowed some spot improvements. 
  
Signs 		 Catawba Greenway  Roanoke County  Trail Construction  9.5  1   4/27/2021  Made signs to go on fire road (various days added together) 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  37.8  6   4/25/2021  Today the trail was too wet to do finishing work. So we collected a whole lot of rock. We hauled some down to our features, but most we piled up on the side of the road for future use. I was after some large rocks for a drainage crossing and to find those you have to go through a lot of rock sometimes like today. Turtle and Dan did some rock smashing on the latest feature. 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 ATPO Lands  Roanoke County  Trail Construction  57.5  15   4/21/2021  Oh my gosh. Who made it so cold?!!! Freezing wind. Those up high got the worst of it. Roger joined bottom step crew. Dave worked on root crossing. Blanche orchestrated reverse grade under the powerline. Lots of cutting and hauling for cribbing. Tough day 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  16.0  4   4/20/2021  Today we did some finishing tread work and rock work on two of the features.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  40.8  6   4/18/2021  Today we did several projects. Two large piles from roughing in trail were sorted and remaining material dispersed. A large section of trail had finishing work done on it in the same area. I worked on rock armoring a drainage. Ron Smashed some rocks in a grade change feature just before the drainage I was working in. Turtle started setting rocks for the next feature/jump which will be a big one. We brought in a rock for it today. We also did some temporary patching of the place in fire road where culvert seems to be collapsing. Then at the end of day we harvested lots of rock from up the old fire road which is a long way from where we are working. Cathy came out and worked after running the marathon yesterday! 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  10.7  2   4/16/2021  We harvested rock and hauled it to the areas we need it. We also did two loads of dirt for covering on two french drains. We are looking for some large rocks for our next extra special feature. We found some, but need more. Lots of work to find them and haul them to where we need them. 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 ATPO Lands  Roanoke County  Trail Construction  65.0  13   4/14/2021  In spite of forecast, it did not rain. Had lots of worker bees gathering rocks, a crew building middle steps and a crew on bottom steps. Several building the crossing of the ditch. Great production. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  37.2  6   4/11/2021  Turns out that Carvins Cove Bennett Springs side must have had a huge amount of rain last night. The creeks were flowing heavier than I have seen in some time. The work we have been doing on the road has really paid off as there was water on the road in places, but very little mud until you get to the areas we have not worked as much. Anyway, the trail was too wet to work on. So we just focused on harvesting rock and adding another water diverter to the old road which we can do easily as part of the rock harvest. It is great to accomplish multiple objectives at the same time. We did end up being able to haul many loads of rock down to the new trail in places we needed it. On the way out Turtle and I cut quite a mess of tangled trees off the first switchback on Rock-N-Roll. It appears someone was trying to do a good thing cutting the leaning tree and it ended up falling into another tree breaking it up high and making a dangerous bind to clean up. Took a lot of time to release the pressure and the tree still jumped back violently. Stuart from BROC brought us pizza out around 1pm that Little Caesars donated...Thanks to both!  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  14.9  4   4/9/2021  We took a chance with the weather forecast today and got lucky. We did pack up when it started to sprinkle a little after 4. Turtle gathered and placed rock for our next feature which is also providing a grade change and root protection between some trees. The rest of us worked on roughing in some new trail. We are in an area with a huge amount of fallen trees which makes it hard to work. We had to move a bunch of dead trees and spread them around instead of a big pile. There are also a bunch of drainage swells in this area that might need to be hardened.  
  
Catawba Greenway 		 Catawba Greenway  Roanoke County  Trail Construction  67.5  12   4/7/2021  Sunny, hot, spring day. Lots of traffic in the parking lot, on 311, on the fire road. Shannon brought the remaining lumber we need, and Blanche and Liz cut it at the road. Bud, Shannon, and Barry worked on bottom steps. Roger, Frank, and Jimbo did middle steps. Others did lots of hauling materials. Dave worked on finishing upper trail. John worked on rock steps. Tom and Blanche installed the sign post. Lots of jobs and lots of hard working people. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  48.6  8   4/6/2021  Weather was Great! Got up to 80 I think. Turtle used the DW to mine dirt and apply to the latest jump/feature. The rest of us worked on both finishing work and roughing in work below that feature. We made great progress. Later in the day I worked on some finishing work above the feature and Turtle did some repair work with adding dirt to a few spots that needed touch up as the trail is settling in a bit from all the fill we used and a bit of erosion with our fill on the features.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  8.7  2   3/30/2021  We collected rock from the old fire road and added it to our latest feature. Turtle also smashed some rock at the feature and I improved the drainage on the fire road where we were collecting rock. It was a bit slow going up at the road because I kept hitting unmovable bed rock like structures. The machine can usually jiggle rocks over 10,000 lbs, so these are beyond that and seem connected. Had to work careful in this area to not damage the tracks on Vermeer. We also found a very nice jump rock for this feature. This should be a fun jump into a banked turn. 
  
Horsepen 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  38.0  9   3/24/2021  Due to several days of rain and mud at Catawba, we did a rainy day project by clearing ditches, shrubs, and culverts on Horsepen Trail at Carvins Cove. Many had not been there since we built the bridge. It was a cloudy damp day, but never rained on us and temperatures were great. Chainsaws, weedeaters, loppers, etc. Special thanks to the got-a-mechanic-coming team. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  33.0  5   3/21/2021  Jared smashed rocks almost all day! Thankfully he said he likes it. Turtle smashed rock and positioned rock. They were working in the latest banked turn/water diverter/jump. Steve, Rex and I focused on mining for rock while at the same time improving the old fire road where we are getting the rock from by adding water diverters with drainage areas. The spot on the road we are at now seems to hold many more small and medium rock and not the >200 lb like we have been used to. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  3.5  1   3/20/2021  Haul two Canycom loads of rock from rock mine to latest feature. Smash some rocks into a soft section of trail at previous feature.  
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  2.5  1   3/17/2021  Hauled rock from sides of old road to latest feature. This is a long distance now and only had time for two loads. 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 ATPO Lands  Roanoke County  Trail Construction  58.8  12   3/17/2021  Great group. Blanche and Chuck went back to the field and raked and repaired the trail from there to the rock drainage. Shannon, Bud and Barry started on the bottom steps. Roger, Frank and Jimbo made great progress on the middle steps. Liz and Dave hauled lots of materials and tools. John and Tom cut trees from over the trail and on out the fire road. Several left early for vaccine #2! 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 Catawba Greenway South  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  2.0  1   3/17/2021  Digging to repair trail tread. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  36.1  6   3/14/2021  Steve and Ron did a huge amount of naturalizing working their way from the top of the trail down about two jumps from the bottom. Turtle collected a bunch of rocks and started laying the foundation of the latest banked turn with possible jump to be added. It is a tricky one with tight turn and two trees close together. The rest of us roughed in a large amount of new trail. I walked where it connects with School House and could see the crew when looking back! 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  10.2  2   3/11/2021  Finished adding and compacting clay on the last rock pile/jump/water diverter feature. Xfer the jumping jack compactor back to BROC to share on another project after using it one this last feature. Roughed in a little more trail. 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 ATPO Lands  Roanoke County  Trail Construction  64.0  11   3/10/2021  Finally, back to our trail construction. Saw Jim Webb, who was doing AT work. Roger and crew started on the middle steps; tough assignment given the way the bank falls off. Blanche and Shannon built a beautiful rock wall on the edge of the top steps. John and Bud did finish work on some trail behind us. Others digging between the turns. Generator is getting heavier. 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 Catawba Greenway  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  6.0  2   3/10/2021  Worked on erosion under the powerline. Cleared one blowdown, one needs a chainsaw. This was on the older part of the trail, to the left of 311. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  13.4  3   3/10/2021  Added some dirt to a few low spots in the trail. Worked on back slope in a few areas. Found rock for next jump and place it. Add rock base to a few places that needed to be widened. Add dirt on top of some of the rocks. Cut up some dead-fall blocking the rough in work. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  4.0  1   3/9/2021  Did some finishing work in a section we only had roughed in pretty far back from where we are roughing in now. This is the last section we passed up. It needed a lot of dirt moved. I had to sort out the largest rocks and a lot of roots. I did a lot of shaping of the back slope, but a little more needs to be done in this area and a bit of dirt brought in. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  29.3  5   3/7/2021  Finally back to the trail! The ground was still a bit wet, but not bad. We had to cut one tree from the road on the way in. We started out roughing in trail. Turtle worked on positioning a jump rock feature. Then we moved to finishing 3 large section of trail between last 3 features. We still have at least one more section to do that we skipped a while back. 
  
Tree Clearing 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  16.0  4   3/5/2021  Two teams working, one from each end on Brushy Mtn Fire Road. Tom and Hugh came in from Bennett Springs. Cut 8 trees, when they met Roger and Bud at HiDeeHo. Roger and Bud came up Hinchee, cleared 14.5 trees. Great effort to get all that open before the first warm week end. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  17.3  3   3/4/2021  First we all worked on clearing logs that were starting to block the 4 big culverts as you enter the park. We used chains and the Ditch Witch to pull out the big ones. Turtle got down in the water with his tall boots. Then we loaded up Turtle and Gerry with gravel to spread from Tunnel road to Enchanted. Then they went to get larger rock to fill in the deeper erosion on the hill that I have been re-establishing the ditches on. We are also using some old shale material piled up next to road in the woods from a long time ago when the tunnels were made. We made the lowest place in the road the highest place now with a nice crown. But we have only don't that on part of the hill. We still have a whole lot of work to do in order to really finish it. Turtle stayed late and spread some more gravel where we were crowning the road with some dirt mixed in. 
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Roanoke River Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  42.0  9   3/3/2021  Due to another day of too wet to dig trail, we pitched in to pick up trash on Roanoke River Greenway from Bennington trailhead to 9th St. Sunny day, so lots of users on the trail later in the morning. Load weighed in at ~1000 lb, which is amazing, given that most of it was plastic. Hard to get those bags out of trees. The trash grabbers helped. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  20.8  3   2/25/2021  First I went to fill up the No-Ethanol gas cans. Then I got to the work site early to unload Ditch Witch and start shaping the rock piles and working on nearby ditches. Then Loaded up Turtle and Gerry with stone to spread on the road. For their first two trips I waited at rock piles to load them up. and worked on ditch there. They focused on the road between rock pile and Tunnel Road. We are trying to make the road better on the way out so we can drive on good road even on these wet days without damaging the road. Then later in the day Turtle hand loaded his truck and I worked on the major issue with the road between Enchanted and Buck where water always runs down the road. The ditches were in the middle of road. This has been a lot of work, but should be worth it. 
  
Trash Pick-Up 		 Roanoke River Greenway  City Of Roanoke  Trail Maintenance  32.8  10   2/24/2021  Too muddy on the trails, so we spent the morning helping with trash pick-up from Bridge St to Memorial Ave. There were some old homeless camps near the beginning, which yielded lots of trash and furniture. Big group worked to the bridge, Dave went around to other end, others worked the homeless camps. Used all the plastic bags, which was almost a case! The City picked it up Thursday and carried 1300 pounds to landfill. 
  
Tree Clearing 		 Hinchee Trail  Roanoke County  Trail Maintenance  6.0  2   2/10/2021  Crew canceled for rain in morning, but Roger and Anne cut trees in afternoon. Hiked in 
  
Tool & Equipment 		 Truck  Pathfinders  Tool & Equipment  1.6  1   2/9/2021  Replaced battery in truck. Took truck to Advanced and had them change out the battery while I waited. Much better now. The old batter was 7 years old. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  8.3  2   2/9/2021  It was very wet on trails, so did some road work instead. But it was so wet we were not even sure that would be possible. So only two of us went out and we just focused on one area between Enchanted forest and Arrowhead. It is a hill that water runs down middle of road almost all the time. The ditches are totally filled in from past grading so road is lowest point all the way down. Worked on digging out a ditch on one side of road. We are not sure what we are going to do on other side because we did not want to funnel water onto Enchanted Forest Trail. However the only other solution is to slope all water to one side of road. Raising the other side of road will take a lot of work if we want to sort out the organic in the process. We did have a bit of a slow down due to problems with Pathfinder truck battery. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  39.9  7   1/24/2021  It was colder over night than expected and the ground was VERY frozen. So had to change my plans from tread finishing work to roughing in trail and working on rock for next jump/feature. Turtle installed a jump rock on the next ready grade reversal feature. We also made a new access trail since we were so close to cars we could see them. This will be one we close down as soon as trail is done, so we didn't put much time into it. Turtle and I picked out our next jump rock. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  18.3  3   1/21/2021  Cleared a few small trees of the road by hand, did not need saw. The dirt had perfect moisture in the dirt mine. So harvested dirt all day to cover latest two features which have a large smashed rock base. All organic material was sifted out of the dirt and the dirt was raked and shaped. Then the dirt was compacted with the jumping jack compactor. Did a little finishing work on a section of trail that was roughed in. More work needed on that section. Lots of organic material to pick out and more dirt needed. 
  
Tool & Equipment 		 Canycom #2  Pathfinders  Tool & Equipment  3.0  1   1/16/2021  Changed the engine oil 10w30. Changed the transmission oil 80-90 weight gear oil. Takes 2L, even though manual says 1.5. Put new tracks on and stored the old ones in trailer. Disposed of one really bad one that was in trailer. Drilled the 4 drain holes in bed a little bigger. 
  
Tool & Equipment 		 DW  Pathfinders  Tool & Equipment  11.0  1   1/15/2021  There was a slow hydraulic fluid leak which had nothing to do if the machine was running or not. It would leak out the body of machine at the right slot where drive motor is. Maybe a gallon per month. The pump compartment was a HUGE mess from dust mixing with the oil for so long. The Roanoke County staff power washed the areas they could in the compartment which helped a lot. But still could not find the leak. I used 4 rolls of shop towels spray cleaner to slowly wipe off huge amounts of gunk from hard to reach areas around all fittings. After cleaned up some and sitting over night, I was able to easily see the leak. I was able to tighten a hose clamp to stop it. I did a bunch more cleaning and tightened many other hoses. I think I will clean this out more often. I ran out of towels, so I will need to do more cleaning some other time when I check again. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  3.0  1   1/14/2021  Biked out there and harvested rocks from around old fire road and used the dirt I moved to make grade reversal and water runoff area. Spent some time compacting and making it look nice. Found a lot of great rocks and set them aside for future use. It was good to combine some road improvements with the rock collection. 
  
Happy Valley Road 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Road Maintenance  25.2  4   1/11/2021  Because the snow two days ago and freeze thaw conditions, we switched to road work for today. It was very muddy out there and it did not phase the overflow parking lot and huge number of people using lower trails. hikers, horses, and bikes were all out there. I think some people stayed on road and it is great to make the road better for those people. If they do the right thing, we don't want them to get muddy. The Roanoke Parks and Rec had delivered a bunch of 21b stone last week and we loaded that into Turtles truck and Gerry's trailer. Then Turtle, Gerry, and John went out and lightly spread the stone on areas of the road where dirt was showing signs of having been muddy. The road was frozen when we started. It got soft as the day went on. Between filling the truck and trailer using Ditch Witch, I would load it on the trailer and run out to Tunnel road to turn around and unload to work on ditches in that area until the crew came back through for more stone. Then I would put machine back on trailer and follow them back to load them up. While this is not very efficient for the ditch work, it was better then not working on ditches which is the roads biggest issue due to past grading of the road into the ditches thus making road lower. We all hope that a grader is not used again thus destroying all our work! 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  9.1  2   1/7/2021  Harvest and move rock. Add water diverter to old fire road as part of rock harvest work. Smash rock and shape trail feature. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  11.7  3   1/6/2021  We roughed in more trail and gathered rock for yet another feature and to protect tree roots in a tight spot. This will make the 6th jump feature I think. Looks like we might be able to do one more after that. 
  
Catawba Greenway 		 ATPO Lands  Roanoke County  Trail Construction  63.5  11   1/6/2021  Coming in from McAfee parking lot. Asplundh has certainly worn out the mudholes on the fire road. Roger and Jim Brown finished the top flight of steps, with Jimbo and Liz digging out ahead of them and transporting the dirt. Bud and a few helpers did an amazing job of fixing the section with the tall steep bank. It looks so good that you realize we need to do finish work on about 1000' behind there. Others worked on the legs between the turns. It is coming together. The step turns will probably take longer than the remaining trail work. 
  
Rock-N-Roll 		 Carvins Cove  City Of Roanoke  Trail Construction  14.3  3   1/4/2021  Today Steve and I roughed in more trail and Turtle collected and smashed more rock for the latest grade reversal and optional jump feature. It was a nice day and we got a lot done considering how wet it was out there. 
Report Summary:   Total Project-Days = 550      Volunteer Hours = 16,597.3     Staff Hours = 395.0     Total Hours = 16,992.3

Report generated: 12/12/2024 11:27:06 PM