Trail Work Schedule
There are 6 different trail maintenance crews that work on different days and/or work on different trails. We have listed them below, along with contact information for their crew leaders.
Asheville Monday crew. Crew leader, Barth Brooker (barbrook@charter.net). This is a small crew (2 - 4 folks) that works mostly on the AT and MST trails and frequently picks up the jobs that require fewer folks than usually work with larger crews.
Waynesville West Crew. Crew leader, Larry Sobil (lsobil@bellsouth.net). The West Crew works on Wednesdays and works exclusively on the MST above Waynesville towards the Great Smoky Mountains. Right now, they are a very small crew.
Asheville Friday crew. Crew leader, Skip Sheldon (shelhalla@bellsouth.net). This is the largest of the crews that work mostly on the AT and MST trails (10 - 15 folks). They do all types of work, but try to avoid the smaller jobs, that wouldn't provide work for all the folks coming out with us. This crew also has the widest range of skill levels, and ages of the crew members.
Pisgah Friday Crew. Crew leader Pete Petersen ( ROAP@AOL.COM). This crew works mostly on the trails in the Pisgah National Forest and MST rather than the AT, but sometimes help on the AT as well for special needs or sections. They are a very large crew (15+ folks) and frequently break into 2 or more groups working different trail sections or jobs.
Wilderness Crew. Crew leader, Becky Smucker (bjsmucker@gmail.com). This crew works two Saturdays per month, and allows the folks who have to work during the week a chance to be a member of a maintenance crew. They work primarily in the Shining Rock and Middle Prong Wildernesses, and work exclusively with hand tools. They frequently hike 6-7 (occasionally up to 10) miles round trip on rough trails to reach more remote work sites.
Quarterly Saturday Crew. Crew leader is Less Love (lesrlove@charter.net). This crew goes out quarterly on Saturdays and mostly builds new trail on the MST. The crew often has 30 or more folks working with it, including some of the folks who work on the weekly crews and frequently some first time trail builders. One of the best parts of working with this crew is that they meet at the Moose Café for breakfast before heading out for the day.
You are welcome to work with any of these crews, and several folks work with 2 or more of them on a regular basis. Please feel free to contact any of the crew leaders about working with them.
The normal procedure is for the crew leader to send out an E-Mail message several days before the up-coming workday, explaining the job the crew will be working on, what tools to bring, and the meeting place and time. If you want to work with the crew that day, you let the crew leader know, and show up (be on time, because we frequently have a long drive, so we leave at the time given). When you contact a crew leader about working with the crew, he/she will put you on the crew E-Mail distribution so you receive these notices.
You do not need any experience or tools to work on the maintenance crews. Training and equipment will be supplied by the crew leader. You do need to respond to the work notice, letting the crew leader know if you plan to work with them. Wear old work clothes (long pants highly suggested), sturdy boots, bring a small day pack with your lunch and plenty of water, and a good pair of leather work gloves. The hikes with tools, etc., will be anywhere from 2 to 5 miles in length so be prepared.
