Well, 5 of us showed up to clean the summit of Shenandoah Mountain this past Saturday and muck out some waterbars down by the RPH Shelter. The weather was not too bad, a bit cloudy and foggy at first, which was nice since it helped keep the sun off us while we cleaned the rocks at the top. Luckily it looks like someone must have been there ahead of us, thanks to that mystery person, since we did not have to carry out much trash, although we did pull out a few decent sized bags of bottles and cans.
The glass cleanup was our main focus, and it went well for what we could do. Everything was suggested from bringing along a big ol' shop vac with a very loooooong extension cord next time, to making the idiots that are breaking the bottles up there use tweezers and a toothbrush to clean up their mess if they are caught. We all agreed though that if people are caught up there trashing the place, and if they have to do community service, that we get the judge to make it be work on the Trail and not just cleaning up trash at some town rec park... If they mess up the Trail, they clean the Trail!
We ended up with about 2 1/2 five gallon buckets of glass and dirt in the end that we deposited off a steep embankment, one that has never seen use, and will not either. We used a variety of brooms to clean out the nooks and crannies on of the rock faces of shards of glass, then scooped them up. When the sun really came out though, you just saw more and more glass reflecting in the light. I would say though we got more then 2/3's of what was there, now all that is left is the really fine stuff that without the shop vac, high pressure washer or some kid with a toothbrush, is not really going to be cleaned due to how small it is.
After about 3+ hours of glass duty, we went back to the shelter, went up the trail and mucked out a few waterbars that we had installed in the past year. If you know the downhill slope from the Shenandoah tentsite, north to the RPH Shelter, you know how easily it will be for those water bars to fill up quickly. We also scouted out a few more locations that will need waterbars soon, so another 'to-do' gets put on the growing list.
Catch you all on Trail soon....
Kevin
The glass cleanup was our main focus, and it went well for what we could do. Everything was suggested from bringing along a big ol' shop vac with a very loooooong extension cord next time, to making the idiots that are breaking the bottles up there use tweezers and a toothbrush to clean up their mess if they are caught. We all agreed though that if people are caught up there trashing the place, and if they have to do community service, that we get the judge to make it be work on the Trail and not just cleaning up trash at some town rec park... If they mess up the Trail, they clean the Trail!
We ended up with about 2 1/2 five gallon buckets of glass and dirt in the end that we deposited off a steep embankment, one that has never seen use, and will not either. We used a variety of brooms to clean out the nooks and crannies on of the rock faces of shards of glass, then scooped them up. When the sun really came out though, you just saw more and more glass reflecting in the light. I would say though we got more then 2/3's of what was there, now all that is left is the really fine stuff that without the shop vac, high pressure washer or some kid with a toothbrush, is not really going to be cleaned due to how small it is.
After about 3+ hours of glass duty, we went back to the shelter, went up the trail and mucked out a few waterbars that we had installed in the past year. If you know the downhill slope from the Shenandoah tentsite, north to the RPH Shelter, you know how easily it will be for those water bars to fill up quickly. We also scouted out a few more locations that will need waterbars soon, so another 'to-do' gets put on the growing list.
Catch you all on Trail soon....
Kevin
