NY-NJ Trail Conference

Long Distance Trails Crew

We Rock Your Trail

(168) 6/2,3,4/2023
New York Long Path rehabilitation
on Tallman Mountain - Begins

For this new project,
we will now meet in parking lot D, in Piermont New York

This is the first truck load of rock for this new project

Our work site is right next to this…
the Piermont swamp. and it soo buggy

This is where we begin our project

Our new endeavor is to rehabilitate
the New York Long Path on Tallman Mountain

First order of business, put up a high-line, but where?

Dr. Dave, and the chief
select where the belay should go

Chris uses the big slingshot to set the belay

Success, the belay is in place

Next, get the 8 sections of the stick-ladder ready

Chris checks Dr. Dave‘s belay before he climbs the tree

Dr. Dave is ready, time to get climbing

Today‘s polecat Dr. Dave,
assembles the stick-ladder as he climbs the tree

OK, just one more section to go

Dr. Dave‘s view from his perch in the tree

A polecat selfie

Another look down, and there is Zac

Yes, Zac and Kevin stopped by to check our progress

Marion, wearing her bug net,
moves dead leaves out of the way

Erik starts laying out the high-line wire

The high-line wire is up,
now time for our end of day crew meeting

Saturday morning and we‘re back in parking lot D

It's 9 AM and while we discuss our plan of attack,
here comes a hiker down the trail

There will be two work sites today,
the upper one will be called Russ' platform

At Russ‘ platform, a large hole will be dug and filled with crush before we move in the platform rock

Jack and Joe begin digging at the lower worksite. This is where the trail leaves the gravel path and goes uphill.

Dr. Dave and Erik agree on the first rock to be moved

Using a double jack, AKA a sledge hammer,
Dr. Dave makes crush

Jack uses a hazel hoe to tamp down the crush

Ok, the base is ready and the rock is on the move

Using the high-line,
the heavy rock is slowly moved into place

It‘s very close now,
what we need next is manpower to put it in place

Using the strength of four volunteers, we got it

Jack uses a rock bar for final adjustment

Oh yeah, it‘s level

Bob explains to Csilla
that it will be the same process at Russ‘ platform

It‘s been a great morning, time for a safety break

Clearing the way for the next step

Csilla works hard at making crush

Jeff explains the subtleties of using a double jack

Csilla is making great progress
and already has two buckets full

Russ is also making crush for under his platform rock

This is a very busy trail, with hikers all day long,
this is why it needed a rebuild

Dr. Dave slings up the platform rock for Russ

It‘s a tight fit, maybe we need more hands

It was a tight fit, but now we got it connected

The big platform rock for Russ, is on the line

Ready Hoist!

That‘s as far as the high-line can take it

Csilla uses the rope-puller to move it up hill

Click, click, click, up it goes

Using a few rock-bars,
the platform rock settles into place

Isn‘t that pretty,
it‘s the first of many that are needed here

At the base, Jack and Marty
are preparing a hole for the next step

And here it comes

The third step is in, here comes number four

Russ and Jack hold it in place
while Joe adds more crush

While that‘s going on,
Russ and Csilla dig a hole for a big crib-wall rock

That step is in place, now add more crush around it

Jack uses big pieces of crush
to keep the steps locked together

Erik points to the crib-wall rock we‘ll move tomorrow

End of day crew meeting with beverages and snacks

At the base,
this is what we finished yesterday, Saturday

In 1 hour, we moved in the long anchor rock and enlarged the crib-wall base hole

Connecting the large crib-wall rock to the high-line

Rock on the line…
everyone pay attention

A little nudging with rock-bars

And a some muscle

Almost perfect,
it just needs a little tappy tap from Erik

Chocking it with smaller rocks to make it level

Jeff brings in step #5

Step #5, makes a turn

Marty checks the dimensions of step #6

Jeff tries out the new steps

Step # 6 has arrived,
but needs more prep work to get it set right

A look at this weekend‘s progress,
and where we are headed

This is a great work site

End of weekend crew meeting

To answer your questions, this is
Crew Chief Chris Reyling and Crew Leader Erik Garnjost