We had 7 volunteers contribute 225 volunteer hours while clearing almost all major obstacles from 23 miles of the BRT between Steel Creek and Pruitt. We left 2 large trees that must be crawled under and 2 that must be detoured around. Everything else was removed or at least reduced to an easy step-over. We never had more than 4 people on the trail over our 5.5 working days so I think it was a pretty amazing accomplishment. We were aided by the addition of a couple new 21″ saws to our arsenal.
The last 2 pix below show an area near Steel Creek where last fall we cut a “tunnel” through some tree wreckage and over the winter more of the wreckage came down, requiring follow-up work in this session.
On Saturday we were joined by 8 Highlands Chapter folks who lopped the area between Pruitt and the Ozark Campground, adding another 56 volunteer hours.
It rained most of the day Monday, which left the river high and the waterfalls flowing. Our path led us by Triple Falls on Tuesday and (Jim) Liles Falls on Wednesday. Great timing! I wish my photos could do them justice.
The wildflowers were abundant and I even saw one I had never seen before – Trillium pusillum var. ozarkanum, aka Ozark Wake Robin. This was the only specimen observed and I neglected to record its location.
Of course we ate well too, thanks to chefs Ken & Phil. One participant we hadn’t seen for several years was Patrick from Dallas. Steve S dropped by one evening for a visit. I brought a DVD player so we could watch America’s First River… (twice!) and The Buffalo Flows on the ranch house TV.
This session concluded the initial clearing of obstacles. In the future we should be able to dial-back the work load with some tread repairs and basic lopping.
Buffalo River Trail Crew 