After and long, and much enjoyed, break, we hit the trail again, picking up from where we left off on the Appalachian/Long Trail. We were able to use our same spike camp from the end of last hitch, the beautiful Little Pond just to the north of Route 9. Getting in to site and set up went a smooth as one could wish, and once we were back on the trail, wheel in hand, we immediately fell back into routine, almost as if we had never left off. James and Sam once again ran trail, whilst Bobby ran shuttle, allowing us to advance camp up to a dead end road near the Kid Gore shelter on the AT/LT. We managed to survey a good portion of trail, especially considering that after only five days of surveying we left the trail to partake in a two-day crosscut saw training course offered by the Green Mountain National Forest. The course was very informative and enjoyable. We had spent some time learning about the saws and their use during the SCA work-skills training, but nothing as in-depth as the training we received during those two days. We spent a morning learning about the history of the saws, the different teeth patterns, how to clean and care for them, and other pertinent information. The education was followed by an afternoon of saw practice. The information we received gave us a great appreciation for the saws as a general entity, and the practice gave us great respect for their ability and power. The next day the class headed out into the field and actually got to try out the saws on some real-life sawyer problems. We met with everything from spring poles, to hanging cuts, to swamping and enjoyed every moment of it. The class was a mix of novices, intermediate, and expert saw users, but we all learned much and advanced our knowledge of, and ability with, these beautiful tools. We spent our final day of hitch surveying a section of Corridor Seven, one of the major snowmobile trails in the Green Mountain National Forest, before getting ready for another break.
Miles Surveyed:
1. Appalachian/Long Trail: 15.5mi
2. Corridor 7: 2mi
Total: 17.5mi
