Long Branch Trail

The Long Branch Trail (FS Trail 103) is a trail within the Cherokee National Forest in the Tellico Ranger District which connects North River Road up Long Branch to the Cherohala Skyway. The trail is 2.6 miles long and rises about 1200 feet from the North River to the Skyway. This trail goes through a burned out area. It has not been maintained for several years until now (summer 2010) and is requiring a lot of work to reopen the trail.

Monday, July 19, 2010: BMT Section 18a - Fodderstack Trail - It was raining hard again this morning, so we called Bobby Mitchell and cancelled his bush hog work for the day. By the time that Tazz reached the Ranger Station the rain had stopped, so we decided to drive up the Skyway and do what we could on the overhanging limbs. On the way up we stopped at the upper Long Branch Trailhead to look at the trail. It turned out to be more look for the trail, with weedeaters in hand. We finally found one tree with a blaze several hundred feet in from the parking spot, and cleared to this tree. This will at least give us a start on finding the trail with the chainsaws on Thursday. We went on up to Beech Gap and used the weedeaters to cut the overhanging limbs to Cold Springs Gap. This work will make it easier for Bobby to mow the road at a later time.

Thursday, July 22, 2010: Long Branch Trail - We worked yesterday on logging out the Long Branch Trail. This trail had not received any maintenance in a number of years and was very overgrown. We split into two crews working from the upper and lower ends of the trail. The upper crew sawed something over 100 trees and the lower crew sawed over 50 trees. One portion of the trail on the upper end passed through a dead pine area with dozens of trees down across the trail. For the day I would estimate that each crew cleared about 1 mile, leaving about 1/2 mile in the middle to complete the log out work. The day was very hot and humid, and several of us ended up dehydrated when we didn't pack enough water. Tazz got stung a couple of times when he sawed too close to a yellow jacket nest. The upper crew totally lost the trail in an old clear-cut and had to bushwhack down to Long Branch and head downstream. Thank you for bringing us in some water and packing our gear out. This had to be my hardest day ever working on a trail. Next week I plan to pack in over a gallon of water to stay hydrated.

Here are the volunteer hours for this work trip:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Ken Jones	1.5	8	9.5
Tazz Reid	1	8	9
Roger Taylor	1	8	9
Bobby Mitchell	1.5	8	9.5
Rick Harris	0.5	8	8.5
Totals	5.5	40	45.5

Thursday, July 29, 2010: Long Branch Trail - As you are aware, we were able to finish the logging out portion of the Long Branch Trail by completing the middle section. The trail is now clear of blow-downs but needs to be brushed out to become a usable trail. We will schedule a brushing-out trip for August 12th. No dehydration issues this trip. Here are the hours;

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Ken Jones	1.5	6	7.5
Tazz Reid	1	6	7
Roger Taylor	1	6	7
Bobby Mitchell	1.5	6	7.5
Bill Hodge	1	6	7
Totals	6	30	36

Thursday, Aug 12, 2010: Long Branch Trail - We managed to brush out the length of the Long Branch Trail. Long, hot and exhausting day. Some weed trimmers played out, and some volunteers played out. The only things I see left to do is to work on the one root ball that has taken out part of the trail, remove one tree from the lower section and to re-blaze the trail. Here are the hours;

Bill Hodge - 10 hours - 1 hour travel
Tazz Reid - 10 hours - 1 hour travel
Bobby Mitchell - 10 hours - 1.5 hours travel
Ken Jones - 10 hours - 1.5 hours travel
Roger Taylor - 10 hours - 1 hour travel

Thursday, September 9, 2010: Long Branch Trail - We were able to complete the work on the Long Branch Trail. We removed the one new tree from the trail that had fallen since sawing the trail out. Our largest project was removing the huge root ball in the trail. This project took quite a bit of effort but ultimately we were successful, and then we repaired the tread. The Long Branch Trail is now maintained to standard (no small feat). The hours are as follows;

Bill Hodge - 6 hours worked - 1 hour travel
Roger Taylor - 6 hours worked - 1 hour travel
Tazz Reid - 6 hours worked - 1 hour travel
Ken Jones - 6 hours worked - 1.5 hours travel

Thursday, September 1, 2011 - Long Branch Trail - We worked on the Long Branch Trail from the Skyway down to the gated Forest Service road. This work day, combined with the work you did earlier in the week, should have the entire Long Branch Trail maintained to standards. Four of us used power trimmers to brush out the trail, while Bobby used his chainsaw to remove 8-10 trees from the trail. It was a hot day so we took frequent breaks, but did manage to complete the work by 3:30. Here are our hours:

Name	Travel Hours	Work Hours	Totals
Bobby Mitchell	1.5	7.5	9
Bill Hodge	1	7.5	8.5
Tazz Reid	1	7.5	8.5
Rick Harris	0,5	7.5	8
Kyle Atkins	1.5	7.5	9
Totals	5.5	37.5	43