July- Rockwork

With half the crew up on Israel Ridge (expect an update from them this weekend) things have become very quiet around the lodge and on the worksite only a short walk up from our tents. Rockwork, that is, the art of rolling and setting large chunks of granite that more often than not has a mind of its own, is both deceptively simple and maddeningly complex. Using little more than an 18-pound rock bar, a pick mattock, a shovel and ones own two hands, very elaborate and sturdy creations are fashioned.

The two main items on the list are water bars and staircases. Water bars channel water runoff in the forms of the spring thaws and the summer storms off of the trail, and staircases are more or less self explanatory. We also redefine paths by setting stones and filling in eroded or under-defined areas with quarried mineral soil. Anything on the trails that needs to get done, chances are we can and have done it, most often with our own (gloved) hands and a few tools.

Naturally in this technological age, we cheat sometimes. Enter the Grip Hoist. A small but delightful contraption, the Grip Hoist is a kind of hand-operated winch that, in conjunction with any number of pulleys, slings, cables and shackles, can rip boulders weighing up to a ton (and with some elbow grease and the use of physics stones even mightier than that) out of the earth, to be slung through the air to where the crew is trying to place them. It’s a very versatile tool that has many uses.

“It might take you two hours to quarry a rock with the grippy,” Curtis, our field supervisor told me. “But you can set it in an hour. Saves you time in the long run.”

Technology and all manner of tools aside, the finished result is breathtaking to the trained eye. One thing that few people know is that we construct trails not for hikers, but to protect the woodland environment. Stone staircases, set by hand and only the simple tools we pack in, are not to make climbing easier- they help keep feet where they are least destructive. A rock water bar, made of sunken rocks that can take one worker all day just to quarry (an infuriatingly lengthy process I have learned first hand), doesn’t just keep the trails dry and our feet wet- it mitigates erosion so that the trail we all love stay the way they are and people don’t try to make their own, damaging more of the forest.

As well as being important, this is work that lasts. Each stone takes time to set, and must be done perfectly.

“The idea is that an 800 pound guy could jump on it and it wouldn’t move,” says Ben, a second year trail crew member says. “But a 150 pound kid with a rock bar can.”

We build these simple things to withstand the hundreds and thousands of feet that will cross over them, the gallons of water that will rush by, the freezes of winter and the thaws of spring. I am reminded of the carriage roads in Acadia National Park, build during and before the Depression. Funded in part by Rockerfeller, the crews averaged only two miles of road a year. Still, they are just beginning to need basic maintenance now. Do it right the first time, and the problem may never have to be dealt with again.

- Benzo