Bike Sherpas

Saturday we headed out to Carvins Cove to rake leaves off of Hemlock Tunnel (formerly Clownhead). Approximately 10 folks showed up to lend a hand. 1/2 of the group had bikes, the other half hoofed it. We got down to the really steep section....I expected to find a huge rut under the three feet of leaves...but to our amazement there laid smooth, wide trail. Who knew after all of those years of riding the outside line that there was such gorgeous trail underneath.
Once we finished that section, we headed down to meet up w/ the crew who biked down. We came upon the bikes...but no people....weird...It felt like a newer version of Blair Witch Project. Being the nice people we are, Moe, Gary and myself decided to take the bikes down to where the crew was working...they had made such great progress that it would have been pain to walk all the way back to get their bikes. We each picked a bike and rode on. I had a bike which was waaay too tall for me and I couldn't reach the brakes. Moe rode someone's dowhnill bike which weighed around 500 lbs..not to mention the 100lb backpack that the trailworker had brought., Gary picked the bike w/ the bob trailer & rakes attached.

We caught up to the group....we all continued to rake..then Moe & I realized the bikes were waaay back on the trail again. So we decided to take a break from raking again and go retrieve the bikes. This time we had to make 2 trips because there were more bikes left. AFter the second trip we found a central location to leave everything so we didn't have to sherpa more bikes.

Once at the bottom of Hemlock Tunnel, we moved on to Araminta...this is a trail which has been neglected for many years. Fortunately we were able to find the trail bed easily...so we raked, chopped, and raked some more. We were cruising along until we came upon the creek. We had no clue which way to go. The trail just disappears. We sent a couple of scouts out to see if they could find it, but after about 1/2 hour of searching, no luck. A GPS and map will be needed along w/ some flags so we can mark the rest of the trail. THat will be for another day.

After the scouting mission, we decided to call it a day. We had been out there close to 6 hours and were pretty beat. The worst part was those of us who hiked..had to go back UP Hemlock Tunnel. After 6 hours of raking, hiking, sherpaing (that's a new word!),scouting, we were cooked. It took a little while to get back up the trail but we did it. I can't wait to ride it!