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Students and inmates shape new trail system
BY CHARLES GARRATT • STAFF WRITER
 | | Eight students gather for mail call before heading up the trail to continue work on the Allegheny Highlands Trail system near Douthat State Park. Pictured are (l-r) front row: Lisa Howard, Molly Tonsor, Eamon Welter, Patrick Danylik; back row: Dana Rivkin (leader), Jenna Hooper, Harry Gardner, and Levi Andre (leader). (Recorder photo by Charles Garratt) |
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WILSON CREEK - On a rock strewn ridge in the national forest near Douthat State Park, two crews move forward inch by inch digging, chopping, raking a new trail out of the reluctant landscape.
In one way the two crews are about as different as could be imagined. The crew in the lead, making the first cut in the rocky soil and felling trees is from Cold Springs Work Center at the correctional facility in Greenville.
The follow-up crew, raking, leveling and building water breaks, are all young students, six volunteers and two paid leaders, from the Student Conservation Association. The young students are experiencing trail work for the first time.
Both the inmate crew and the students share a passion for the work they are doing and an appreciation for the beautiful forest land in which they are working. Inmate crews from Cold Springs have been doing trail maintenance on the Warm Springs District and adjacent forest districts for the past two years.
 | | Mail call on the trail for the Student Conservation Association workers is just as exciting and anticipated as mail call at camp, college or on a foreign military base. The hard working students share cookies and other goodies. |
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This week the inmate crew was called off trail work to fight a forest fire near Low Moor. As of 7 p.m. Tuesday the fire was only 10 percent contained and had spread to 120 acres.
The new trail section constructed by the two crews in the past few weeks is part of the Allegheny Highlands Trail system. The new sections of trail being constructed on the James River and Warm Springs ranger districts will connect existing forest service trails with trails on Douthat State Park.
All of the new trails are being constructed for hiking, mountain biking and horseback riding. No motorized vehicles of any kind are allowed. While the new trail system connects to existing trails on the eastern side of Warm Springs Mountain, they do not connect to The Nature Conservancy preserve at the top of the mountain, according to forestry technician Dawn Coulson.
 | | Making a new trail in the forest is not a simple or easy task especially in the rocky soils common in the Highlands. Leader Dana Rivkin (foreground) and student Molly Tonsor use fire rakes to level a section of the new trail being constructed on the national gorest near Douthat State Park. When complete, the new Allegheny Highlands Trails will connect trails in the James River District, Douthat State Park trails and trails in the Warm Springs District for hiking, biking and horseback riding. |
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Coulson has been responsible for the SCA crew while they have been in the county. Every few days she meets them on the trail or at the campsite to bring mail and some surprise goodies she baked.
SCA crews have been doing trail work on the Warm Springs District for about 20 years, said Coulson. The crew this year has been great, she said.
 | | A gaggle of tents and tarps and clothes lines in the woods near Douthat State park is home for eight students doing trail work in the National Forest for three weeks this summer. (Recorder photos by Charles Garratt) |
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The SCA crew began the work on the new section of trail in late July. The students volunteer for 30 days. Only the two leaders are paid a small stipend. SCA provides food and some camping equipment.
Each week the students have one day to do laundry and take a break from the back breaking work for more domestic chores. The final week the group has a few days just for fun. This group will travel to Kentucky for hiking and rock climbing.
Coulson schedules some interesting breaks for the students during the three weeks of hard work. The Homestead offered the students a free soak in the Warm Springs pools which the students declined because of time restraints.
But the students did take up the opportunity to experience the falconry program at The Homestead. The program cost is donated to the students by the resort. The program introduces people to the art of hunting with birds of prey including falcons, hawks and owls. Each student has the opportunity to be photographed with a bird at the end of the program.
Cutting the trail turned out to be more difficult than expected due to rocks and slope, Coulson said. The students started the work on their own, but Coulson recommended bringing in the crew from Cold Springs. "Let's put some strong people in there to help," she said.
With the inmate crew in the lead and the students doing the detail work, the crew reached the end of the new section of trail on schedule last Friday. The SCA crew will continue trail work on the James River district while the inmates are fighting fire.
None of the students had done trail work before arriving in Bath County. They range in age from 15-year-old Harry Loyd-Gardner who came all the way from England to 25-year-old Levi Andre of Seattle, one of the two leaders.
Molly Tonsor, 16, of Pittsburg, said she likes the experience. "It's been really fun. I love being outside and have always wanted to do something like this."
Jenna Hooper and Patrick Danylik were named best cooks by the group. The students do all their own cooking except for the occasional pizza on laundry days. Without refrigeration, the meals consist of mostly canned meats, pasta and similar non-perishables.
In addition to the trail work, the students swim in Wilson Creek near the camp ground and visit the swimming area at Douthat State Park. Evenings included time for nature walks along with lessons in plant identification and orienteering and knot tying and the ever helpful camp fire building.
R.D. Yowell, while technically a guard, also provides support with water and supervision for the inmate crew. The forest service has less money for trail work and other maintenance, he noted. "We have the resources, they have the need. It seems like a good match."
The inmate crew has been clearing trails and forest service road shoulders for a number of years. Coulson notes the Warm Springs District has a four-year goal of opening all the trails on the district to wider standards friendly to horses and mountain bikes as well as hikers.
The crew from Cold Springs and the students from SCA are making much of that plan a reality.
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