Trail Guardians

By James Brooks
Press Outdoors Editor
jbrooks@johnsoncitypress.com

Owning a horse is tough work involving the chores of feeding, watering, brushing and stall mucking on a daily basis with no vacation.

BCHET Member cuts a fallen tree during trail maintenance

It should come as no surprise that a group like Back Country Horsemen of East Tennessee is also taking the lead in the maintenance of horse trails throughout the Cherokee National Forest, including the building of new trails.

According to Kerry Wood, who oversees trail construction and maintenance for the Cherokee in Carter, Sullivan and Unicoi counties, the horsemen can cover a lot of ground on their mounts. Some of them are certified chain saw operators and have fashioned saddle scabbards for their chain saws as they cover almost 100 miles of trails in his district in pursuit of tree falls.

He added that about half of the 200 miles of CNF in his district comprise the Appalachian Trail, which is maintained by the Tennessee Eastman Hiking and Canoeing Club.

One reward for all this work is coming up Oct. 15-17 at Meadow Creek Mountain Resort in Parrotsville. The Fall Roundup invites all equestrians to ride the trails and camp at the newly expanded camping area. The resort is actually in the mountains, with Parrotsville being just a postal address.

John Scott leads a groups on a Forest Service road connecting to a horse trail

“It’ll be three days of riding and camping, with musical entertainment nights at the campground,” said Herb Heinze of BCHET.

Although the CNF trail system is largely multi-use for horses, mountain bikes or hikers, the horsemen decided to get involved with maintenance as a means of polishing their image. “The Forest Service doesn’t have the money or the personnel to maintain trails,” Heinze said.

Wood said the mountain biking community is a vibrant group that is just beginning to get involved in new trail construction and maintenance. They are currently involved in flagging trails on Buffalo Mountain. He said the Forest Service recently was able to purchase a Sweco machine, a tracked miniature dozer of trail width that is used both for new trail grading and erosion control maintenance. This will be a welcome addition for the horsemen, who had to do this work by hand with Pulaski tools, the combination ax and mattock used in fighting forest fires.

Mike McClelland notches a tree with an ax. Chain saws are not allowed in the wilderness area, so even large treefalls have to be cut with a crosscut saw.

BCHET’s Mike McClelland, who works maintaining trails in Sullivan and Carter counties, says that the trails are normally short, ranging from two to five miles in length, they make use of graveled forest service roads to link up sections. The majority of the trails are on Holston Mountain. These include the Rail Trail (2 miles), Rye Patch (4 miles), Taylor Ride (4 miles), Bartee Branch (2 miles), West Holston Mountain (4.5 miles) and Furnace Branch (1 mile) which ties in with Holston Mountain. There’s a total of 40 miles of trails on Holston Mountain, not counting the Forest Service roads that link them. Another system of trails in the area is located in the Limestone Cove community in Unicoi County.

Planned to get under way next spring is the trail over the Old Fish Dam Railway line, an old logging rail bed that is a 6 percent grade all the way to the top of the mountain. “This is about the only way up the mountain from the west side,” Wood said. “The railroad was able to blast through rock, creating a magnificent panorama view, or build wooden trestles.”

He had nothing but praise for the horsemen and their work ethic. “Their work days are on Mondays. Mike McClelland is a state employee and that’s his day off, but he never fails to devote it to trail maintenance,” Wood said.

Susan McClelland enjoys an overlook on the Old Dug Road Trail on South Holston Mountain

In addition to these local efforts, the Nolichucky-Unaka District of the CNF has received an $80,000 grant from the Recreational Trails Program of the Federal Highway Administration. It includes the construction of two trailhead parking areas for horse trailers.

The trailhead in Unicoi County will be new and provides access for existing and planned trails. The grant will also include a road to a trailhead on the Wolf Creek Trail in Cocke County, and completion of the parking area. Volunteer hours by the horsemen will supply part of the matching funds dictated by the grant.

Two new parking areas designed for horse trailers have been constructed at the Griffith Branch and Hinkle Branch Trailheads, both located off Highway 91 northeast of Elizabethton.

A network of interconnected loop trails was built out of this area, including Bartee Branch, Bear Wallow, Griffith Branch connectors, Low Gap, Rye Patch, Taylor Ridge and West Holston Mountain. Hitching posts have been installed at the Low Gap campground to facilitate overnight trips.

For more information or directions to the roundup, call Herb Heinze at 787-7476 or e-mail heinze2@centurylink.net.