JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2004 Rock Clinic Volunteers Build Editing + Hiking: Nancy Tollefson 33-Ton Staircase at Twin Forts by Anne De Sutter
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RAIL ALKER TNEW YORK-NEW JERSEY TRAIL CONFERENCE...MAINTAININGW OVER 1500 MILES OF FOOT TRAILS JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2004 Rock Clinic Volunteers Build Editing + Hiking: Nancy Tollefson 33-Ton Staircase at Twin Forts By Anne De Sutter By Ed Walsh funding provided by the Fort Montgom- Living in New York City and hiking in ery Battlesite Association, I worked with its environs is, according to Nancy The construction of a stone staircase a TC crew of 16 volunteers to move and Tollefson, a good balance between city over an eroded or unstable section of trail maneuver one-ton rocks into position on and country. Another good balance, and is usually quite simple. Trail workers walk a steeply graded slope. one that benefits the Trail Conference, in- off the trail—ideally uphill—and quarry Several aspects made this project un- volves combining her love of the outdoors rocks from the surrounding forest. Pick usual: the semi-industrial location and the with her love for writing and editing. An mattocks are used to uncover the rocks lack of sufficient rock supplies near the Ohio na- and then steel bars are used to pry them site—36 pieces of stone, each weighing a tive who out. The rocks are then transported to the ton, were purchased from a quarry in studied En- trail by rolling, sliding, or flipping them Kerhonkson and delivered to a location glish at Mi- from their previous home by hand and/or above the trail. ami Uni- with the help of the steel bars. In the Twin Forts case, the rocks were versity of The September/October issue of Trail above the trail, but the slope was so in- Ohio, Walker reported on the ambitious Trail credibly steep that rolling the rocks would Nancy has Conference rock-work project then under- have meant many runaway rocks. In this become an way on the Twin Forts Trail, which con- case there was too much at stake to risk indispens- nects Forts Clinton and Montgomery, pass- letting a one-ton rock careen down the able asset ing under the Bear Mountain Bridge. With mountainside: the steel railing below the of the Trail Conference, and other organi- zations, as an editor. Elegant stairs built of one-ton rocks. Nancy is a good example of why Trail Counting Hawks from a TC maintenance garage, the concrete bridge Conference volunteers are so valuable. She piers, the railroad bed and trains, and fi- started volunteering in the TC office when nally boaters and fishermen along and in it was still located on Madison Avenue in Site on the Shawangunk Ridge the river. A system had to be devised that Manhattan. Next, she began to do trail When you climb the fire tower stairs at oriented ridge systems, such as the Gunks, could be used to transport the rocks with- maintenance, and received training in the 151-acre Stutzman property atop the are favored flyways because they offer out losing any of them. building waterbars and steps and moving Shawangunk Ridge, acquired in 2003 by energy saving updrafts. The forests and Occasionally, trail workers need to get large stones. She recounted an instance of the Trail Conference, you leave behind the diverse natural habitats of the ridge pro- rocks to the trail from a “quarry” that is her painstaking efforts helping to construct warmth and security of familiar terra vide foraging and roosting opportunities downhill from the trail or an excessively a waterbar. For hours her team carefully firma and enter the realm of birds. Even for raptors as well. Trail Conference ef- long distance from the trail. In these cases constructed the bar to exact specifications. on relatively mild fall days, the slightest forts to protect the Shawangunk Ridge crews often opt to use a rigging system When completed and put to the test, the breeze at the bottom of the tower trans- Trail corridor are preserving this impor- adapted from logging and sailing prac- bar functioned perfectly in diverting wa- lates into steady bone-chilling winds tant migration route for raptors and other tices called a “highline.” ter from the trail, for a few feet, that is, above. species. In this system, a wire rope is connected until the water took a sharp turn and ran Why then would a crew of volunteers At the urging of the Trail Conference, via a nylon sling to the base of a tree called back across the trail just below where it make 20 visits to the tower in October volunteers from Sullivan County Audubon an anchor. The wire rope then runs up to had been diverted by the bar. Not one to and November and spend 87 visitor hours ran a pilot study at the fire tower this past a steel pulley—called a block—high in a be disheartened, however, Nancy contin- under such conditions? Aside from the fall, to assess its potential as an annual different tree—called the spar tree. Next, ued to assume new tasks for the Trail Con- breathtaking view, the answer is raptors hawk watch site. The tower is ideally situ- the wire rope runs horizontally, passing ference. (hawks, eagles, falcons)—more specifi- ated along a narrow stretch of the Gunks, both the woods “quarry” site and the trail Currently, those tasks are taking a more cally, 321 of them representing 13 spe- offering views of birds moving along both before going back up to a block in an- literary turn, as reflects her background. cies. These included 150 red-tailed hawks, sides of the ridge, but was unproven as a other spar tree, then down to be anchored Nancy edits the Hikers’ Almanac, which 71 sharp-shinned hawks, 27 Cooper’s hawk watch site. to a final tree through a hand-operated involves selecting and preparing submis- hawks, 15 northern harriers, 9 ospreys, 6 Although the project started midway winch. sions for inclusion in the schedule of hik- peregrine falcons, 6 merlins, 5 kestrels, 3 through the migration and after the ex- Operation of the highline is as follows: ing events listed in the Trail Walker. Many bald eagles, 3 red-shouldered hawks, 2 tremely abundant broad-winged hawk had rocks are wrapped in chain, the chain is hikers, from novice to expert, regularly rough-legged hawks, 2 northern goshawks, already passed, the diversity (13 species) attached to the wire rope via a third block, rely on the Hikers’ Almanac for its accu- 2 golden eagles, and 20 unidentified rap- and sighting rate (7.1 per/hour) of raptors then the hand-operated winch tightens the rate and informative entries. tors. One hundred and ninety-one turkey promises for good hawk watching in the wire rope thereby actually making the Nancy also volunteers on the Trail vultures and 27 ravens round out the future. Trail Conference members inter- rock airborne. Without the friction of the Conference’s publications committee and sightings. ested in visiting the fire tower hawk watch ground to contend with, the rocks are eas- has recently become the project manager Each fall, North American raptors mi- should mark their calendars for next Sep- ily transported along the wire rope to the of a revised edition of Day Walker, a guide grate southward ahead of winter follow- tember and remember to pack a wind- trail where the winch can then slacken the to hikes close to New York City. She in- ing age-old migration routes. North-south breaker. continued on page 6 continued on page 10 TRAIL WALKER FROM THE CHAIR Volume XXXI, No. 1 Jan./Feb. 2004 Georgette Weir Editor Nora Porter Managing Editor The TRAIL WALKER (USPS Permit #970- 100) (ISSN 0749-1352) is published bi-monthly by the New York-New Jersey Trail Confer- Catskills Preservation Celebrates 100 Years ence as a benefit of membership. Subscriptions are available to libraries only at $15.00 a year. Periodical postage paid at Mahwah, N.J., and Hikers know the Catskills to be a spe- hoops. But that industry too was short lived Park to rededicate ourselves to getting to additional offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to the address below. Opinions ex- cial place. Hiking trails and opportunities as steel hoops soon replaced hand hewn know these mountains and to protecting pressed by authors do not necessarily repre- to bushwhack abound. There are great ones. Old farmsteads and woods roads them. sent the policy or position of the Conference. summit views, impenetrable fir forests, wil- attest to attempts to farm the mountains, Think imaginatively of a way to cel- Contributions of typed manuscripts, photos, and drawings are welcome. Manuscripts may derness havens, and old woods roads suit- sometimes not too successfully. ebrate this event. Join the ranks of Tho- be edited for style and length. Send SASE for able for snow-shoeing or cross country Tourism arrived in the Catskills in 1824 mas Cole and the painters of the Hudson writers’ guidelines. Submission deadlines for the TRAIL WALKER are January 15 (Mar./ skiing. It was 100 years ago this January, when the Catskill Mountain House River School and preserve the scenery Apr. issue), March 15 (May/June issue), May that the Catskill Park was established, opened. First steamships up the Hudson through photography or painting. Con- 15 (July/Aug. issue), July 15 (Sept./Oct. issue), eventually growing to preserve forever River and later trains, then cars brought sider the Catskill tradition of inspiring and September 15 (Nov./Dec. issue), November 15 (Jan./Feb. issue). Unsolicited contributions can- some 1,100 square miles of land. vacationers to the mountains. A former funding the arts. Consider the possibility not be acknowledged unless accompanied by Geologically, the Catskill region is an tanning town (Edwardsville) has become of taking a long nap, after all Rip Van SASE.