2024 Massanutten Trail Work Party

Last Saturday, 18 volunteers coordinated by the VHTRC help clear trails in the Massanutten Mountains. Together, we cleared 29.6 miles of trail, removed 56(!) trees, and contributed 140.5 hours of labor to our public lands.

The following people participated in the work party:

They cleared the following sections:

Short Mountain

MMT Trail Boss, Kevin Bligan, his son Carl, and Eduardo Ugarte tackled Short Mountain from the Moreland Gap side. Kevin brush-cut the trail from Moreland Gap to the forest road crossing, while Carl and Eduardo headed up the ridge. Meanwhile, Ivory Lira and Zach Weinberger started at Edinburg Gap and worked south. The two parties met in the middle of Short Mountain and then returned to their respective cars. Short Mountain is now clear, thanks to Carl, Kevin, Eduardo, Ivory, and Zach.

Powell Mountain

Caleb Fowler, Keith Knipling, and Jack Kurisky attacked Powell Mountain from Edinburg Gap, clearing 15 trees and repairing some damage from illegal motorcycle use.

From Woodstock Tower, Dan Aghdam, Justin Faul, Karen Wille cleared 7 large trees from the trail. The two crews almost — but not quite — met in the middle of the ridge. We think there is one more treetop covering the trail about a half mile south of the Talus Trail that descends down to Seven Bends State Park, halfway between Edinburg Gap and Woodstock Tower.

Bird Knob

Barry Hauptman and crew of Luke Hartman, Huanyuan Sheng, and Eric Thomson cleared four large trees from the MMT course in the vicinity of Bird Knob.

Kerns Mountain and Habron Gap

Quatro Hubbard, Karen Knight, and Andy Peterson cleared Kerns Mountain and Jawbone down to Gap Creek. Q and Andy, in a particularly Herculean effort, then went over to the Habron Gap trailhead and cleared several more trees up to the ridge. Q and Andy each spent nearly 10 hours on the trail.

Illegal motorcycle usage on Powell Mountain

Edinburg Gap is an access point to the Peters Mill Run/Taskers Gap OHV System, a vast trail network for 4-wheeled drive vehicles, UTVs, ATVs, and motorcycles.

It is apparent that motorcycles are illegally accessing the Massanutten Trail between Edinburg Gap and Woodstock Tower. The damage they have incurred is immense. They are creating ruts in the trail, accelerating erosion and displacing rocks that had shored up the trail for decades. They ride around downed trees and other obstacles, killing mountain laurel and other fauna. They create new trails, some going straight down the mountainside.

We spent a considerable amount of time repairing some of this damage and blocking some of the rogue side trails created by the motorcycles. But there is a significant amount of trail repair that now needs to be done. All the while, there seems to be no deterrent to motorcycles accessing the trail, so the damage will likely continue.

If you are concerned about this illegal activity on public lands, you can contact the U.S. Forest Service.

Photos