CVOA SPRUCES UP THE AT

By Tom Spring.

A half dozen members of the Carrabassett Valley Outdoor Association teamed up with the Maine Appalachian Trail Club recently to tame the blowdown and overgrowth along the Carrabassett Valley section of the AT.
The crew drove up the Sugarloaf Binder Trail to work on the half-mile section of blue-blazed trail that runs from the summit of Sugarloaf to the AT and on the 2.5 mile section of the AT that runs to the Caribou Pond Road.The AT has standard guidelines for maintaining all sections of its hiking trail from Springer Mountain, George to Katahdin, Maine and they were followed by the CVOA team.
Tom said CVOA may "adopt" this section of trail, assuming responsibility for annual maintenance.
Laying waste to what he called "an old forest of arboreal growth" on Maine's second highest peak were:
Pete "Grub Hoe" and Judy "Snippers" Weston, Fred "Digger" Randell, Lisa "Loppers" Sleight, Tom "Tylenol" and Helen "Aleve" Spring.
"I think we cut trees that were planted during the second Grant Administration," joked Tom, a member of the Maine Appalachian Trail Club and a past president of CVOA. "The trail has been neglected. Brush had to be cut back and water bars cleaned out."
Tom said most of the work involves cutting back the overgrowth on the AT (NPS Guidelines suggest a path that is 4' wide and 8' high) and the cleaning of water bars.
The AT trail project was one of many that CVOA volunteers tackle each year. Members of the outdoor club are active participants in the annual town cleanup of Route 27. In addition, CVOA members clear brush and clean litter from the premier hiking and biking trails in the valley and works with the MATC on bridge and trail projects in the area. The group has also built and maintains a dozen picnic tables on the Narrow Gauge Pathway, Crommett Overlook and other scenic spots. It works with the town to stock a fish pond at the Outdoor Center and pitched in on the Northern Forest Canoe Trail.