Wolf Ridge Trail in the George Washington National Forest is looking super good after 3 days clearing it for the Shenandoah Mountain 100

Hauling the gear out after 3 long work days - BOB Trailers are useful!

Getting a grasp on the quantity of work to be done, also helps gauge how far we have gone per day, can you see the trail ahead?

Yep, this is our potential wilderness area, remnants of an old logging truck

Some of the gear required to remove this tree, not shown is the safety gear that is being warn and the 1st aid/CPR card and the chainsaw operators card that expires every 3 years

Little beauty

Free the trail! - FREEDOM in the George Washington National Forest is very important to members of the Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition

One big dead guy, will be picking up pieces of this tree for a long time to come

That is Jake 20 feet off the trail doing the job right, flush cutting a sapling off that is reaching into the trail

Some many dead trees... soooo little time, Wolf Ridge Trail was not even passable all spring because there we some many dead branches locked together along the trail

Orange is such a nice color in the woods

Nick clears up some of this debris, the USFS cut this one down for us - THANKS!

I see over 20 trees that will be laying across the trail in the next 5 years

Nick Pence after a 12 hr day clearing trail, ready to head back to Harrisonburg, Virginia after hauling the gear out with our bicycles.

Brushing with the gas powered equipment is huge necessity when the canopy of trees overhead has died from one pass of the gypsy moth. Many people thought that it would take a few passes of the leave eating gypsy moth to kill these tree's in the George Washington National Forest. They were wrong. The average tree in your backyard can take a few devastation's 3-4, so I have been told, before they die. These ridge top beauties are not as resistant. It must be a hard world for trees on the ridge tops with excessive winds, thin soils, cold winters and direct sunlight from all sides all year long. The ground is now erupting with saplings', briars, invasive vines and stripped maples that are swallowing the trails and closing them off to
hikers, bicyclists and equestrians. Back to the theme of the post. Thank goodness we are allowed to use mechanized devices to keep these trails closed. Mechanized devices are not allowed to keep the trails open in Wilderness Areas in National Forests. Right now a crew of workers are spending over $100,000 clearing trails in the Ramsey's Draft Wilderness Area. We cleared the trail in the Little River Potential Wilderness Area for free. Volunteerism at its best. Thanks Shenandoah Valley Bicycle Coalition for all the countless hours and dedication to keeping trails open for bicycles, hikers and equestrians in the George Washington National Forest for the last decade.