The Catskill Mountain Club’s 2015 trail maintenance efforts continued on Wednesday, September 9 as several CMC members ventured out to maintain the Pine Hill-West Branch trail over Eagle and Haynes mountains.
The hike from Seager to Rider Hollow was 7.95 miles and a lot of work was done along the way.

Before

After
After having lunch at the trail junction the crew moved up the section leading to Eagle mountain. Even though this section had been previously cleared of blowdowns on a prior maintenance outing (to Big Indian) there was plenty of work to do trimming with shears and loppers.

Clearing another blowdown on the Pine Hill-West Branch trail

Steve clears blowdown with Silky saw
Around 6pm or so, the skies darkened, the wind picked up and the rain poured down. The crew secured their tools and scampered down the trail to the cars waiting in the Rider Hollow parking area and enjoyed the traditional post-hike tailgate snacks.
Upcoming Events
Next week, the crew will visit the Touch-Me-Not trail section between Alder Lake and Big Pond. If you haven’t been out with the crew yet this year, this might be a good opportunity to join in since this is a relatively easy section of trail being only 3 miles long from end to end with little elevation change along the way.
After that, there will be more work on the Pine Hill-West Branch trail from the Biscuit Brook trailhead to Big Indian mountain as well as an outing on a beautiful section of the Long Path near Palenville which includes Poet’s Ledge and several scenic waterfalls. Also, there’s an outing scheduled to take place during the Lark in the Park on the German Hollow trail and a section of the Dry Brook Ridge trail.