Snow kept us from the trail most of February but we made some progress for future plans. March should bring warmer temperatures and the start of spring flowers.
Flying McLeods Crew to Soar Again
We had a great turn out for our initial planning meeting at Crozet Pizza. It is great to see so much interest in the reformation of a South District trail crew. We ate great pizza, laughed, and talked though the details of how to get our crew off the ground and "Flying".
Schedule: We agreed to hold work trips monthly on 4th Saturday of the month, starting April 25th and ending for the season on October 24th.
Getting Work: Our biggest topic was how to go about finding projects for the Flying McLeods to work on. I have created a spreadsheet to start logging potential projects. For now if you have a project you would like to suggest, email me at [email protected] to add it to the list.
Below are some of the ideas that came up in the discussion. If you have additional ideas please let us know.
Once we have a list of projects, we will meet again and work out scheduling the projects and assigning leaders. The general idea is that we would start by asking the maintainer of the section to be worked if they would like to lead the group and if not we would assign someone from our group to lead with the maintainers input.
Publicity: Directly related to getting work, we discussed publicity and how important getting word out will be to let people know how to find us and for making people feel welcome and part of the team. A big hand to Ruth Stornetta for offering to help with this effort and write an article for the PA announcing the formation of the crew to the greater PATC community.
Potluck: As we where all sitting around eating pizza and having a good time, we all felt that having a potluck after each work trip was a great way to embrace having fun while doing hard work together.
Something that both the Cadillac Crew and the Hoodlums do with their potlucks is have a monthly theme for the potluck. If you are interested in putting together the list of themes for our 7 work trips, let us know and we can coordinate how to get the message out.
We also talked about safety, Volunteer Service Agreements, T-Shirts, Stickers, and other technical aspects of the start up.
At this point the biggest next step is getting word out and asking people to submit project ideas to our group.
Looking forward to April!
-Kevin Cwalina
We had a great turn out for our initial planning meeting at Crozet Pizza. It is great to see so much interest in the reformation of a South District trail crew. We ate great pizza, laughed, and talked though the details of how to get our crew off the ground and "Flying".
Schedule: We agreed to hold work trips monthly on 4th Saturday of the month, starting April 25th and ending for the season on October 24th.
Getting Work: Our biggest topic was how to go about finding projects for the Flying McLeods to work on. I have created a spreadsheet to start logging potential projects. For now if you have a project you would like to suggest, email me at [email protected] to add it to the list.
Below are some of the ideas that came up in the discussion. If you have additional ideas please let us know.
- Ridgerunner, Trail Patrol, and Maintainer Reports
- Emails from Maintainers
- Announcement in the PA
- Shenandoah National Park Hikers Facebook Group
- Clean out, repair, or build water bars and grade dips
- Trim weeds / Mowing
- Blow down removal
- Invasive removal
- Blazing
- Rock Stairs, check dams
- Help when you are on vacation or recovering from an injury
Once we have a list of projects, we will meet again and work out scheduling the projects and assigning leaders. The general idea is that we would start by asking the maintainer of the section to be worked if they would like to lead the group and if not we would assign someone from our group to lead with the maintainers input.
Publicity: Directly related to getting work, we discussed publicity and how important getting word out will be to let people know how to find us and for making people feel welcome and part of the team. A big hand to Ruth Stornetta for offering to help with this effort and write an article for the PA announcing the formation of the crew to the greater PATC community.
Potluck: As we where all sitting around eating pizza and having a good time, we all felt that having a potluck after each work trip was a great way to embrace having fun while doing hard work together.
Something that both the Cadillac Crew and the Hoodlums do with their potlucks is have a monthly theme for the potluck. If you are interested in putting together the list of themes for our 7 work trips, let us know and we can coordinate how to get the message out.
We also talked about safety, Volunteer Service Agreements, T-Shirts, Stickers, and other technical aspects of the start up.
At this point the biggest next step is getting word out and asking people to submit project ideas to our group.
Looking forward to April!
-Kevin Cwalina
History of the Flying McLeods
Flying McLeods South District Trail Crew 20?? To 2021
Origin story: I was on a work trip in the early 2000s. It might have been a storm cleanup. Then-Supervisor of Trails John Hedrick approached me and asked me if I’d like to lead a trail crew. Al Dahler was standing nearby and, before I could respond, he said,” I’ll be your assistant.” So that was it. I carried a black Moleskin notebook, now held together with duct tape, to record work trip information. Earliest date in the notebook is 2008 so that may be the “beginning.” The club provided me with ten McLeods and five Pulaskis. I painted each handle with a band of orange, brown and green to identify my crew’s tools. Trail crews need cute, catchy names. Bartenders was already taken, so I came up with the Flying McLeods. District Manager Don White procured t-shirts with a literal flying McLeod on the back.
Our mission: Don has an archive of historical information on the Appalachian Trail in the south district SNP. He had a vision of returning the tread to its early conditions. So that was our mission: to regrade “cupped” sections, remove slough and berm, repair waterbars. We also converted some grade dips to broad-based grade dips, that’s popular now under a different name. The work we did was beyond the scope of section maintainers. We also worked on some blue-blaze trails when maintainers asked for help.
Signature project: The AT going north from Beagle Gap went up a steep, gravelly, easily-eroded section. We did two repair projects on that section, including carrying black locust logs up from the gap to build new waterbars. It all blew out in a month. Don had long advocated for a relocation of the AT which would go over the summit of Little Calf Mountain and not exceed 10% grade. We worked with our trails contact at SNP, Shawn Green, to scout and flag a reroute. Over many work days, we completed the relocation and had a grand opening in August 2012. Because of its gentle grades and the picnic view at the summit, the relocation is very popular with families introducing young children to hiking.
Finally, health issues starting in 2021 forced me to turn in my tools. I put everything in an empty fire toolbox in the Simmons Gap tool room. I don’t know what became of them after that.
Mark Gatewood
27 Feb 2026
Flying McLeods South District Trail Crew 20?? To 2021
Origin story: I was on a work trip in the early 2000s. It might have been a storm cleanup. Then-Supervisor of Trails John Hedrick approached me and asked me if I’d like to lead a trail crew. Al Dahler was standing nearby and, before I could respond, he said,” I’ll be your assistant.” So that was it. I carried a black Moleskin notebook, now held together with duct tape, to record work trip information. Earliest date in the notebook is 2008 so that may be the “beginning.” The club provided me with ten McLeods and five Pulaskis. I painted each handle with a band of orange, brown and green to identify my crew’s tools. Trail crews need cute, catchy names. Bartenders was already taken, so I came up with the Flying McLeods. District Manager Don White procured t-shirts with a literal flying McLeod on the back.
Our mission: Don has an archive of historical information on the Appalachian Trail in the south district SNP. He had a vision of returning the tread to its early conditions. So that was our mission: to regrade “cupped” sections, remove slough and berm, repair waterbars. We also converted some grade dips to broad-based grade dips, that’s popular now under a different name. The work we did was beyond the scope of section maintainers. We also worked on some blue-blaze trails when maintainers asked for help.
Signature project: The AT going north from Beagle Gap went up a steep, gravelly, easily-eroded section. We did two repair projects on that section, including carrying black locust logs up from the gap to build new waterbars. It all blew out in a month. Don had long advocated for a relocation of the AT which would go over the summit of Little Calf Mountain and not exceed 10% grade. We worked with our trails contact at SNP, Shawn Green, to scout and flag a reroute. Over many work days, we completed the relocation and had a grand opening in August 2012. Because of its gentle grades and the picnic view at the summit, the relocation is very popular with families introducing young children to hiking.
Finally, health issues starting in 2021 forced me to turn in my tools. I put everything in an empty fire toolbox in the Simmons Gap tool room. I don’t know what became of them after that.
Mark Gatewood
27 Feb 2026
Historic photos of the AT relocation over Calf Mountain
To read more about the history of the Calf Mountain Project, you can use this link: Calf Mountain Project
February: Social Outing
Thanks to Chuck Troutman for organizing and hosting the February social outing at Elkton Brewery. Nine other maintainers and friends joined him for a good time of fellowship. We enjoyed sharing stories, sampling the beers named after local interest and listening to the band The final winter social outing will be held Sunday, March 22nd. at Delly Up located in downtown Waynesboro from 3:00-5:00 pm.
Thanks to Chuck Troutman for organizing and hosting the February social outing at Elkton Brewery. Nine other maintainers and friends joined him for a good time of fellowship. We enjoyed sharing stories, sampling the beers named after local interest and listening to the band The final winter social outing will be held Sunday, March 22nd. at Delly Up located in downtown Waynesboro from 3:00-5:00 pm.
UVA Forestry Club Helps Out
On February 21st, the UVA Forestry Club worked on clipping back mountain laurel on the section of the AT from Turk Gap to Sawmill Run Overlook. We divided into three groups: two groups working from each end and one group worked on clearing the overlook. Led by William Brooks, these students were well organized, enthusiastic and hardworking helpers. Special thanks to Joel Brown, Roger Smith, and Pam Heinrich for assisting the group.
On Saturday, March 28, Environmental Management Club from
JMU will help clip vegetation on the section from Swift Run to Hightop Parking. Thanks to Patti McInerney and Dave Bowen for allowing them to help on their section.
On February 21st, the UVA Forestry Club worked on clipping back mountain laurel on the section of the AT from Turk Gap to Sawmill Run Overlook. We divided into three groups: two groups working from each end and one group worked on clearing the overlook. Led by William Brooks, these students were well organized, enthusiastic and hardworking helpers. Special thanks to Joel Brown, Roger Smith, and Pam Heinrich for assisting the group.
On Saturday, March 28, Environmental Management Club from
JMU will help clip vegetation on the section from Swift Run to Hightop Parking. Thanks to Patti McInerney and Dave Bowen for allowing them to help on their section.
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