Scout volunteers Jonathan Hillis (left) Mitchell Pierpont and Ken Lipshy are among 202 Boy Scouts now digging out new trail tread in the New River Gorge National River area.
FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. -- When volunteers from the Order of the Arrow -- Boy Scouting's national honorary society -- commit to a service project, they live up to the BSA motto of "Be Prepared," and hit the ground running.
The first 202 of nearly 2,000 Arrowmen, as members of the society are known, arrived in Fayette County this week to spend July building trails in the New River Gorge National River area. By the end of their first two days of work, they had built more than 7,000 feet of new trail in the Gorge's Craig Branch area near Kaymoor Top.
By the end of July, they intend to complete nearly 20 miles of new stacked-loop biking and hiking trails in the Craig Branch and Garden Ground areas, in addition to removing and rehabilitating 12 miles of illegal ATV trails and clearing away four acres of invasive multiflora rose.
"We have 22 crews of eight or nine people each working here now, and each crew averages about 150 feet of new trail per day," said Mitch Andrews, an Order of the Arrow section leader from Willoughby Hills, Ohio.
The stacked loop trails the Arrowmen are building are a series of interconnected looping pathways that give hikers and bikers numerous options in terrain type, length and degree of difficulty. The trails were plotted and marked with tape earlier in the year by personnel from the International Mountain Biking Association.
Three weeks ago, an instructor corps consisting of several dozen nominally paid Scouts arrived in Fayette County to receive training in crew leadership and trail building in the Gorge.
The 70,000-acre New River Gorge National River area adjoins the 10,600-acre Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, BSA's newest national high-adventure base and the permanent home of the National Scout Jamboree.
The Order of the Arrow has a long history of working on trail-building projects in national parks, national forests and at BSA high adventure camps across the nation, according to Jonathon Hillis, the national chief of the Order of the Arrow, who was among those building trail on Wednesday.
With the Summit taking shape so close to the National Park Service-administered New River Gorge, and with the NPS "trying to get youth more involved in parks and outdoor activity, there's no better place than here to be working this summer," said Hillis.
Hillis, a rising junior at Carlton College in Northfield, Minn., said Order of the Arrow volunteers range in age from 14 to 21, and are coming from as far away as Alaska and Florida to work on the New River Gorge trails.
"They could be doing anything else this summer, but they chose to come here, at their own expense, because they believe in this project," he said."
FAYETTEVILLE, W.Va. -- When volunteers from the Order of the Arrow -- Boy Scouting's national honorary society -- commit to a service project, they live up to the BSA motto of "Be Prepared," and hit the ground running.
The first 202 of nearly 2,000 Arrowmen, as members of the society are known, arrived in Fayette County this week to spend July building trails in the New River Gorge National River area. By the end of their first two days of work, they had built more than 7,000 feet of new trail in the Gorge's Craig Branch area near Kaymoor Top.
By the end of July, they intend to complete nearly 20 miles of new stacked-loop biking and hiking trails in the Craig Branch and Garden Ground areas, in addition to removing and rehabilitating 12 miles of illegal ATV trails and clearing away four acres of invasive multiflora rose.
"We have 22 crews of eight or nine people each working here now, and each crew averages about 150 feet of new trail per day," said Mitch Andrews, an Order of the Arrow section leader from Willoughby Hills, Ohio.
The stacked loop trails the Arrowmen are building are a series of interconnected looping pathways that give hikers and bikers numerous options in terrain type, length and degree of difficulty. The trails were plotted and marked with tape earlier in the year by personnel from the International Mountain Biking Association.
Three weeks ago, an instructor corps consisting of several dozen nominally paid Scouts arrived in Fayette County to receive training in crew leadership and trail building in the Gorge.
The 70,000-acre New River Gorge National River area adjoins the 10,600-acre Summit Bechtel Family National Scout Reserve, BSA's newest national high-adventure base and the permanent home of the National Scout Jamboree.
The Order of the Arrow has a long history of working on trail-building projects in national parks, national forests and at BSA high adventure camps across the nation, according to Jonathon Hillis, the national chief of the Order of the Arrow, who was among those building trail on Wednesday.
With the Summit taking shape so close to the National Park Service-administered New River Gorge, and with the NPS "trying to get youth more involved in parks and outdoor activity, there's no better place than here to be working this summer," said Hillis.
Hillis, a rising junior at Carlton College in Northfield, Minn., said Order of the Arrow volunteers range in age from 14 to 21, and are coming from as far away as Alaska and Florida to work on the New River Gorge trails.
"They could be doing anything else this summer, but they chose to come here, at their own expense, because they believe in this project," he said."
Among West Virginia Arrowmen taking part in the project is Cole Coates of Weirton, who had traveled through the New River Gorge area with his family, but never stopped here until volunteering for trail-building duty.
During a break from trail work on Wednesday, Coates and fellow crew members talked about plans for Friday, the one day off during the week. Options include such New River Gorge activities as mountain biking, rock climbing and zip-lining.
As midday heat and high humidity caused sweat to linger on his brow, Coates had little difficulty with his choice: "I'm going whitewater rafting," he said.
Each week in July, a new group of several hundred Scout volunteers will arrive in Fayette County to take the places of the previous week's volunteers. More than 400 Scouts are scheduled to take part in next week's work.
Hundreds of other support personnel -- adults affiliated with BSA who serve as drivers, cooks, clerical and communications workers -- are also taking part in the project.
The Glen Jean Armed Forces Reserve Center is the headquarters for the project, with scouts sleeping in a tent city behind the center, dining in its mess hall, and taking part in evening programs in its auditorium.
"We leave the armory before 7 a.m., and we don't leave the work site until about 4 p.m.," said Mitchell Pierpont of Michigan. "We're a work hard, play hard kind of group."
After the Order of the Arrow volunteers leave, other BSA volunteers have made plans to continue trail work in the Gorge.
"Other Scout groups and bike clubs will come on board in August," said Robin Snyder, a spokeswoman for the New River Gorge National River. "If the new trails are done with volunteer work, as planned, we're looking at saving 10 years and $1 million."
Long-range plans call for connecting a network of trails on National Park Service and state park land to create trail access extending the length of the 53-mile New River Gorge.
Reach Rick Steelhammer at rsteelham...@wvgazette.com or 304-348-5169
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