Work Weekend at Upper Tellico OHV Area

by Greg Griffith, Southern Four Wheel Drive Association

Southern Four Wheel Drive Association pulled off another super work weekend on September 5 - 7, 1997 in the Upper Tellico OHV Area in the Nantahala National Forest in North Carolina. Our members and clubs did a fantastic job on the new entrance and pay station area near Murphy, NC and on the trails in the OHV area. The turn out was really better than expected. With so many volunteers and their backhoe, bobcat, tractor, dozer, pickups, trailers and tools, SFWDA accomplished more work in three days than most user groups can do in a week.

We finished the entrance pay station area on the Murphy side of the park. A really good-looking fence now marks the new paths and parking lot. If you need any post holes dug by hand, contact Jason Edwards. He can install them faster than you can watch. Atomic City 4-Wheelers worked hard to help get the fence up. Mulch work and landscaping installation seemed to be the thing for East Tennessee 4WD Club and the Renegade 4WD Club to do. Need culverts hauled? Talk to Tommy Roller and Greg Daughtrey. You might want to talk loud. I think they are both deaf after listening to the extreme-duty trailer Tommy built for the association (it rattles but it can haul materials into hard to get to places). Thanks Tommy, we can use it. If a cross tie wall is needed, call on the Middle Tennessee Trail Runners club. I saw Horace Nowlin with Ernie West on his shoulders driving rebar once. Shawn Milner and Woody Havens were everywhere. I really did not know they could move so fast.

On the trails in the OHV area, Randy Sloan of the Carolina Trail Blazers 4WD Club did a great job cleaning out slit traps with his backhoe. His backhoe may not be really big, but just watch him run it. Thanks Randy for a good job on trail 1 & 2. Scenic City 4WD Club as always did a "SUPERDUPER" (I watch too much Barney) job. These guys can do it all. I cannot tell everyone how lucky Southern Four Wheel Drive Association is to have guys like Gunner Byrd and Griff Shirley running heavy equipment for us. These guys help to make us look good all the time. The rest of Scenic Cit really pitched in full blast. Heck, even Greg "I forgot where Tellico is" Hall was there running equipment. Griff even brought Tim and another one of his guys to work so we could finish the project. All these guys worked their collective tails off. The weather was great and the temperature must have been in the 90's. Jason Holcomb went back to camp and brought back 2 cases of soft drinks that lasted about 30 minutes.

Additionally, there were several rangers from the Tusquitee Ranger Station in Murphy, NC in attendance to coordinate the efforts and help with the work. We really appreciate these guys giving their weekends for hobby!

Southern worked hard for three days on the area. The only project we did not get to was trail 7. The Association had a total dollar matching weekend of about $26,195.00. Thanks to all that helped!

Total Clubs represented - 7
Total Workers - 44
Total Machines - 5
Total Machine Hours - 195
Total Members Vehicles - 16
Total Vehicle Hours - 224

Total Labor Value - $ 20,565.00
Total Machine Value - $ 4,030.00
Total Vehicle Value - $ 1,600.00
TOTAL DOLLARS donated by SFWDA - $ 26,195.00

The pictures show the new facilities at the main entrance near Murphy, NC. The entrance station now includes a new bulletin board and roof with concrete plateau, and fee box surrounded by fence. The parking lot has been hardened and greatly enlarged to hold about 50 trucks. There is also an ATV unloading ramp for pickup trucks. All these pictures were taken on Saturday, September 6 as we worked to install many of these facilities. They are shown below in chronological order.

During the same weekend, other volunteer crews worked on several of the trails in the OHV area, maintaining trails by building water bars and clearing silt traps.

Click on a small image to see the full sized image with description.

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