Some folks don’t think about the effects of their actions. Perhaps they’re visiting a place and think, it’s only me, what can it hurt.

Well, on the Appalachian Trail, there are effects by everyone and you are not alone.

What I’m talking about is the “Leave No Trace” ethic. You are never really alone anywhere on the Appalachian Trail. And at Pine Knob, this is especially true. Because of the sign on the footbridge over the I-70 Freeway, the easy access from the freeway and the close proximity of popular Greenbrier State Park, this section of the AT gets a workout. Often the parking area is full and folks scramble to park. For some reason though, they’re in a hurry to get to the trail and take short cuts to save 30 seconds.

Please don’t take short cuts. The trail is maintained by us volunteers, the damage done by folks taking short cuts just leads to more work for us, and keeps us from taking care of the AT itself.

So recently I’ve done a little work to give incentive to stay on the AT from/to the blue marked access path from the parking. I laid a path of gravel on the dirt section of the AT along the fence next to the I-70 freeway. That’s a ton (2000 lbs) of gravel carried in 400 meters to the trail by manual labor. About 4 hours work shuttling in the stone. The picture shows the gravel loose but in no time after a rain it will get pushed into the ground and disappear to the eyes but not the feet. The result will be a hard surface that won’t get muddy and will give an added reason to stay on the trail for the extra 100 feet. Please do.