A volunteer holds up a stump she removed from the Hawksbill Trail.
The SAWS crew had a fun and successful day on the Hawksbill Trail in the Linville Gorge this past Saturday. The project involved "touching up" the recently completed re-route of the popular trail, which leads to the Hawksbill rock formation and boasts a spectacular view of the Linville Gorge and surrounding area. 13 volunteers and 3 staff combined their efforts to remove 20 stumps from the new trail and restored 1/3 mile of the old trail so the corridor could begin to recover.
SAWS is one of many groups, including Outward Bound, The Access Fund, American Alpine Club, Carolina Climbers Coalition, and the DRAFT Crew, which helped to complete the re-route over three years. The new trail replaced an unsustainable "fall line" trail, which had significant erosion problems, with a more hiker-friendly and ecologically sustainable trail.