Privy Moves

A.T. volunteers Russ, Dave, Tom, and Cosmo got a lot of useful work accomplished on the A.T. pit toilets last Saturday – a rain-free day on the longest day of the year. Here is Cosmo's report. At Shaker the pit was full to the top. We cut down a small dead tree and moved the outhouse about 6ft to the right (when facing the door). As usual at this site, digging was easy, and the depth of the pit was only limited by the mechanics of getting the loosened dirt out of the waist deep hole. We also replaced a few boards on the picnic table and applied a fresh coat of stain to the top. I think this is the 2^nd repair to this table since it was installed. Much longer, and we will have replaced nearly every part of it. Hopefully, we will be able to close this campsite (which is in fragile habitat, contains a cultural site, and is visited by neighboring bears a few times a year) and build a new one a few miles to the north in a couple of years. We then travelled to the back door access to South Wilcox Shelter and hiked down for a quick lunch at the old shelter before starting work on the privy (also full). Because the ground is slightly sloped, we cut a bit of a flat bench for the privy to sit on then dug the pit. We did encounter a few large rocks, which we left protruding into the new pit, rather than risking collapsing the sides by removing them. Once we got the outhouse settled at its new home, we added some rock steps to make access a bit more comfortable. Hopefully, this and other pit-type privies on the A.T. in MA will be replaced with moldering types in the next 2-3 years – pending Federal funding for the work. While we were working, we met Adam Morris – DCR South Berkshire Regional Supervisor – who was showing a new staff person around the park (Beartown State Forest). We had a nice conversation about how the A.T. works within the state forests, among other topics. We are coming up to a bit of a hiatus in our work schedule around the holiday, and we have some open dates on the calendar in July. If you think there are projects we should undertake, there is room to add them to the schedule – just let me know. Go to our committee webpage to view and register for upcoming work. More Photos