Every year around Earth Day the Virginia Four-Wheel-Drive Association hosts a project day on the Bald Mountain Jeep Trail. I first attended this project back in 2017 with John of New Horizons Overland. We did our typical “work hard; play hard” thing by incorporating a multi-day trip called “The Shadow of the Parkway” I had been working on at the time with the overnight stop at Sherando Lake Campground to camp with the VA4WDA crew and help out on the Jeep Trail. Since then it has become a regular occurrence with our portion of the group growing each year.
It had to have been dumped shortly before we got there.
After Walt’s project on Tank Hollow Road the day prior in our rearview mirror it was time to lather, rinse, and repeat the process. Our team didn’t actually head to the Bald Mountain Jeep Trail. The VA4WDA crew broke into two groups. One tackle the Jeep Trail from the top the other started on the bottom and did Coal Road which is the access road to the lower trailhead. There are also dozens of dispersed campsites and hiking/biking trailheads along Coal Road that could use some love. Since a group had already been through the area earlier in the year and not as much manpower was needed our group opted to take on one of the more technical areas along Howardsville Turnpike. This road leads up out of the hustling bustling metropolis of Shernado up to the Blue Ridge Parkway.
The road we were on was a known dumping spot and it was no surprise that as soon as we got there we saw we had our work cut out for us. Aside from the usual household trash we also saw furniture, cinderblocks, and everyone’s favorite – tires. The location we were at was nestled in the crook of a switchback which presented us with some terrain challenges. Nothing as sever as Tank Hollow Road, thankfully, however it did mean some rigging needed to be done to get the tires up.
We started first with the furniture. Two chairs and a twin mattress — which we determined has been dumped that very day — were the first easy pickings. With those loaded up into the trailer part of the group headed down to the dumpster while two of us stayed back to tackle the tires. Peter, of longtime ECOA Corporate Partner Aylestock Automotive, and I spent a solid hour collecting tires and staging them in one spot. By the time the other half of the group got back from dumpster we were ready to put our plan into motion.
One of our observations and lessons learned from Tank Hollow the day before was that winches aren’t exactly the best tool for the job. Between the power issues and rigging issues a winch can easily get side-loaded on the drum. This sometimes requires unspooling and respooling which eats up time and can often lead to the load rolling back downhill. This time we opted to use one of Walt’s longest winch line extensions, run it through a pulley block, and then use a vehicle to do the heavy work. This way the vehicle could just drive without fear of a winch side-loading or overheating.
This plan worked so much better. We were able to pluck the pile of tires with relative ease. The downhill team of John and Walt were able to break the tires down into small groups while the uphill team of Jonathan and I de-rigged them once they were up on the road. Peter had the easiest, if not most boring, job of just driving. He didn’t get to see much and only had me yelling commands at him to keep him occupied. He probably logged a few miles just driving forwards and backwards on the same stretch of road.
In this case there were a few tires we didn’t need extra hands for and some easy trash to fill a bag or two
Thank you to Tread Lightly for covering the cost of the dumpster and thank you to Sandy from VA4WDA and Plinio from the USFS for getting it placed in a central location all three teams could get to
After 19 total tires — of which four were on wheels and one was from a semi-truck — we call it quits. We took three total loads to the dumpster. By the time we added our last load the VA4WDA teams had all but filled it. They even dropped off more after we left. Solid day’s work.
Thank you to Jesse of the VA4WDA for cooking everyone some hot food after a long day on the mountain
That night we enjoyed a cookout provided by VA4WDA and some door prizes for those who stuck around. Once those festivities were concluded it was time to build an epic fire in the fireplace and kick back and relax for the remainder of the night. All in all it was a good day and a good ending to a solid week of work. It’s not every month you end up doing three projects in two states over the course of 4 days. That said, I can’t think of a better way to honor the legacy of Earth Day than to spent time in the woods leaving it better than we found it.
If you are a off-road business owner or an off-road enthusiast in Virginia please consider joining the Virginia Four-Wheel-Drive Association
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