Workday Report: April 2026
This covers the regularly scheduled workday for April. We were to finish the two new steps horse steps on the north side of the Hardage Mill Trail (7 and 8) and if we had time we were to perform cyclic maintenance on the northern end of the Hardage Mill Trail from where it meets the Noses Creek Trail to the Noses Creek bridge.
We had 5 crew leaders and 22 volunteers for the workday. The volunteers were from KSU Climbing Club (16), Hillgrove JROTC (2), the Atlanta Outdoor Club (3), and individuals that signed up on the Friends website (3).
I welcomed the volunteers, explained the workplan, did a safety brief, talked about Crew Leader Volunteer opportunities, issued tools, and we walked to the worksite.
Thanks to Issaic and Michael for staging the GAB by the bottom of the steps.
We started with the crew leaders and 5 volunteers filling in steps 7 and 8, line 2 of the workplan. We formed a bucket brigade filling the buckets, passing them up the hill and back down starting at step 7. We were about halfway done filling step 7 when the Calvary arrived, another Hillgrove volunteer and the 16 from KSU. As the 12 of us were getting tired. Seventeen fresh volunteers made a big difference. We reformed the bucket brigade passing buckets with GAB on the right side and empty buckets down the left side. Kirsten with Pam assisting supervised the filling of buckets and the movement of GAB on the lower section of steps, Tom supervised movement of GAB on the middle section with Lindsey assisting, Robert the movement of GAB on upper section of steps and the filling in of the steps. I moved between the three areas.
After filling the steps Kirsten and Lindsey took a team and trashed the area around the steps. Tom and Pam took a team and started deberming an area above the steps, line 3 of the workplan. Robert took another team to the next location on the Hardage Mill Trail that needed work. Once Kirsten and Lindsey we done they leapfrogged past Robert to the next section. We continued this leapfrog process moving towards the parking lot until we ran out of time finishing line 3. I monitored all three teams.
In summary we had a great team of volunteers. The 22 volunteers that attended made significant improvements to the Hardage Mill Trail.
Our next workday is Saturday, May 9th. We will be performing cyclic maintenance on the southern end of the Hardage Mill Trail and will meet at the Pigeon Hill parking lot.
Mike Collett
Trails Director
This covers the Mount Paran Christan School volunteer day. We met at the Amphitheatre where I welcomed the volunteers. I did the safety brief at the tool shed and split the volunteers into three teams.
We had 5 crew leaders for the workday. The Crew Leaders were Bill, Donald, Robert W, Tom, and me. Bill did registration and Robert W and Tom handled parking. We had 22 volunteers.
Micheal and Christina stagged three piles of mulch in the picnic area.
Team 1: Tom; Tom’s team started spreading the pile near Stilesboro Road. When they finished, they cleared the concrete ditch at the trail going up Kennesaw Mountain, cleaning both sides. They went down the mountain to Kennesaw Mountain Drive. After finishing this they started deberming the Picket Line Trail until they ran out of time. Theu completely about half the trail.
Team 2: Robert W; Robert’s team started spreading the pile in the middle. When they finished, they cleared the concrete ditch from Kennesaw Mountain Drive to the drain past the wooden bridge. Upon finishing this they joined Tom’s team deberming the Picket Line Trail
Team 3: Bill; Bill’s team started spreading the pile near the field. When they finished, they moved to the pile in the parking lot, spreading it around the trees in the center area of the parking lot. They finished spreading about half the pile.
I bounced between the three teams, ensuring they were following the workplan, park procedures, and working safely.
This covers the Better Trail Club Workday sponsored by REI and All Trails. We met at the picnic area where Brain Powell from REI welcomed everyone, introduced Stephine Asper from All Trails. Brain introduced me and I introduced Amanda. After Amanda welcomed everyone, I reviewed the workplan. We walked up to the tool shed where I reviewed the safety procedures and split the volunteers into three teams.
We had 10 crew leaders for the workday. The Crew Leaders were Bill, Curt, Donald, Fred, Geoff, Kirsten, Lindsey, Pam, Robert W, and me. We had 1 Crew Leader under instruction, Mark. Donald did registration and Mark and Geoff handled parking. When the workday started Geoff monitored the parking lot. We had 22 volunteers.
Team 1: Bill with Pam assisting; Bill’s team finished spreading mulch spreading around the trees in the center area of the parking lot. When finished they started performing cyclic maintenance on the Environmental Trail starting at the intersection and moving in a clockwise direction. They got to turnpike where they cleaned it and using material reclaimed from cleaning the conduits were able to cover exposed PVC pipes.
Team 2: Curt with Lindsay assisting; Curt’s team picked up where we left off on Friday working around the picnic area. They used swing blades to cut down the growth around the picnic tables on the perimeter of the picnic area and they spread out the remaining amount of mulch.
Team 3: Kirsten with Robert W and Mark assisting; Kirsten’s team started at the trail head to the Environmental Trail where they cleaned the area around the fencing. From there they worked in a counterclockwise direction performing cyclic maintenance until they got to the 24-Gun Trail head. They continued working on the 24-Gun Trail until they got to Old Mountain Road.
Donald and I bounced between the three teams, ensuring they were following the workplan, park procedures, and working safely.
I want to thank REI and All Trails for providing lunch by Chef Levy and ball caps at the Kennesaw REI store to all the volunteers after we finished.
Fred and I have more before and after pictures.
Mike Collett
Trails Director