Category Archives: Trail Maintenance Opportunities

Your chance to help maintain the trails that make Duncannon great.

Hawk Rock Litter-Free Once Again

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Litter below Hawk Rock near Duncannon, Pennsylvania.

It’s appalling to consider the fact that people can carry full containers UP the trail but they can’t be bothered to carry the empty ones DOWN.  It’s sad really.  Some people don’t care or they just don’t know any better.  Fortunately, Duncannon is surrounded by good people who work hard to protect and preserve our outdoor natural resources!

Once again, Kevin Dunleavy volunteered to rappel down the face of Hawk Rock and retrieve all of the litter that had accumulated since the last time he did this back in 2014. Thanks Kevin. We greatly appreciate the time and effort you donate to keeping Hawk Rock beautiful.

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Litter Below Hawk Rock is Gone!

Volunteers collected litter from Duncannon's Hawk Rock overllokAfter removing the graffiti from Hawk Rock and improving the trail below, there was only one thing keeping our cleanup project from being a complete success: the trash littering the base of Hawk Rock.  During our previous cleanup we picked up the trash far below Hawk Rock but we couldn’t climb all of the way up to the plateau just below it.   We needed an experienced climber to get to the most inaccessible areas and that’s where Kevin (The Axe Man) Dunleavy comes in.

Kevin is a skilled climber, caver and hiker who has accompanied the York Hiking Club and the Susquehanna Appalachian Trail Club on many trail maintenance outings.  Mr. Dunleavy kindly volunteered to help the DATC and the Mountain Club of Maryland by rappelling down the face of Hawk Rock and cleaning the unsightly mess caused by years of carelessly discarded litter.  After descending 65 feet to the base of the rock, he spent an hour filling a large trash bag with bottles, cans, food wrappers and miscellaneous garbage.  We then hauled the whole mess up and out of the woods where it was properly discarded along with our regular household trash.

It’s appalling to consider the fact that people can carry full and heavy containers UP the trail but they can’t be bothered to carry them DOWN once they are empty.  It’s sad really.  Some people don’t care or they just don’t know any better.  Fortunately, Duncannon is surrounded by good people who work hard to protect and preserve our outdoor natural resources!

Second Hawk Rock Cleanup a GREAT Success!

The cleanest Hawk Rock has been in more than 35 years.

The cleanest Hawk Rock has been in more than 35 years.

Our second outing to clean the Hawk Rock area was a GREAT success thanks to the many wonderful volunteers who donated their time on a beautiful Sunday afternoon. I think almost everyone managed to get at least a gallon of water up to Hawk Rock.  We were hoping for 20 gallons of water at the top of the mountain but ended up with about 35 gallons and we used every last drop to blast off as much graffiti as possible. There’s still some paint left in the nooks and crannies but nothing is legible and you can see more of the rock’s natural color coming through.

Third Rock, the rock closer to the bottom third of the mountain, came out almost perfectly clean since it only had a couple layers of paint on it.

In addition to hauling water and removing graffiti, volunteers from Day Hikers of Central PA, Reddit, DATC, MCM and SATC also helped: trim back trail vegetation, clear water bars, slide a big rock off the trail in the avalanche area, fix the step at the bottom of the stairs just before Hawk Rock, and collect 2 HUGE bags of trash from below Hawk Rock. Continue reading

DATC Newsletter – September 2014

Duncannon AT Community SignTHE JUNE DATC FESTIVAL:  The DATC Festival went pretty well.  We probably had about twice as many people in attendance than we did last year, we had a lot more volunteers, vendors were happier, and everyone seemed to like the location on High Street.  I would say it was a successful collaboration between the Appalachian Trail and the Duncannon community.  We polled the vendors after the festival and we received overwhelmingly positive responses with almost all saying they would return for next year.  We still have plenty of room to grow and look forward to your cooperation and participation next year on Saturday, June 20th.

HAWK ROCK VANDALISM: Some time during Friday, August 1st, a lovestruck loser decided to proclaim his love by setting up a table and chairs at Hawk Rock, painting about 30 red hearts along the Appalachian Trail, painting graffiti on a large rock a third of the way up the mountain, and spray painting a love message across all of Hawk Rock.  You can read more about it here.  We also happen to have a pictue of a guy who might know something about it.

HAWK ROCK CLEANUP – PART 1: On Sunday, August 24th, the DATC, the Mountain Club of Maryland and the Appalachian Trail Conservancy joined together to remove a large amount of the new graffiti and some of the old stuff too.  Hawk Rock is looking better than it has in years but our work is not done yet.

HAWK ROCK CLEANUP – PART 2: We have scheduled another cleanup day for this coming Sunday September 14th, and we are asking volunteers to carry water and help with some light trail maintenance.  We will be at the Duncannon Recycling Center between 10AM and 2PM and you are welcome to come out and help us or just bring some water jugs and get to know us.  Either way, Continue reading

SATC Announces Spring 2013 Trail Work Days

SATC Trailmaster Jeff Buehler instructs workers who are building a water bar to stop erosion on the AT

SATC Trailmaster Jeff Buehler instructs workers who are building a water bar to stop erosion on the AT

Saturday, March 23; Saturday, March 30; Saturday, April 6; Saturday, April 20; Sunday May 5; Sunday, May 19, 2013    MEET: 9:00 AM, Park N Ride Dauphin, PA, Rt. 225 north just off rt. 322, Dauphin, PA (Look for gray Chevy Colorado with PA licence plate ATHIKER in parking lot)

Bring lunch and plenty of water.  Wear old clothes and boots.  Tools, safety gear and instructions are provided.  For more information Continue reading