After 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!

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 →