www.roanoke.com

This past weekend a bunch of volunteers got together for a big bridge-building project at Carvins Cove Natural Reserve, site of some amazing multi-use trails, which I wrote about in my Sunday column in The Roanoke Times. The great volunteer turnout shows what is possible when multiple user groups have ownership of an area. When you restrict trails to specific groups it can be limiting (although that certainly isn't the case with the Appalachian Trail clubs that do such a great job maintaining that trail).

Hikers, horseback riders and mountain bikers did a lot of the lifting, and plenty of it was pretty heavy. I helped carry two loads of lumber in the half-mile to the site and I'm still sore.

While most of the lumber could be managed by us, four huge beams -- 28 feet long, 650 pounds each -- would have required at least 20 people each to move. So organizers brought in Jason Rutledge of the Healing Harvest Forest Foundation and his team of Suffolk logging horses, which were featured in March in The Roanoke Times.

Those are some awesome animals, for sure. Unfortunately I couldn't stick around to watch but fortunately Jason sent me a few pictures taken by HHFF's Kate Coates, including the one above.

Some other photos of the volunteers are available HERE.