PROFILE TRAIL RETURNING TO ITS FORMER GLORY
With
the able-bodied assistance of rangers Jeff Powers and Lance McCrory,
original Grandfather Mountain Trailblazers Jim Morton and Kinney Baughman
returned to the Profile Trail this June to make repairs to the stream
crossing they call "Merle’s Milestones."
Morton and Baughman spent the years between 1985 and 1989 building the Profile Trail to offer hikers a gradual ascent up the north slope of Grandfather Mountain. The trail starts from a parking area off NC 105 and skirts the boundary between Grandfather Mountain and a neighboring housing development. In the 2.7-mile route to the ridge, the trail winds through seven distinct natural communities and represents some of the most biologically diverse habitat in Eastern America.
One mile from the parking area on NC 105, the Profile Trail crosses a tributary of the Watauga River called the Shanty Springs Branch. It was here in 1985 that Morton and Baughman created a feature they named "Merle’s Milestones" in memory of their friend and bluegrass-legend Merle Watson. The river crossing consisted of a series of 1 and 2 ton boulders arranged so trekkers could step comfortably from stone to stone and cross the river safely.
Unfortunately, Merle’s Milestones took significant damage in 2004 when Grandfather was hit by three hurricanes in three weeks. The floods moved boulders down stream and rerouted the stream bed in some places. The end result was an awkward crossing that was vulnerable to future flooding and not nearly as aesthetically pleasing as what had been there before.
With original designer Jim Morton supplying the brains and Trail Rangers Jeff Powers and Lance McCrory supplying the brawn, the task of returning Merle’s Milestones to its earlier glory got underway in June. (Okay, Morton also used his back and Powers and McCrory also used their brains, but Jim is in his 50s and Jeff and Lance are in their 20s.)
The challenge was to identify appropriate boulders in the vicinity of the trail crossing and move them into place to serve as stepping stones. Occasionally joined by Baughman, now a computer wizard at Appalachian State University, their only tools were a wench, a pry bar and many lengths of heavy iron chain.
The largest of the stones weighed between 1.5 and 2 tons and took three days to move the 25 feet to its new home as part of the stream crossing. And because Lance McCrory put in most of the sweat needed to move the boulder, Morton dubbed the stone “Lancelotta Rock” in his honor.
"This rock is 750 million years old," said Morton. "It is some of the oldest building material on earth. It is a privilege to work with a rock like this."
Said McCrory, "it is amazing to be able to move a rock like this and know it will actually be here – well at least until the next big storm. Then again, I think this one will be here for quite a while."
The process of moving the stones was rudimentary. Powers and McCrory wrapped chains around the stones. Then they anchored their wench to something solid like another rock or a tree and cranked back on the wench, tightening the chain and moving the boulder one click at a time. Meanwhile Morton used the pry bar to rock the boulder up-and-down, back-and-forth to keep it from becoming stuck along the route. By the end of three days, Lancelotta Rock broke two chains and one hook before giving up that 25 feet of ground.
When asked if what they were doing was geometry or physics, Morton replied simply, "art."
"It's satisfying, very satisfying," said Powers. "At the end of the day you can look at what you've done and it is a very noticeable and impressive thing.”
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