The carefully constructed "Stairway to Heaven" in Great Smoky Mountains National Park/Holly Scott Jones.

Editor's note: Trail works takes time -- a lot of time -- and a lot of sweat and the occasional sore muscle, as Holly Scott Jones discovered when she volunteered with the trail crew at Great Smoky Mountains National Park.

Great Smoky Mountains National Park is an enormous outdoor playground with 800-plus miles of trails stretching across its 500,000+ acres. As you can imagine, those trail miles require quite a bit of upkeep. 

I spent a blessedly cool day in early June working alongside the members of the Smokies Trails Forever crew on the rehabilitation of the Chimney Tops Trail, gaining a new appreciation for the craftsmanship involved in trail building. The Chimney Tops Trail is undergoing a three-phase renovation funded by the Friends of the Smokies'™ $5 million Trails Forever endowment fund. One of the goals of the Trails Forever program is to involve volunteers in the trail restoration projects. Recruiting participants has been more challenging since the Trails Forever crew began working on Chimney Tops Trail. While short, this trail has quite a reputation for being a punisher. The elevation gain of nearly 1,500 feet over 2 miles can be daunting when coupled with the eight-hour workday schedule.

My experience of ascending to the work area on that late spring morning gave me the sense that I had never been there before'”although I hiked Chimney Tops several years ago. The crew'™s completed work from the parking lot in about 1.2 miles to the work area has eliminated the unpleasantries I recalled of constantly having to look down at my feet to avoid falling flat on my face. The sustainable improvements to the trail corridor'”rock staircases designed to last 75+ years, for instance'”have solved many erosion problems.

We were a quiet group going in, huffing and puffing up the trail, three volunteers and six park employees. Crew leader Josh Shapiro asked to us pause as we reached the work site so he could explain our scope of work for the day. I listened, but could not give my full attention to the importance of our safety equipment (hard hats, goggles, gloves, and ear plugs) as I stared at more than 130 locust steps rising before us. It looked like the Stairway to Heaven. I marveled at the engineering challenges that the trail carpenters had faced and the durable trail surface they created to make hiking the Chimney Tops Trail a more enjoyable experience for the millions of visitors who use it each year.

By day'™s end, I became part of that staircase. We transplanted vegetation from farther up the trail, like stinging nettle (OUCH!), rhododendron, and umbrella leaf, to disguise the old, degraded pathway and discourage hikers from detouring around the new staircase. We used tiny rock hammers to break larger rocks into fill for the steps to improve drainage.

My admiration grew for Margaret Milikin and Kelly Grzasko, who both appeared to be in their 20s. They tackled the daunting task of splitting gigantic slabs of granite into pieces of appropriate size for stone steps farther up the trail. I watched each of them swing a sledgehammer for minutes on end to break the rock and marveled at their fitness as well. They are truly 'œrock stars' of a different sort.

I hiked back to the car with a sense of personal accomplishment and a sense of awe at the work involved in rehabilitating a trail like Chimney Tops. I look forward to my next free Wednesday to continue to make a difference in Great Smoky Mountains National Park by working with the Trails Forever crew.

To volunteer for the crew, contact Jamie Sanders, Volunteer Coordinator at [email protected] or visit the Trails Forever website.

Holly Scott Jones is marketing director for the Rocky Top Wine Trail in Sevier County, Tennessee. She spent 11 years as marketing director for Friends of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. She lives in the foothills of the Smokies with her husband, Billy, and they spend their free time hiking and kayaking in the Southeast.