Trail News

Last Work Day:
On March 4th, volunteers from the Irmo/Lake Murray Rotary Club and the Friends of Harbison State Forest made major progress on a re-route of the switchbacks portion of Midlands Mountain Trail Saturday. Bob Hadden used his expertise with a mini-excavator that the Rotary Club had rented while over 20 men from the Club put some sweat equity into this trail work. While this re-route still needs some finishing touches, Saturday's group accomplished a tremendous amount - THANKS!

Good News:

• Volunteers constructed a drain field and the Harbison staff erected a bike wash rack--Friends paid for the materials. Have a look!
• John Green of the Cycle Center has offered to pay for "You Are Here" signs at major trail intersections showing portions of the trails map
• 10 EXIT signs have been installed on Lost Creek Trail so folks can quickly get out onto Lost Creek Drive in case of problems
• Mas Crawford is working to establish a National Mountain Bike Patrol in Harbison Forest--a power point presentation was given at the Sept 15 meeting (Steve Masone attended the Bike Patrol Training Conference in Gainesville, GA)
• Work has begun on the Friends "Run, Hike, Peddle and Paddle" Weekend for April 22-23, 2006. Reserve the dates NOW on your calendar!! Read about our 2005 Friends' Weekend

Trail workdays are scheduled for the first Saturday of each month unless otherwise noted on the calendar. Extra workdays will be planned as needed. There is always plenty to do and we are ever grateful for the Irmo Rotary Club's donation for tools and equipment rentals--now all we need is volunteers!! The more people we have, the more trail problems we can fix.
Russell Hubright, (former) Forest Director, and the Friends developed a prioritized list of Maintenance Needs. Together with the Trails Workplan Map showing the location of these areas needing special attention, this shows a good picture of what we'll be working on in the coming months--or it may be years if you don't come help! Bring your gloves and meet us in the parking lot at 9 am on the first Saturday of each month. Alternatively, if you have an hour or two to give to improve the trails, contact James, the Forest Manager(896-8893), and he'll make arrangements to provide you with the tools and/or material needed to work on one or more of these spots.

Friends of Harbison Forest Weekend 2005--GREAT FUN!

Publicity
We worked hard to publicize Friends Weekend. We made and distributed Posters and brochures. Joey Holleman with The State newspaper wrote a great article and ran it on Friday, April 22 with a picture of Eric Robey and Scout on one of their trail runs. WISTV gave the event a spot on Sunday's 6:00 report. The April issue of the magazine, Living in South Carolina contained an article on Harbison State Forest detailing the events of Friends Weekend. Last but not least, Eric and Russell were interviewed by Tim Graham on the program, Talking Fitness, 1400 AM in a rolicking good time the Saturday before the event.

Presentors
Fatz Cafe presented a fantastic dinner on Friday night for the Friends and their guests. After dinner the Forest Manager, Russell Hubright, gave a Power Point presentation highlighting the history of the Forest, the present financial condition, the educational mission and the hopes for the future.
Rebecca Everling planned and publicized the FATZ Cafe Four Mile Trail Run and the Race to the River Mountain Bike Races. She did a fantastic job (with a little help from husband Derek) in making these events possible.
Everyone was looking forward to the Nature Walk with Rudy Mancke but at the last minute Rudy hurt his back and had to cancel. No one went home disappointed however, as Jerry Shrum did a superb job sharing his considerable knowlege and good humor with the group.
Sara Green of the National Wildlife Federation helped us understand what grows best in our climate and how our yards can be a recognized National Wildlife Federation backyard habitat.
Larry's Giant Subs provided enormous subs and Fatz Cafe provided tea for a great lunch.
Frank Blanchard, a member of the MidState Beekeepers Association (and the master beekeeper of the universe), had such contagious enthusiasm that we all left ready to keep our own hives.
Brian Stone, the Govenor's official photographer, shared some of his nature photos and gave tips for photographing nature.
River Runner was there with boats for the paddle down the Broad River on Sunday afternoon but because of the stiff wind, the trip was rescheduled for Sunday, May 8 at 2 pm. The weather was beautiful on May 8th and the colorful kayaks and canoes added to the scene. One canoe-full of folks saw a deer swimming from an island in the middle of the river and scrambling up the east bank.

Phollow-Up (OK...OK...but we needed 3 P's!)
All the new Friends of Harbison State Forest will be receiving a letter welcoming them into membership and inviting them to attend the meetings held the 2nd Thursday of each month and encouraging them to get involved in one or more of the many activities needing volunteers.
All the Corporate and Weekend Sponsors will be receiving a thank you letter from a very grateful group of people. Their support is critical to the mission of the Friends.
We will also be sending thank yous to all the very able presentors mentioned above who made all the events of the weekend such a success.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU to everyone who contributed and made the whole weekend so much phun! (Ha!)

Check Out the Community Forum Tutorials

Eric Miller has provided Tutorials explaining how to use the Community Forum . The forum/bulletin board provides a way to communicate with each other...a group trying to set up a time to ride or hike, persons looking for someone to ride/hike with, folks wanting to sell/buy bikes and other equipment, posting special announcements of general or special interest, brainstorming ideas for increasing awareness of the Forest, participating in discussions on how best to attract new members, etc... to participate you need to register and you will be good to go. The calendar has been moved to the Forum. Anyone who is registered can now post events of interest to the group on the calendar. Thanks, Eric!