Going East-to-West, this trail section begins at the end of the descent from section three to Wolfpen Hollow.  We crossed through some bottom-land brush to get to the intermittent creek that runs through Wolfpen where there is a reasonably good crossing.  The trail then hugs the South edge of a hill before making a quick right to an elevated flat area that contains a good camping spot.  From here it follows the East-side of a hollow towards a scenic 20 ft waterfall over dolomite rock.  Further on the trail crosses a bottomland wash and heads toward the next ridge-climb.

We looked at several different ways to climb the ridge.  To the Northeast of the selected route the hillside is extremely rocky and has been recently logged.  To the Southeast the hillside is eroded, steep, and scheduled for a salvage timber sale.  The route we picked is at the edge of a timber sale, and we will attempt to have this small area excluded from timber cuts.

Two switchbacks were required to make the ascent, as the small tongue of land we're climbing isn't long enough for 10% grade without them.  We make both switches early in the ascent, then proceed at an average 8% grade around the tongue, then through a bowl before approaching a ridge-saddle. 

Just before the ridge-saddle we routed the trail through some previous clear-cut to avoid the ridge road, which will be used in future timber sales.  After crossing the road, begin the descent to County Road 73.  The beginning of the descent is an easy 4-7% grade, slowly contouring around the hill and then making a descending/climbing turn and doubling-back on itself through a bowl.  Construction through the bowl will involve some significant hillside cuts, but we believe the trail dozer should be able to slice through the hillside without too much trouble.  The trail then wraps around the hill, descending to County Road 73 at a 6-8% grade.

After crossing 73 we have a intermittent creek crossing, then a climbing curve to position the trail for the ascent to Highway 49.  The first portion of the ascent is uneventful, but encounters multiple gullies further on.  We could have built a switchback (or two) on the South face of the ascent and avoided the gullies, but decided the gully-route was picturesque, build able, and avoided the use of switchback.

The approach to Highway 49 ends with a nice 5-6% grade through decent hardwoods.

UPDATE: 8/21/02-- the area from Highway 73 to Highway 49 has been scheduled for a timber sale to remove black/red oak.  The sale is scheduled for November 2002 and the cut anticipated in 2003.  We will attempt to construct the trail before the sale; if successful, we will ask that a clause be attached to the timber contract to protect the existing trail.

Note: we found two 10-15 lb samples of raw iron ore while flagging the trail.  When we build the trail narrative for this section, we'll be sure to include the iron mining history of the area! 

- John Roth & Paul Nazarenko