Posts by cardiganhighlanders

We welcomed three volunteers from Hypertherm in Lebanon NH to the West Ridge Trail at 0900 Friday 10/17. Hypertherm pays their employees five days a year to volunteer with a local non-profit, and for a second day these three chose to return to us and build trail fixtures.  They are Harrison, Ryan, and Simon. We…

On an absolutely stellar fall Saturday 10/11, two regular Cardigan Highlanders and one honorary canine crew member set out from the Andrew Brook trailhead in Newbury to conduct a patrol of Andrew Brook trail and the connecting Solitude Trail. Team Leader Scott, Ben, and Ben’s dog Hank comprised the day’s contingent. By any measure, Hank…

Tuesday October 7 was the last day of 10 weeks of warm dry weather for the near future. Three Cardigan Highlanders met at West Ridge trailhead at 0900, and by 0930 started the hike up to Cliff’s Bridge a mile uphill. We turned right onto the west end of Skyland Trail, which crosses a hillside…

Friday 9/19 was another perfect day of dry weather, no bugs, and bright sun, just  like the previous six weeks. Three new volunteers turned out, and we hiked uphill 0.9 miles till we were above the cascade.  There we built barricades on a wide and muddy herd path where hikers think to bypass a rocky…

… after another safe and satisfying workday FWIW…  Fri 8/29/25 0900. 3 Cardigan Highlanders met by caboose on Rte 103 @ Newbury Harbor. We drove in one car to NE Bowl up on Mt. Sunapee. We patrolled 1.6 miles up Rim Trail then down Newbury Trail east to our cars at Newbury Harbor. Our sawyer…

Four Cardigan Highlanders convened on a warm and hazy Sunday August 17 at the Andrew Brook trailhead in Newbury: Trailmaster Craig Sanborn, Team Leaders Scott MacFaden and Bob Humphrey, and newer crew member Andrew Koo. Our primary goals for the day were to clean drains (and redig them where needed) from the second crossing of Andrew Brook…

Today we again took advantage of cooler temps higher on the NW aspect of Mount Kearsarge, and under the canopy of summer leaves. We were two, TL Scott and TM Craig. We worked our way uphill, doing work needed from a new trail inventory of July 8, 2025. These inventories list present and needed fixtures…

Time for a change in  focus. No trees to harvest or planks to lug, just a few rocks to move. Thursday 7/24 was over 90 in the valleys, but much cooler at 2600′ in the shade of spruce trees. By 1000, two of us, Chuck and TM Craig, hiked 0.2 miles up Rollins Trail to add a side…

As we all enjoy 70s and a NW breeze after weeks of 90s and stifling humidity, Kevin and TM Craig had three hours this morning. We hiked uphill over many fixtures built by us and by two earlier crews until we came to the first flag from our survey of 2023 that was as yet…

Today’s crew was two: Ben and TM Craig. We toted pick, shovel, screw gun, and hammer uphill around 0930. We also lugged 2 2x6x8′ KD premium planks. We came to log steps uphill of the flat beyond Firepond Brook around 1015. There we recovered logs we left there on our last workday 7/3, an 8′ and a…