Posts by cardiganhighlanders

This job was about 6 hours of dragging beams and toting tools and actual assembly by three of us, but about another 12 hours of dragging some of the materials, purchasing, cutting and prepping the pressure treated lumber, design, more dragging by people who could not attend, appropriations from the Conservation Commission, storing lumber at…

And now, something a little different: The Enfield Selectboard appointed me as Trailmaster for that town. They tend three trails on different parcels owned by the Town. The monsoon season of ’23 (June 9 – Sept 19 20″ rain) slowed trailwork everywhere, but sites got measured and plans made in spite of the weather. Now…

Solitude Trail runs southeast from Mt. Sunapee summit down to the west shore of Lake Solitude, where it ends at the junction with Andrew Brook Trail. The Monadnock-Sunapee Greenway continues south from there. Solitude Trail follows a southerly route atop the ridge joining the summit and the White Ledges, then turns east and climbs by…

Barlow Trail climbs Mt. Kearsarge from Winslow State Park 1115′ in 1.6 miles. It was laid out by Don Davis of NH State Parks, and built by Trailwrights Inc. in 1997. The trail ascends easterly before it bends southerly to climb more moderate grades on the north ridge of the mountain. 0.2 miles before it…

Wind from hurricane Lee was loud in the treetops when we four met on Mountain Road at 0900. We were to fix drainage issues on the first half mile of the trail, downhill of its second crossing of Andrew Brook. We were two new volunteers, a Team Leader, and the Trailmaster. What with introductions, safety…

This workday offers a good example of the 6 P’s: proper planning prevents poor performance. Well, we are still learning. This begins with our Board deciding that each 3rd Saturday in the season May-October is a predictable and regular workday. So, we advertised it on Nature Groupie back on 7/31. We invited everyone on our…

RAIN totals 12.28″ for June and July in the gauge at Orange NH on the west slope of Mt. Cardigan. Trails that usually dry out by June were muddy like in the usual Spring mud season in July. The usual horde of hikers slogged up and down the trail this Spring and Summer, and the…

This day was part of Monadnock Trails Week as sponsored by SPNHF. They have held 17 MTWs so far. This day made 5 since the latest downpour, and Sunday had another 1.2″ forecast for there. This year the SPNHF coordinator Dylan sent me to Marlboro Trail. We hiked up over about 150 yards of pavers…