Blazing Atop Mount Kearsarge
Let's see here... four of us returned to Mt Kearsarge up the Rollins Trail on a warm and sunny Sunday. The Winslow two gave the dozen blaze boards their third coat of
paint, and blazed the trail in RED from 1/2-way rock to the summit. They barricaded herd paths and brushed out the trail at treeline. All this was to help hikers find the trail with greater certainty, especially in winter.
The other two volunteers included one who had spoken of the lack of blazes on Rollins Trail to the park manager. That trail is unblazed for many years, so the question of re-blazing got kicked upstairs. The regional manager decided it should be blazed in WHITE, and now it is. White blazes start at the summit of the mountain where red ones stop, and continue over the smoothest ledges to descend to the top of Lincoln Trail. They continue down Rollins Trail on trees, though far fewer blazes than at the summit where hikers need to be able to follow the trail in fog. They ran out of time down at the ledge with the great South views, but the blazing will be finished down to the trailhead on the next trip.
It was a very warm and humid afternoon. We enjoyed our cold drinks in air conditioning in Warner perhaps a little longer than usual.
- Craig Sanborn, CHVTC Trailmaster