Sat 10/5: Return to Winslow Trail on Mount Kearsrge

So, to begin with a little background:

Monday morning 9/23 I stopped at DNCR HQ in Concord, showed a photo of the birch leaner to my boss, the manager of volunteers, and asked him to chainsaw the old birch leaner. He said he will. That lets us Cardigan Highlanders re-open 20 yards of trail probably built by Trailwrights in 1987 that
bypassed a steep ledge of fine-grained smooth granite that has flow ice six months a year.

He emailed on 10/4 to say he had chainsawn the leaner and we got on with our plan. Three of us met at Winslow State Park 0900, signed the waiver, took tools, and hiked the 0.4 miles up to the site. We were Chuck, Ben, and TM Craig. It was a sunny Saturday, and the trail was thronged with leaf peepers.

We cleared the remains of the leaner, and brushed out the trail. We saw it is indeed a ramp that is benched or sidehilled across the mountainside at a slope of about 15 degrees. It runs downhill of the smooth ledge that carries much water or ice, depending on the season. That was damp and slippery today.

We gathered the slabbiest rocks we could find, then set 10 of them as single steps or pavers on the steeper slope. Hikers tested them, and found them comfortable i.e. not too much rise or run. We left some saplings beside the trail as natural handholds for hikers. The drain uphill does carry most of the water on that slope; we saw no flow channels across the path. We opened both ends of this 20-yard relocation.

Mea culpa, I forgot to paint and bring blaze boards, but we'll be back on that trail once this season and they will be on the trees then.

Craig Sanborn, CHVTC
Trailmaster