CHVTC Summer Jobs
Hello Trail Crew,
Trails are drying out now we have more sunny days than rainy ones. The State Bird has retreated for this year. Trails we tend on Mt. Sunapee are not beyond brooks in flood. NH DOT opened the gate to Mt. Cardigan on May 29. Five of us are now State-certified sawyers; Bob, Koby, Chuck, Bill, Dave. We have patrolled trails and cleaned drains; Cole Pond, Rollins, Winslow, Solitude, Newbury west, Rim, South Ridge. We sawed 17 blowdowns and built over 150' of barricade.
Hrs: April 41, May 32, June 114 thus far. That includes meetings and reports.
No new crisis AFAIK, so on with the jobs list from our annual meeting March 22. Many of the level 2 building jobs are short relos for better drainage etc. The west side of Cardigan stands out as the most travelled, impacted, and therefore needy trails we tend. After R&R 140' of logs in 280 hrs in 2022, there are 6 sites that have failed and need replacing soon. There are 60 drains and ditches to clean in the lower mile of trail where there is soil to save from erosion. There are others to build, herd paths to barricade, an 8' bog bridge to replace with new planks.
We repaired and built fixtures from the top down last year, usually with stone. No R&R logs on those sites, but the trail is so wide that logs are often the only cost-effective fix. This year we'll build in stone where we can.
The hope is to have a range of weekdays like Tue-Fri whence we choose one a week based on crew interest, as you reply carduganhighlanders@gmail.com. The usual details apply, so not repeated here.
My thought is to proceed uphill soon, salvaging fir trees by chainsaw to replace failed woodwork. We can limb them and peel the bark to leave them to dry so as to cut them to length as the building crew gets to them. Since they are to replace broken ones, that job should be soon. The planks for the bog bridge are bought and the ends sealed.
Please reply as to your interests: weekdays and/or weekends. FWIW, we have comp tickets Sunapee chairlift Thu-Sun.
Thank you. Best wishes,
Craig Sanborn, CHVTC
Trailmaster