Saturday, April 25, 2026: Newbury Trail Patrol

Four Highlanders gathered at the red caboose on the shore of Sunapee Lake in Newbury. A plan was made, tools were distributed, and they strolled up to the trailhead.

Team Leader Scott, Chuck the sawyer, and Ben as swamper/raker went on up Newbury Trail towards Jack & June Junction. Being old and slow (his words), Trail Master Craig followed, stopping to rake every drain free of leaf dams. There are 14 such downhill of Eagle Nest junction, where the trail forks at a cairn. Thence he descended.  Ben raked 3 uphill of there.

Craig made note of a few items; The orange blazes are fair to good, last done ~ 8 years ago and are due to be repainted this year. Also, the big pine blowdown across the first brook that fell 10 yrs ago has disintegrated so it no longer blocks the trail. There are a few large old trees across the trail, but they are on the ground and holding soil on their uphill sides. Stepovers. Useful where and as they are.

TL Scott submitted this report about the exploits of the uphill crew. They consisting of sawyer Chuck, Ben, Hank (Ben’s canine friend), and Scott:

We patrolled the Newbury Trail from the Newbury Harbor trailhead to Jack and June junction just above Lake Solitude.

We pulled numerous logs and branches off the trail, mostly above the Rim Trail junction.  After further inspection, we left in place several fallen logs that are easy step overs, but are sinking into the ground and potentially damaging to chainsaws.

A few minutes hike above the Lake Sunapee overlook, there is a 14” dbh spruce that has partially snapped at about chest height. The section of the tree above the break is fortunately leaning off trail, and given that and the elevated risk associated with attempting to cut it we left it as is. It will eventually fall on its own.

We encountered numerous small groups of hikers on our patrol, including several trail runners.  It seems the Newbury Trail has developed a following, and for good reason.  In conjunction with Andrew Brook Trail, it offers a nice loop jaunt on the shoulder of Mt. Sunapee.

So to sum it all up, there were four volunteers @ 6 hrs = 24 hrs, The round of drinks we savored, quickly!

All the Best,  Craig. Scott, and Web Minion Wes