8/1 Mt. Sunapee Work Trip: Signs Are Good for Andrew Brook Trail
On the first day of August 2026, a crew of two, Team Leader Scott MacFaden and ace volunteer Sean, ascended the Andrew Brook Trail from the Mountain Road trailhead. Our charge for the day was to focus on the section of the trail above the 3rd brook crossing, as other crew members had recently tended to the section of trail below the 3rd brook crossing.
Our first task was to inspect the area where the trail meets Lake Solitude. Many years ago this spot hosted a backcountry shelter, but since the shelter’s removal camping and fires have been prohibited to protect the fragile pond shore habitat and to allow for revegetation. The sign confirming these rules had been ripped from its perch and left on the ground, but we restored the sign to its proper location. We were pleased to note that there weren’t any trash or signs of campfires on the location of the former shelter, and that the site continues to revegetate.
We also found and carried out a conspicuously orange marker pole that had apparently been “borrowed” from the ski slopes of Mt. Sunapee during or after the ski season and left on the shore of Lake Solitude. We’ll return this item to the ski area’s custody.
Moving down the trail a short distance, we next addressed a long-standing need for better markings to keep hikers on the established trail adjacent to a scenic but fragile bog wetland. This section of trail includes two 90-degree turns in rapid succession, and particularly during drier periods ascending hikers are often tempted to follow what seems like the shortest distance ahead, directly through the wetland. The prominent blue arrows we installed facing both uphill and downhill should be very effective in keeping hikers out of the wetland and on the trail, which will keep hikers’ feet dry and prevent the wetland’s sensitive plants from being trampled.
The balance of our day was spent cleaning drains down to the 3rd brook crossing, focusing on a sizable drain that multiple Cardigan Highlanders spent several days working to restore during summer 2024. Situated at the top of a steep slope above the 3rd brook crossing, this drain handles significant runoff during spring snowmelt and during heavy rains, and its proper functioning is essential to maintaining the integrity of the downslope trail tread.
On our descent back to the trailhead, we attended to one additional task, trimming branches of a yellow birch that is situated some distance off the trail just below the 2nd Andrew Brook crossing, but was contorted into a nearly horizontal position, probably from snow loading. As a result, a section of the tree’s crown was directly overhanging the trail and impeding hiker traffic. The crew preceding us had removed some of that overhanging crown, and we complemented their work with some additional trimming.
Respectfully submitted,
Scott MacFaden
Cardigan Highlanders Team Leader
