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What We've Been Up To!

Up Coming Trail Work Days: West Ridge Trail Mon July 15, Tue July 16, Thu July 18, Sat July 20

By cardiganhighlanders | Jul 14, 2019

On the afternoon of last Thu July 11 we got over 3.5″ of rain in a few hours.  The road from Canaan to the trailhead is still “local traffic only.”  When it opens I’ll add a day and time to this invitation,  We’ll stay here to work on our home mountains rather than drive two hours to help another crew this weekend.     Please be aware that the earlier we start, the better off we are in this summer heat.  Please reply all to sign up, and reply me with any questions. If you can turn out earlier than 9 AM, please so write me, later volunteers know where we will be.     Usual details: gear for dayhike in forecast weather.  At least 2 qt. water and plenty of food. Long sleeves, long pants, leather boots, BYO work gloves or we issue a pair.  Tools supplied, but BYO subject to crew chief’s approval.  If you have earned your tartan, please wear it.  Cold drinks afterwards.     When we can reach our trails there, we’ll take light tools and hike up a mile to where we stashed the rest of our toolset.  Then we work our way downhill, fixing erosion problems as we go. Plenty of rock setting, ditch digging, and barricade moving.     The waterbars and steps we’ve built lately on West Ridge and Winslow show that we still earn the right to call ourselves a trail crew.  Many thanks, volunteers! Yours,Craig Sanborn, CHVTC

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Winslow Trail, Mt. Kearsarge Wed July 10 at 9 AM

By cardiganhighlanders | Jul 3, 2019

Meet on the auto road just below the toll booth for this trail at 9 AM. We’ll hike up the trail doing a Spring patrol: cleaning drains, sawing blowdowns, repairing old rockwork etc.Usual gear as for dayhike in the forecast weather for that day. 2 qt. water, plenty of food. Leather boots, long pants, long…

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The best Thank You

By cardiganhighlanders | Jun 14, 2019

Who says hikers don’t say thanks for the good trail? The lower elementary class (grade 1-3) of a school in Pembroke wrote us this thank-you card after their hike up the West Ridge Trail up Mt. Cardigan in late May. They summitted in a cloud, a new experience for them. You’ll note how they liked…

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Cole Pond Trail Head

By cardiganhighlanders | May 15, 2019

After 32 hours over three days moving 17 rocks and setting 6 of them in an abutment, we discovered the bridge at this trailhead is too far gone to save (although safe enough to go on using because it is so low to the water). We reported to F&G, who now will decide how to…

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Anatomy of a Spring Patrol

By cardiganhighlanders | Apr 15, 2019

Anybody who has spent time in New Hampshire knows that there are more seasons than just the basic four. The spring thaw is followed by mud season. Fast on it’s heels comes black fly season. But wedged in between those two is a brief window of time that Cardigan Highlanders call spring patrol season. This…

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2018: 34th Worklog Summary for Cardigan Highlanders Volunteer Trail Crew

By cardiganhighlanders | Nov 21, 2018

This worklog is not the annual report the Board of Directors votes on at the annual meeting in January. That will also be posted here. For now, let’s just remember that all this work was by volunteers. Here’s to them. 2018: 34th Worklog Summary for Cardigan Highlanders Volunteer Trail Crew In 2018 18 volunteers worked…

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VOLUNTEERS ADD 48 FIXTURES ON SUMMIT TRAIL

By cardiganhighlanders | Oct 26, 2018

  Cardigan Highlanders Volunteer Trail Crew (CHVTC) has built new steps and waterbars at 48 sites on Mt Sunapee’s Summit Trail since August 1 by agreement with the NH Division of Parks and Recreation.  We brought in teen crews from Upper Valley Trails Alliance, who worked two days totaling 156 crew hours on 19 sites…

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Brushing Out on Crawford Path

By cardiganhighlanders | Sep 4, 2018

Tue 8/21 and Wed 8/22 three of us stayed at Mizpah Springs hut south of Mt. Pierce in the southern Presidential Range.  We hiked up from Rte 302 at Crawford’s with the mission of brushing out Crawford Path at Mt. Eisenhower, paid for by a grant from REI through the National Forest Foundation and the…

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By cardiganhighlanders | Aug 11, 2018

           Word got around that two of us took the basic rigging class by OBP Trailworks for the White Mountains Trail Collective on June 11-13.  We were available when the Dartmouth Outing Club needed a teacher for their paid summer trail crew of undergraduates to learn to rig and work an alpine…

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