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What We've Been Up To!
10/24 Rollins Trail: Turning a jumbled mess into something helpful.
By Bob Humphrey On Sunday October 24th three Cardigan Highlanders, Craig, Scott, and Bob, attended a workday at Rollins Sate Park performing maintenance and construction on the Rollins Trail. The work for the day was to turn a jumbled mess of large rock into a more inviting staircase to help the hiker attain a large…
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Andrew Brook Waterbars, Oct. 10 & 19
by Craig Sanborn Four volunteers turned out and built two rock waterbars on the first slope uphill from the trailhead. One earned his tartan for 3 days’ work and is now a Cardigan Highlander. Sat 10/10 was overcast, cool, and dark under the tree canopy. We could still see well enough to choose a site…
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Sat 9/25 Winslow Trail: New Rock Stairs DONE
We did it. The stairway we built in a muddy gully last Aug 28 now has three more rock steps just uphill of it. To be honest, the top step was there since the last glacier left, but it was so well positioned that we just had to use it. The day started slowly. The…
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8/28: Stepping It Up On Mt. Kearsarge
On Saturday we were five at Winslow State Park at 0900. The weather was cooler, and drier after the week’s melting humidity, and we soon lugged bars, shovels, and pick up to where we stopped work on 7/31. We just carried on uphill, removing roots only as needed, digging a hole just uphill of the…
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Friday 8/27 South Ridge Trail
Today, two retired volunteers toted pick, bar, and shovel out on South Ridge Trail beyond the 9 drains we re-dug on 8/5. The trail is gradual on that stretch, but gullies enough to make for few places for a drain and its ditch to carry runoff. We warmed up by setting a rock of ~…
Read MoreSat 8/21/21: Andrew Brook Trail, but not from the top.
When we three volunteers met at the ski area parking at 0900, we gathered around the map to try to think of our next move. To wait for the chairlift ride at 1000, then hike 1.5 miles over to the top of the work area, meant starting at lunchtime. One of us had to depart…
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Hiking Above Treeline: Coloring Inside the Lines
By Wes Tucker I once saw a book titled, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten. The same thing could be said about hiking above treeline, because it’s all about staying inside the lines and connecting the dots. I’m sure most of you are aware that as you climb higher up in…
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Sat 8/7: Cardigan West Ridge Trail \ Cliff’s Bridge
by Scott MacFaden We had a good day on the trail. Conditions were somewhat muggy but not oppressive, and many folks were out enjoying a fine August day on mighty Mt. Cardigan. Numerous hikers expressed their thanks to the crew for its decades of service to the trails on Cardigan, and it is gratifying to…
Read More7/31/21: Mount Kearsarge Step-by-Step
Saturday’s cool dry weather was a delight after weeks of tropical rain and smoky haze (3rd rainiest month at Concord since 1869!). About 1000 we four lugged rock bars and picks and shovels, up Winslow Trail about 0.4 miles, briefly discussing trail fixtures we crossed. We soon came to our worksite, a gully in soil,…
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