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What We've Been Up To!
Building Bridges
Cardigan Highlanders Volunteer Trail Crew is not unique, most trail crews build bridges at need and by their abilities. This list is for our volunteers, colleagues, and clients. BTW, this list does not include dozens of bog bridges. Volunteers, Thank you VERY much for so generously giving of your time and talents. This is not…
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“Too Much Traffic”: When a Park Gets too much Love
Ms. Kolb describes an extreme case of what we see on most trails in New Hampshire during this pandemic: social crowding by people escaping the trail closures where they live. For example, at 1:30 PM on Saturday April 25 below the closed gate for the Mt Cardigan access road, I counted 106 cars. That increases…
Read More2019: 35th Work-log Summary
In 2019 11 volunteers worked on CHVTC, 657 hours on trails and 207 hours on meetings and admin, total 864 hours. Upper Valley Trails Alliance teens were 84 hours, Camp Onaway teens were 80 hours, Thus the grand total is 1028 hours. We patrolled 16 miles of trail, cleaned 200+ drains and side ditches x…
Read MoreWest Ridge Trail, October 5th
From newenglandtrailconditions.com for the West Ridge Trail on October 5th: Over 4 trips beyond such routine jobs as cleaning drains and chopping blowdowns, Cardigan Highlanders Volunteer Trail Crew has built fixtures to mitigate erosion problems 0.6 miles above the trailhead. Those washouts result from snowshoers packing down a monorail of ice that dammed a seasonal stream that…
Read MoreWe have stayed active the last 6 weeks or so. Please forgive me for not having hours here, but this is a lot of work:
– We hosted 6 campers and 2 leaders from Camp Onaway, who helped us brush out Skyland Trail. We were three, and blazed it in white, according to the 1987 agreement for Cardigan. – We then hosted 10 teens and three leaders from the Upper Valley Trails Alliance on Newbury Trail west of Rim Trail, adding…
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Mizpah-Crawford Path Trip Report 8-19
By Scott MacFaden CVHTC Board Member and Keeper of the Cuaich On an oppressively hot and humid afternoon in late August, three members of the Cardigan Highlanders Volunteer Trail Crew –Craig Sanborn, Bruce James, and I, arrived at the Crawford Path trailhead on Mt. Clinton Road to begin our three-day adventure on the Crawford Path. …
Read MoreUp Coming Trail Work Days: West Ridge Trail Mon July 15, Tue July 16, Thu July 18, Sat July 20
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
Read MoreWinslow Trail, Mt. Kearsarge Wed July 10 at 9 AM
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…
Read MoreThe best Thank You
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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