"Warm smell of colitas (well, creosote), rising up through the air"

Billy · May 28, 2011

For those who haven't been there in a few years, here's what the south bank of the East Branch Pemi River looks like where the suspension bridge was removed. Photos and video shot on May 27th.

Video here

REK · May 29, 2011

Danger, Will Robinson! Warning! Rant Approaching!

I've been a good boy on this but I'll speak now. Blue tarps and drywall buckets really give me that good old "Lewis and Clarke wilderness feeling".(If they'd had 'em They'd have used 'em) So much nicer than that ugly old bridge. It's been a year and a half since the bridge was removed so that only leaves 48.5 years before that trash become historical and has to stay there.

What's done is done and there's not much I can do about it but go hike the trail again and appreciate the pretty river. Thanks for the photos.

Alright I feel better now. I'll be quiet and go back to lurking

Bob

TEO · May 29, 2011

Billy, thanks for taking & sharing these photos. Regardless of which side of the bridge removal issue you were on, this has to be disappointing. I hope that you'll send your pictures to the Forest Service along with a letter of complaint. I also wonder if it wouldn't be prudent to c.c. the Wilderness Society, the Sierra Club, & the AMC.

I surmise that the delay in the removal of this junk might be related to Forest Service budget cuts, but still, this has to be taken care of.

psmart · May 29, 2011

My understanding was that the FS was going to request bids for the removal of the material, but to my knowledge they haven't even put it out for bids. Sad.

Billy · May 30, 2011

TEO, regarding your idea about sending a letter to the USFS: I'll pass. I've been around the block a few times...I know what happens to letters/emails sent to government agencies. If you want to do it and include the photos/video, good luck.

Over the weekend, I spoke with two men who have recently been involved in meetings in which this topic came up. (I'll leave their names out of this; they were both nice enough to take the time to talk to me about this, but there's no need to out them.) While talking to me, both men had the same head-shaking, eye-rolling reaction to the "removal effort". One of these men told me the forest service has been in contact with volunteer groups who are interested in doing (or at least helping with) the debris removal. The other man told me he thinks the only practical way out of this is with a helicopter lift (read: wilderness rules take a holiday).

Becca M · May 30, 2011

Shameful! In the winter, at least the snow covers the mess. Then, if you're lucky, you can ski over where the bridge used to be...

DougPaul · May 30, 2011

I move we issue a citizen's citation for littering and dumping in a wilderness area...

(and

)

Doug

Tom Rankin · May 30, 2011

NYS DEC is not much better these days. It will come down to the maxim I've read on bumper stickers over the years, "If the people lead, the leaders will follow".

hikerbrian · May 31, 2011

I wonder - if we got 100 people into the woods on a weekend in February, could this entire mess be cleared in one day, assuming there was a dumpster parked at the trailhead? It would be quite a victory for grass roots action.

I'm going to study this problem a little bit more. Thanks for the photos.

Tom Rankin · May 31, 2011

hikerbrian said:
I wonder - if we got 100 people into the woods on a weekend in February, could this entire mess be cleared in one day, assuming there was a dumpster parked at the trailhead? It would be quite a victory for grass roots action.

I'm going to study this problem a little bit more. Thanks for the photos.

I would guess that a lot of it would be either invisible or frozen into the snow/ice.

TDawg · May 31, 2011

hikerbrian said:
...assuming there was a dumpster parked at the trailhead?

Dumpster? How about just leaving it all right on the front porch of the ranger station at LW! Maybe they'll clean it up then.

Disappointing to see those pictures. Thanks for posting.

Bob · May 31, 2011

hikerbrian said:
I wonder - if we got 100 people into the woods on a weekend in February, could this entire mess be cleared in one day, assuming there was a dumpster parked at the trailhead? It would be quite a victory for grass roots action.

I'm going to study this problem a little bit more. Thanks for the photos.

wouldn't that violate the 10 person group size limit in wilderness areas?

Stan · May 31, 2011

hikerbrian said:
I wonder - if we got 100 people into the woods on a weekend in February, could this entire mess be cleared in one day, assuming there was a dumpster parked at the trailhead? It would be quite a victory for grass roots action.

I'm going to study this problem a little bit more. Thanks for the photos.

Always nice to read constructive ideas. I would expect that by covering it could prevent the snow from freezing everything into a congealed mass. Maybe difficult to drag some things out but this is a step in the right direction.

Of course, purveyors of good ideas still must contend with naysayers, lawyers and bureaucrats. That's worse than what the weather will throw at you!

Good luck!

peakbagger · May 31, 2011

Of course if any of the components are more than 50 years old, do they become historial relics and subject to laws preventing their removal?

hikerbrian · May 31, 2011

TDawg said:
Dumpster? How about just leaving it all right on the front porch of the ranger station at LW! Maybe they'll clean it up then.

Yeah, I thought about that. But I suspect this is a money issue, not a motivation issue.

Bob said:
wouldn't that violate the 10 person group size limit in wilderness areas?

Yes. Yes it would. Obviously we'd have to get 90 sets of snow camouflage suits so as to conceal our true numbers.

Stan said:
Always nice to read constructive ideas.

Thanks, just thinking out loud really. I generally enjoy these kinds of logistical challenges that have an obvious payoff. I need to take a look at the pile of junk myself though.

bikehikeskifish · May 31, 2011

Evenly divide the 5 miles or so into 10 0.5 mile chunks. Each group of 10 carries a load 0.5 miles and then heads back. Thus you never have a group larger than 10, except possibly for a brief overlap at the exchange points.

Tim

peakbagger · May 31, 2011

By the way there is a far bigger mess on Bemis. They just pushed over a fire tower platform and left it where it was.

By the looks of the hardware it may be of use for some other club where bridges are still allowed.

Folks used to use wheelbarrows to bring kegs to Franconia Falls so I expect an approriate large wheel garden cart would probably be able to get in via the old east side road.

Stan · May 31, 2011

Hey! why not use the old timbers, they must be dry by now, to build a raft and float the stuff downriver at high water? It'll float all the way down to Lawrence, Mass. where, with all the flotsam gathered down there in City Hall, it won't even be noticed!

Now, where do we find some good river drivers?

Becca M · May 31, 2011

Why are *we* trying to do *their* job???? They destroyed it, and the pile of debris is a monument to *them* and their *&*&%$^#^#&!!!! (if you'll excuse my language)

Billy · May 31, 2011

hikerbrian said:
I wonder - if we got 100 people into the woods on a weekend in February, could this entire mess be cleared in one day, assuming there was a dumpster parked at the trailhead?...

Keep in mind, you don't need to carry this debris 5.7 miles.......you only** need to carry it 2.7 miles. Once you hit the wilderness boundary, three miles from the trailhead, you can put it in nice neat piles for the rangers to collect in their pickup trucks. I'm sure they'd be overjoyed to help the effort. They drive the first three miles of the East Side Trail to go check out the campsites just outside the wilderness boundary.

** I say "only" 2.7 miles in bit tongue-in-cheek. The topo maps don't show it, but the last 0.5 miles of the Cedar Brook Trail has some tight uppy-downy twists and turns. Simple hiking terrain, but not simple to carry 15-foot 8x8 beams (estimate). The person carrying the middle of the beam would be getting tossed off trail alot. Same thing applies to dragging them out in winter, it would rip up the sides of the trail. The trail is tight in places. Not as easy as it sounds.

But you're thinking in the right direction.

"Warm smell of colitas (well, creosote), rising up through the air"

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