1HappyHiker
Well-known member
Two of my five adopted trails are as follows:
1) an 0.8 mile segment of the Osgood Trail (from Great Gulf Trail to Osgood Tentsite)
2) the 0.6 mile long Osgood Cutoff trail.
For maintenance of these two trails, I normally hike a nearly 6 mile loop that includes a 1.8 mile segment of the Great Gulf Trail + an 0.8 mile segment of the Osgood Trail + the 0.6 mile Osgood Cutoff Trail + another 0.9 mile segment of the Great Gulf + a repeat of the 1.8 mile segment of the Great Gulf Trail hiked at the beginning of the loop.
On 30-August, I hiked the aforementioned route to assess damages from Hurricane Irene. Other than a few minor blowdowns, there was amazingly barely a twig that was out of place! Most importantly, there was no evidence of trail erosion. All 40+ of my water bars held up great! The only minor erosion was on the west side of the suspension bridge that crosses the Peabody River. Here, there is evidence to suggest that the river "jumped" its banks. Actually, I even saw a dead fish ON THE TRAIL just a few feet from the suspension bridge!
Since there were so few issues to address on this maintenance mission, I did a short "add-on" to my normal route. I easily crossed Parapet Brook, and then hiked a short (maybe 0.1 mile) segment of the Madison Gulf Trail (northbound). There were no issues. But admittedly, this was a very short segment that I hiked, and likely is NOT representative of the overall conditions on this trail.
Next, I had just begun to hike a short portion of the westbound Great Gulf Trail (beyond the junction with the northbound Madison Gulf Trail). I soon met a hiker who indicated that he had just returned from a hike on the Great Gulf Trail up to the junction with the Wamsutta Trail. He said he had encountered negligible problems, and had turned around only because he couldn't safely cross the West Branch Peabody to access the Six Husbands Trail!
Although the water level in the area's rivers was still high (especially for August), the rivers were flowing well within their banks.
I have one other comment. It pertains to the 0.9 mile segment of the Great Gulf Trail located between the west end of the Osgood Cutoff and the Osgood Trail junction. This is NOT one of my adopted trails. However, this trail is used as part of the loop that I use to access my trails. I want to extend my appreciation for the excellent trail-hardening work that has recently been done on this trail. Your hard work has paid off! Even with the amount of rain produced by Hurricane Irene, the places along this trail that normally would have been very muddy were only slightly muddy. Job well done!
My BLOG has some photos relative to this report.
1) an 0.8 mile segment of the Osgood Trail (from Great Gulf Trail to Osgood Tentsite)
2) the 0.6 mile long Osgood Cutoff trail.
For maintenance of these two trails, I normally hike a nearly 6 mile loop that includes a 1.8 mile segment of the Great Gulf Trail + an 0.8 mile segment of the Osgood Trail + the 0.6 mile Osgood Cutoff Trail + another 0.9 mile segment of the Great Gulf + a repeat of the 1.8 mile segment of the Great Gulf Trail hiked at the beginning of the loop.
On 30-August, I hiked the aforementioned route to assess damages from Hurricane Irene. Other than a few minor blowdowns, there was amazingly barely a twig that was out of place! Most importantly, there was no evidence of trail erosion. All 40+ of my water bars held up great! The only minor erosion was on the west side of the suspension bridge that crosses the Peabody River. Here, there is evidence to suggest that the river "jumped" its banks. Actually, I even saw a dead fish ON THE TRAIL just a few feet from the suspension bridge!
Since there were so few issues to address on this maintenance mission, I did a short "add-on" to my normal route. I easily crossed Parapet Brook, and then hiked a short (maybe 0.1 mile) segment of the Madison Gulf Trail (northbound). There were no issues. But admittedly, this was a very short segment that I hiked, and likely is NOT representative of the overall conditions on this trail.
Next, I had just begun to hike a short portion of the westbound Great Gulf Trail (beyond the junction with the northbound Madison Gulf Trail). I soon met a hiker who indicated that he had just returned from a hike on the Great Gulf Trail up to the junction with the Wamsutta Trail. He said he had encountered negligible problems, and had turned around only because he couldn't safely cross the West Branch Peabody to access the Six Husbands Trail!
Although the water level in the area's rivers was still high (especially for August), the rivers were flowing well within their banks.
I have one other comment. It pertains to the 0.9 mile segment of the Great Gulf Trail located between the west end of the Osgood Cutoff and the Osgood Trail junction. This is NOT one of my adopted trails. However, this trail is used as part of the loop that I use to access my trails. I want to extend my appreciation for the excellent trail-hardening work that has recently been done on this trail. Your hard work has paid off! Even with the amount of rain produced by Hurricane Irene, the places along this trail that normally would have been very muddy were only slightly muddy. Job well done!
My BLOG has some photos relative to this report.
