Jazzbo
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Date: 6/10/06
Hike: Pierce via Crawford Trail
Tired of staying home so booked a cabin at Pemi Motor Court to solo some short 4K hikes this weekend. Rough week at work resulted in late start Saturday from Waltham. Never found my rain pants in my cluttered gear storage so stopped in Lincoln and bought some. Thought I’d do the Hancocks on theory you could bushwack around stream crossings, but due to late start opted for something less experimental and headed for Pierce. Stopped briefly to observe a moose browsing in watery flats just before Bear Notch Road. Seemed like a curious sort. For a moment he was looking at us gawkers like he might come over to get a closer look at us.
Started at 1:00 in steady but light rain. A man and his (10 years old?) daughter started ahead of me, but met up with them shortly as they were turning back. He said something to her like “See he’s going all the way?” as if to say she was wimping out or something. Maybe it’s just my overactive imagination. Turning back in this weather is not wimping out. It’s what a sensible person would do. I continued to march. Gibbs Falls was beautiful. Took some nice pic’s there and admired the bridge construction. Good candidate for replacement of Croo Bridge for crossing Bailey Brook at Cardigan.
Started climbing in earnest and noted incredible volumes of water issuing from the cut banks on uphill sides of the trail. Water was coming from everywhere. Flows were decidedly heavier in some places than others. Waterbars should be located just down hill from these spots. Waterbars capture runoff flow and route it off the trail preferably in a gutter lined with well anchored rocks or logs. Crawford is an old trail (first built in 1819). By now a waterbar has been installed wherever there needs to be one and that’s why the Crawford Trail continues to be a great trail even after this much time and traffic. The waterbars were working overtime today. They’d all had their spring-cleaning and were working fine.
Met maybe 8 other hikers coming and going. At junction I headed towards Pierce. This portion of the trail approaches the ridge at shallower angle and soils were shallower and there weren’t as many waterbars. I think this was on account of the thinner soils. The end result was huge volumes of water running directly down the trail on bare rock. I was soon into the spruce scrub and wind was blowing from the north as it usually does up there. I was going to just tag the summit and be gone. I turned right at the trail junction and making my way to summit cairn. Rain was falling horizontal. My pack cover blew off, but I caught it. I took some pictures of alpine flowers.
Rain pants over nylon hiking pants and raincoat was a dumb choice. I was soaked inside and out from rain and perspiration. I did feel relatively warm in my windproof layers so hypothermia was never an issue. I stopped frequently to make minor repairs to waterbars so I was pretty chilled by the time I got back to the car at 6:15. If it was still raining tomorrow I would opt for shorts.
Date: 6/11/06
Hike: Hale via Hale Brook Trail
Weather clearing in Lincoln, but wind was wipping. Looking up Franconia Notch, the summits to the north were still socked in. Opting again for something conservative and decided to do Hale via Hale Brook Trail from Zealand Road. I detoured up Haystack Road to check out the Little River trailheads with a view to trying the Fire Warden Road sometime. Little River was severely swollen and not crossable. Continuing on to Zeeland Road, I started in shorts and raincoat with open pit zips. Not raining so hard today so the raincoat came off. The first 1/3 of the 2.2 mile trail was relatively dry with very little running water anywhere. Could the porous gravel mountain soils have drained already? The 2000’ gain happens in the next 2/3 and that’s where the water starts flowing. This trail’s waterbars seemed like they’d been cleaned, but not very well and in upper sections placement of many could have been better. I’ve been told by the NH Chapter Trail Master that keeping waterbars clear is JOB #1 for all trail adopters.
I'm a nit-picker so I stopped at most of them to make improvements with the tools I had at hand i.e. my boots, trekking poles, and bare hands which needless to say turned a short hike into a long one. After cleaning waterbars in pouring rain at Cardigan earlier this year and after this past weekend I’m now of the opinion that locating and maintaining waterbars should only be done during heavy rain events. One easily identifies the natural springs and spots terrain features that lend themselves best to installing new waterbars. Next time I hike in the rain I’m bringing a shovel or better yet a fully equipped trail crew.
The summit was socked in and it was extremely wet atmosphere and breezy. I layered up and explored as best I could with my wet eyeglasses. I located the Fire Warden Trail and walked it a tenth of a mile or so. Impressed with it’s nice condition …. Something about it …. like it’s laid fallow for a long time. In comparison to the Hale Brook Trail that leads to the summit, this trail’s treadway was gentle and rich in organic matter. Humm…so tempting. Alas another day.
I will say my Asolo 520’s with Goretex kept my feet dry and my pack cover kept my pack and it’s contents dry. The rest of me was soaked. This in spite of walking much of the time in running water and blasting out blocked waterbars with my booted feet.
Pics: http://community.webshots.com/album/551347362FallGt
Hike: Pierce via Crawford Trail
Tired of staying home so booked a cabin at Pemi Motor Court to solo some short 4K hikes this weekend. Rough week at work resulted in late start Saturday from Waltham. Never found my rain pants in my cluttered gear storage so stopped in Lincoln and bought some. Thought I’d do the Hancocks on theory you could bushwack around stream crossings, but due to late start opted for something less experimental and headed for Pierce. Stopped briefly to observe a moose browsing in watery flats just before Bear Notch Road. Seemed like a curious sort. For a moment he was looking at us gawkers like he might come over to get a closer look at us.
Started at 1:00 in steady but light rain. A man and his (10 years old?) daughter started ahead of me, but met up with them shortly as they were turning back. He said something to her like “See he’s going all the way?” as if to say she was wimping out or something. Maybe it’s just my overactive imagination. Turning back in this weather is not wimping out. It’s what a sensible person would do. I continued to march. Gibbs Falls was beautiful. Took some nice pic’s there and admired the bridge construction. Good candidate for replacement of Croo Bridge for crossing Bailey Brook at Cardigan.
Started climbing in earnest and noted incredible volumes of water issuing from the cut banks on uphill sides of the trail. Water was coming from everywhere. Flows were decidedly heavier in some places than others. Waterbars should be located just down hill from these spots. Waterbars capture runoff flow and route it off the trail preferably in a gutter lined with well anchored rocks or logs. Crawford is an old trail (first built in 1819). By now a waterbar has been installed wherever there needs to be one and that’s why the Crawford Trail continues to be a great trail even after this much time and traffic. The waterbars were working overtime today. They’d all had their spring-cleaning and were working fine.
Met maybe 8 other hikers coming and going. At junction I headed towards Pierce. This portion of the trail approaches the ridge at shallower angle and soils were shallower and there weren’t as many waterbars. I think this was on account of the thinner soils. The end result was huge volumes of water running directly down the trail on bare rock. I was soon into the spruce scrub and wind was blowing from the north as it usually does up there. I was going to just tag the summit and be gone. I turned right at the trail junction and making my way to summit cairn. Rain was falling horizontal. My pack cover blew off, but I caught it. I took some pictures of alpine flowers.
Rain pants over nylon hiking pants and raincoat was a dumb choice. I was soaked inside and out from rain and perspiration. I did feel relatively warm in my windproof layers so hypothermia was never an issue. I stopped frequently to make minor repairs to waterbars so I was pretty chilled by the time I got back to the car at 6:15. If it was still raining tomorrow I would opt for shorts.
Date: 6/11/06
Hike: Hale via Hale Brook Trail
Weather clearing in Lincoln, but wind was wipping. Looking up Franconia Notch, the summits to the north were still socked in. Opting again for something conservative and decided to do Hale via Hale Brook Trail from Zealand Road. I detoured up Haystack Road to check out the Little River trailheads with a view to trying the Fire Warden Road sometime. Little River was severely swollen and not crossable. Continuing on to Zeeland Road, I started in shorts and raincoat with open pit zips. Not raining so hard today so the raincoat came off. The first 1/3 of the 2.2 mile trail was relatively dry with very little running water anywhere. Could the porous gravel mountain soils have drained already? The 2000’ gain happens in the next 2/3 and that’s where the water starts flowing. This trail’s waterbars seemed like they’d been cleaned, but not very well and in upper sections placement of many could have been better. I’ve been told by the NH Chapter Trail Master that keeping waterbars clear is JOB #1 for all trail adopters.
I'm a nit-picker so I stopped at most of them to make improvements with the tools I had at hand i.e. my boots, trekking poles, and bare hands which needless to say turned a short hike into a long one. After cleaning waterbars in pouring rain at Cardigan earlier this year and after this past weekend I’m now of the opinion that locating and maintaining waterbars should only be done during heavy rain events. One easily identifies the natural springs and spots terrain features that lend themselves best to installing new waterbars. Next time I hike in the rain I’m bringing a shovel or better yet a fully equipped trail crew.
The summit was socked in and it was extremely wet atmosphere and breezy. I layered up and explored as best I could with my wet eyeglasses. I located the Fire Warden Trail and walked it a tenth of a mile or so. Impressed with it’s nice condition …. Something about it …. like it’s laid fallow for a long time. In comparison to the Hale Brook Trail that leads to the summit, this trail’s treadway was gentle and rich in organic matter. Humm…so tempting. Alas another day.
I will say my Asolo 520’s with Goretex kept my feet dry and my pack cover kept my pack and it’s contents dry. The rest of me was soaked. This in spite of walking much of the time in running water and blasting out blocked waterbars with my booted feet.
Pics: http://community.webshots.com/album/551347362FallGt
