Any insights regarding the abandoned Stairs Brook Trail?

[1HappyHiker]

QUESTION: Does anyone have any insights about the abandoned Stairs Brook Trail, either through personal experience, or whatever?
(Please note, I'm NOT talking about the current-day Stairs Col Trail.)

BACKGROUND: On 14-July-2011, I set off on an attempt to find evidence of the Stairs Brook Trail which had been abandoned in 1947 according to the 1948 edition of the White Mountain Guide (WMG). For whatever reason, trying to find evidence of abandoned trails is something I enjoy doing. This is in spite of the fact that often times I have little success in finding anything that is truly definitive!

The map included in the 1940 edition of the WMG (as well as a topo map from 1950) shows the Stairs Brook Trail leaving the Rocky Branch Trail at a point just a bit north of Stairs Brook. However, that is about the only thing those two maps have in common. The WMG map shows the trail continuing westward on the NORTH side of the brook all the way to the Davis Path. Whereas the 1950 topo map shows the trail crossing the brook early on, and then continuing westward on the SOUTH side of the brook (completely opposite of what is shown on the WMG map).

Shown below is a side-by-side comparison of those two maps. The topo map is on top, and the WMG map is on the bottom.

The following is pure speculation on my part. I'm thinking that the topo map is possibly more accurate for a couple of reasons. First of all, the 1950 topo map correctly shows Stairs Brook making some twists and turns. Whereas, the WMG map depicts the brook as running in a straight line. This alone makes me doubt the accuracy of the WMG map. Also, the Stairs Brook Trail is listed as a WMNF trail. Since the trail was not maintained by the AMC (publisher of the WMG), it's possible that this was a "low use" trail, and therefore no one really took the time to do a field investigation of the trail's actual location. Perhaps it was assumed that since the trail started on the north side of the brook, it continued on that same side of the brook all the way to the Davis Path.

Not knowing for certain which side of the brook the old trail was actually located, I did some exploring along both sides. It was on the south side of the brook where I found the strongest evidence of a trail corridor. The photo shown below was taken from the south side of the brook. It shows a fern-laden corridor that is somewhat reminiscent of the old jeep road (a.k.a. Fire Warden's Trail) leading to Mt. Hale. This similarity makes me wonder if perhaps the Stairs Brook Trail might have made use of a logging road, at least in part.

But, please don't get me wrong! The entire corridor along the south side of the brook was not as well-defined as shown in the above photo. There were plenty of portions that were thick with hobble bush, but even so, the layout of the surrounding trees seemed to suggest an old corridor.

If you're interested in seeing a few photos taken during my trek, then please click HERE to access my Blog.

 

[billski]

Ideas

Hi John,
I have moved from "traditional hiking" to more of the exploratory form. I've done a number of investigations, including abandoned trails. I also have a collection of "Appalachia" journals that date back to 1945. There are hints as to what had happened, but no specifics. According to the journals of the times:
1) The hurricane of 38 wreaked havoc on the woods and AMC trails of the area, including substantial blow downs on trails.
2) WW2 draft took away pretty much all of the trail crews. The AMC was forced to abandon most trail maintenance.
3) When the draft ended in 1945, the first crews were young and inexperienced. The trails were still full of debris from the '38 hurricane. In 45 they were only able to clear some of the "high priority" trails and had hoped for more skilled crews the following season.

Given this, did you look for evidence of old growth vs. new? Ancient blow down of big trees? Sawing activities for clearing? Obstructions?

I would not be particularly concerned about exact trail footprint. Often times trails alongside streams have to be relocated due to washouts. Often loggers could not reasonably work the steepest pitches. The two-track roads often ended at that point, but are easy to follow. One track trails can be particularly difficult to find since they can go most anywhere slipping around trees here and there. 60 years of detritus on the forest floor can obfuscate the most downtrodden of trails.

At the time, the philosophy of the AMC was to maintain main trails, with deliberate "escape" trails along the way.

My guess is that was abandoned out of necessity. I have a hunch it was maintained by the WMNF, not the AMC.

One last note, while you are looking, did you notice there was another abandoned trail maintained by the WMNF, the Razor Brook trail which ran S from Crawford?

 

[jniehof]

1) , 2), 3)

Given the pressures (I hadn't quite put together the fact that the war had so delayed recovery from the '38 hurricane), is it possible the trail was effectively lost in '38, but not formally abandoned until '47? I suppose WMG from that era might be an indication.

 

[billski]

Hey John,

Yes. Quite plausible.

You have to remember, it wasn't just trail crews that were lacking. The entire WMNF staff and most people in the USA had more important things to do. That includes the pencil pushers at the WMNF. I have a 1947 map that only shows AMC maintained trails. These two trails are not on the map. One is WMNF I know for sure and I'm pretty damn sure the Stairs brook is too.

I suspect if you find a history of the WMNF you might get a clue as to abandonment,

People didn't have a lot of luxury time yet. They were just rebuilding their lives and fixing all that was neglected during the war. It took them several years to clean up all the debris on AMC trails alone.

 

[cooperhill]

Not really helpful for route finding but, mention of it in 1936 WMG:

Stair Brook Trail (WMNF)
Leaving the Rocky Branch trail (see Sect. X) 7 1/2 m. N of Jericho this trail swings L (W), follows up a ridge, and joins the Davis Path in a col between Mt. Davis and Stairs Mountain.
DISTANCE. 1.55 m.

No mention of it in the 1931 WMG by name.

 

[billski]

Not really helpful for route finding but, mention of it in 1936 WMG:

Stair Brook Trail (WMNF)
Leaving the Rocky Branch trail (see Sect. X) 7 1/2 m. N of Jericho this trail swings L (W), follows up a ridge, and joins the Davis Path in a col between Mt. Davis and Stairs Mountain.
DISTANCE. 1.55 m.

No mention of it in the 1931 WMG by name.

Well that settles it! It was maintained by WMNF and it was they who discontinued it. They probably busted their budget. As the AMC reported in 1947, trail maintenance is their most expensive activity.

 

[1HappyHiker]

Billski; Jniehof; Cooperhill: Thanks guys for your very thoughtful responses!

Given this, did you look for evidence of old growth vs. new? Ancient blow down of big trees? Sawing activities for clearing? Obstructions?

I have a hunch it was maintained by the WMNF, not the AMC.

One last note, while you are looking, did you notice there was another abandoned trail maintained by the WMNF, the Razor Brook trail which ran S from Crawford?

Billski, for this time around, my investigation of the Stair(s) Brook Trail was more qualitative (macro) than quantitative (micro). Although I kept a watchful eye for some of the things you mentioned (sawing activities, etc), I found nothing of this nature.

Yes, as indicated in the old editions of the WMG, this was indeed a WMNF trail, not an AMC trail.

Regarding the Razor Brook Trail, I recently did a preliminary qualitative investigation of a small segment of that old trail which was similar to my trek along the old Stair(s) Brook Trail.
(Please click HERE for my Blog report).

 

[RoySwkr]

Given the pressures (I hadn't quite put together the fact that the war had so delayed recovery from the '38 hurricane), is it possible the trail was effectively lost in '38, but not formally abandoned until '47? I suppose WMG from that era might be an indication.

Highly likely, and I don't think the WMG would help because work on it also suffered due to the war

Stair Brook Trail (WMNF)
Leaving the Rocky Branch trail (see Sect. X) 7 1/2 m. N of Jericho this trail swings L (W), follows up a ridge, and joins the Davis Path in a col between Mt. Davis and Stairs Mountain.
DISTANCE. 1.55 m.

So it says the trail follows a ridge not the brook, and a look at the map shows that as highly unlikely

 

[1HappyHiker]

So it says the trail follows a ridge not the brook, and a look at the map shows that as highly unlikely

Roy, that statement in the WMG initially threw me for a loop also! However, I think it's an issue similar to the map that's included in the old WMG.

Regarding the map, I speculate that someone at AMC (way back when) assumed that since the trail started on the NORTH side of the brook, it then continued on that same side all the way to the Davis Path. This assumption caused the WMG map to be inaccurate, whereas the old topo map is probably more accurate in showing the trajectory of the Stairs Brook Trail.

Regarding the bit about the ridge, I think the trail might have started out by climbing the ridgeline (at a point just a bit north of the brook). However, as shown in the topo map, I think the trail soon diverged from the ridge and then closely followed the brook along its south side. Therefore, similar to the issue with the map, perhaps the folks at AMC incorrectly assumed that since the trail started out on the ridge, it continued along the ridgeline for the entire distance.

Those are merely my thoughts, and in no way am I proposing that I'm accurate about any of this!