Ferncroft Area - February 3, 2007

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sapblatt

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Met up with LarryD at 5:30 in Conway with the idea of meeting Rols, Ryan and Squinty Ken for a winter attempt on Isolation. Well, my car had other ideas and would not get up to the Rocky Branch Trailhead - hikers should have 4WD - oh well...

After driving and skidding around for a couple of hours we finally found a place that was plowed enough to park - the road at Ferncroft - not the lot, but the road. Larry and I suited up and decided to do something short as it was know already 9am. We decided to make a loop out of the Kelley, Lawrence and Old Mast Trails - a nice loop through Paugus Pass.

The new snow was wonderful, but it seemed like forever since I have snowshoed. Larry and I were certainly feeling it. This trail is just so beautiful and not often travelled. It follows a stream bed and goes by some very interesting rock formations that were formed in the last ice age (or so I have read.) There are some very serious blowdowns - over two feet in diameter - but most of them were easily negotiable - there was one tricky one, but too tough.

There is one very steep pitch of about 100 yards as the trail leaves the river for the last time. At this point we could not believe we had not made it to the Lawrence/Oliverian Brook junction - we were moving slowly throuogh the snow. We decided that we would stop at noon even is we did not reach the junction. Right at noon we hit the Wilderness Boundary and had lunch and checked the map - apparently we were only about 100 yards from the junction. We ate, drank and moved on...the three hours up, and half hour lunch led to the easy part of the day - it only took us 60-70 minutes to get down the Old Mast Interstate Highway.

Real glad we got out - real sorry we did not make it up the Rocky Branch Trailhead, but I could imagine that very well of been a bear of hike to break trail on all day. Hope Rols and company did OK. Anbther great day out with Larry - thanks for the post hike beer and pre hike donuts,

Nice meeting Jazzbo and friend before the hike!

PICTURES HERE

http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CauGbVozaNns

My pop up blocker, even when off is preventing me from putting in a link

- some of these are real cool - fresh snow makes for nice pics!
 
sapblatt,

Where were the blow-downs? If we have detailed reports its easier to get them cleared ASAP. It may not be until spring, but sometimes we'll do some mid-winter trail work.

Peter Smart
WODC Trails Committee
 
Peter -
Thanks for asking - there was a pretty big one near the last crossing before the steep uphill pitch on the Kelley Trail. There were also a couple of very large trees that fell on top of each other on the Lawrence Trail, between Oliverian Brook and the 4-way junction. That one was not difficult to get under.
The first one I mentioned was a little tricky - too big to get over, to low to go under - we went up the side hill about 15-20 feet and then back down to the stream.
The trails are beautiful - they are very well marked and a lot of fun too hike!
Latly, the lower area had no issues at all...the first 1.5 miles of Kelley and all of Mast were A-OK.
 
What a beautiful area to have explored! I think you made a great choice for the day. :)
 
sapblatt said:
there was a pretty big one near the last crossing before the steep uphill pitch on the Kelley Trail. There were also a couple of very large trees that fell on top of each other on the Lawrence Trail, between Oliverian Brook and the 4-way junction

Thanks for the info. Until December 1st the first blow-down would have been a chain-saw candidate, but as of December 1st the new Wilderness boundary is about half-way up Kelley Trail and Old Mast Road (yeah!), so they'll all require a cross-cut saw or axe.

It would be great if VFTT had a standard way to report trail maintenance issues (like blow-downs) on a trail-by-trail basis. I know the WODC, USFS, etc. would love to have the benefit of this info.

This is definitely a great loop hike. Kelley Trail is a beautiful place is any season.
 
psmart: Mike and I noticed some surveyor flagging on the Old Mast Road which indicated the new wilderness boundary. I didn't realize some of the expansion was in this area. I thought all of it was North and West of there. At some point I assume they will move the existing boundary signs.

I agree with you about the Kelley Trail. I plan to make a trip up there this summer to see what it looks like then.
 
Sandwich Range Wilderness extensions

LarryD: Although the largest extensions to the Sandwich Range Wilderness were to the north (around Mt Hedgehog) and west (towards Waterville Valley), there was also a significant extension towards Sandwich Notch Road, and a lesser extension towards Wonalancet.

You can find maps of the new wilderness at www.whywilderness.org Click on "Maps" and then "Sandwich Range". This shows the Sandwich Range extensions in medium green.

The Wilderness boundary signs will be moved later this year, with exact GPS locations being established by the USFS. The temporary blue flagging was established by compass bearings from the nearest WMNF survey marker, but it should be pretty close.
 
Mike,

Great TR! The black and white pics make the hike look magical. You captured the essance of winter in the photo of the Kelly Trail and several of the forest pics off trail. Glad to hear you all had a great time outside, and hiked in spite of car trouble! Must get out there and hike before all the snow is gone :D


Ridgewalker
 
Kelley trail

The story about how the Kelley trail ravine was formed is fascinating. It's worth a read before one hikes it. I'm sorry that I don't recall where I read about the glacial ice dam breaking and stuff, but maybe it can be Googled. WODC has the most wonderful set of trails that receive such low useage. Oh darn, there goes another solitude secret ;)
 
Hillwalker said:
The story about how the Kelley trail ravine was formed is fascinating. It's worth a read before one hikes it. I'm sorry that I don't recall where I read about the glacial ice dam breaking and stuff...

There was an article about the Kelley Trail ravine in the April 1996 issue of the WODC Newsletter. You can find a PDF copy at http://www.wodc.org/newsletter.htm
 
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