Fourth Annual Daniel Doan Trail Maintenance Day

[TrailwrightBratt]

ORFORD: On National Trails Day, June 5, the fourth annual maintenance
day was held at the Daniel Doan Trail on Smarts Mountain. This trail
was named after the longtime resident of Laconia and Sanbornton,
author of "50 Hikes in the White Mountains" and "50 More Hikes in New
Hampshire."
Representing the Dartmouth Outing Club was Jason Berard of North
Thetford, VT.
In 1993 at a ceremony at the Smarts Mountain trailhead shortly before
Doan's death, the Dartmouth Outing Club dedicated the trail "in
recognition of Daniel Doan's efforts to stimulate interest and
involvement in hiking and the out-of-doors." Doan graduated from
Dartmouth in 1936.
Descriptions of the Daniel Doan Trail can be found in "50 Hikes in
the White Mountains" and the "AMC White Mountain Guide." The hike is
six miles round-trip and takes about four and a half hours, not
counting lunch and exploration of the fire tower on the 3,238-foot
summit.
With a poor weather report and smaller turn out, we concentrated on getting more of the badly needed erosion control rather than doing repair work.We did get in 5 rock reinforced water bars and cleaned all water bars and drainage from the 2 previous years and continued adding to the trail side ditching on the lower road part.
As usual digging will expose rocks not expected.
The Doan family was in attendance to help out.
Darrell with the tool trailer.
We did not have a camera with the crew installing water bars so pictures are limited and with me being new to doing this sort of thing I hope this works out OK.
None the less we had a great day after all and a special thanks to Cooperhill and Jason Berard for going ahead and cleaning out all the winters blowdowns. Glenn S,Dick,Peggy,Thane,Hamish,Darrell and Ray for the hard work involved.
I hope we can continue the saving of this very neglected trail named in honor of a man so dedicated to hikng and the outdoors,who by the way was very supportive and a member of Trailwrights in it's formative early years,It is the least we can do.

 

[cooperhill]

A great day for this. Weather luckily held out for us. Jason Berard and I had a great trip up to the summit of Smarts and tackled some nasty blowdowns with double bit and 42" bow saw. There is a great variety of trees on this lightly used and interesting trail up Smarts Mountain. The day-lighted waterbars and new side ditching lower down on the Daniel Doan trail look fantastic. Thanks to Thane for the book! I'll be sure to sign up earlier next year to take advantage of the dinner at the lodge.

Cheers

 

[Barkingcat]

Nicely done all of you -- thank you for your help in maintaining this trail.

All of us who use this and other trails in the area at one point or another are the lucky (but not ungrateful) beneficiaries of your hard work.

Thank you!

 

[GlennS]

Another excellent outing with the trailwrights. Driving up 93N in the pouring rain, I had my doubts. However, by the time I got to the trailhead the weather cleared and we had a great day.

Anyone interested in trailwork should make it a point to participate in one of the Trailwright's work trips. It really is impressive to watch masters of the craft make improvements to the trail using rock.

Check out their website at http://www.trailwrights.org/.

 

[Jason Berard]

An excellent day in the woods! I, too, was doubtful that the weather would cooperate, but it didn't rain a drop while we were on the trail!
The sawing/chopping went well, but I'm honestly still not sure which way is more efficient....a heavy, noisy gas guzzling chainsaw....did I say heavy ....
or hand tools, which are lighter, and don't require the gas/oil/tools that the chainsaw does, but take more effort to use once one reaches a blowdown....
Many thanks to Thane for the copy of "Our last backpack"!
For those who have used this trail over that past, check it out now! It is greatly improved!
I'm working to find an adopter for this trail as well, so if anyone out there is interested, let me know!

 

[Creag Nan Drochaid]

You did well

Friends, I have to confess I chickened out on this day when we were still experiencing thunder and heavy downpours at the time I had to decide whether to go or not. Later I hung out in the alpine zone on Mt Cardigan a few hours. NO TOOLS!!
You got a lot done for the size of the crew. I think rock-spined waterbars are an efficient way to build them, you can be a lot less fussy about having just the right rocks when you are not having to shingle them in a deep narrow trench. They work well on gentle-moderate slopes, especially where they are close together so no one bar has very much runoff to deal with.
We start a patrol with hand tools, clear all we can with them, that leaves a cleared path for the sawyer's detail later if the chainsaw is even needed.
My crew has about finished the Spring patrols and drain-cleaning on our 15 miles of trail. This week I put out a summer schedule including extensive rebuilding on trails that have been untended for years.
Hal, we'll see you on 7/17. I'd like to go there with you and develop a detailed worklist before the day so we can use the crew's time to best effect.
Please reply about that. All the Best, Craig

 

[Paradox]

Well done! Due to other commitments I was unable to make it. I'll be back.

 

[TrailwrightBratt]

New Photo

Left to right: Darrell Hamilton, Hal Graham, GlennS, Thane Joyal, Ray Jackson(Trailwrights' President, front), Dick Mason, Peggy Graham, Hamish Joyal.
Missing were Jason Berard and Cooperhill, who were already working while we dilly dallied moving vehicles and getting our photo taken. In addition, cheering us on was the cheerleader, Ruth, Dan's daughter and Don who took the picture.