Jazzbo
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jan 1, 2005
- Messages
- 1,199
- Reaction score
- 171
Date of trip: 9/9/06 to 9/10/06
AMC New Hampshire Chapter Trail Work Weekend at Cardigan Lodge is great way to try your hand at trail work. I’m sure many who frequent this site have some interest in doing trail work as a way of giving something back to the trails that bring them so much enjoyment. I hope this TR serves to pique some VFTT interest to give the Cardigan Lodge Trail Work Weekend or any of the other trail work opportunities out there a try.
Lucky for me, my wife and two sons (13 & 15) like going to Cardigan Lodge to the point where it’s practically a mandatory family trip. This is win-win situation for me as I get share my love of hiking with them as they’re not into peak bagging to quite the extent I do. I think one thing they like about going up there is the camaraderie of Cardigan Lodge, good food and hospitality. Certain of the work and Lodge crew leaders are notorious characters that my two sons have formed an attachment to.
We arrive Friday evening. We relax and partook in the buffet supper of three kinds of lasagna with garlic bread prepared by Devon of the Lodge Crew. We drink wine and smooze with old and new friends. The crew leaders meet in the library to discuss work projects and develop a list of projects designed to meet current needs of the trails and varying abilities of the volunteers. Leaders try to make everyone welcome and make everyone feel their work is important.
One interesting project is a trail relocation entailing couple of hundred feet of side hilling and much rockwork. It’s classic trail work stuff that comes to mind when one thinks of trail work. I would have liked to gone on that one, but was given my first crew leader assignment to lead a work crew to brush a section of remote trail. I write up the projects on signup slips and put them out on the Cardigan trail map and volunteers are requested to sign up for crews. I hang out nearby to explain the projects and help folks decide which project to sign up for.
In the morning a hearty breakfast is served by the AMC Lodge Crew and work crews muster out front ready to go at 9:00. My two sons accompany me in my crew of 7. We drive 30 minutes to Four Corners to get to our work area. The trail is hard to find and we spend 30 minutes looking for the trailhead. We ask for assistance from a local and are soon on the trail. We began brushing in open woods. We gain elevation and come to an area of old fields with open canopy that tends to get thick with blackberries and brambles. Brushing is slow going here.
By 3:30 we reach a ledgy knoll that offers a fine view and makes a good place to quit. I radio Craig’s crew that’s coming our way on the Woodland trail and expects to meet up with us. They have a chainsaw and brush cutter. I establish radio contact I inform Craig, we haven’t made it to the junction. They’ve reached the junction and are heading in our direction. Craig suggests we holler to each other to see if we’re within earshot. Craig hollers but forgets to take his finger off the button and nearly blasts my eardrums out. Other crews listening in think this is funny. We hear the holler so we agree to wait for them to come to us.
Clouds are building all afternoon some of them quite high. An big thunderstorm pops up suddenly from the west over Cardigan ridge just as Craig's crews arrives. The winds are tremendous and lightning starts crackling. We abandoned the ledgy knoll ASAP. The heavy rain heavy soaks those who didn't think it would rain and left raincoats behind. We arrive cold and tired at the lodge in time for happy hour. The lodge has lost power and we’re instructed not to use the toilets or showers. The power comes back just before dark. Devon still manages to cook a turkey dinner in spite of the power outage and we have another hearty meal.
The leaders meet after dinner and draw up work plans for Sunday. This time I sign up for Tim’s crew that’s going back to the trail relocation area to take down a widow maker and do some rockwork at a stream crossing. Tim Doucette proves to be a wizard with tools and as well as a good leader and instructor. A big tree is broken low on the trunk and is hung up in the small branches of other trees and hangs directly over one of the main trails tourists take to summit Cardigan. Tim and crew use the grip hoist to pull the butt off of the stump. The tree drops to the ground, but is still hung up. The grip hoist is re-positioned and tree is dragged along the ground it until finally becomes unbalanced and comes crashing down. The grip hoist is used to drag the trunk up off the trail. The tree measures a good 20 paces in length. The job is accomplished in a safe and efficient manner.
We walk to a small stream crossing where Tim and crew begin rearranging boulders to make it easier to do the stream crossing. There’s one humongus boulder Tim considers moving but maybe not. I get engrossed for an hour of so in building a little water bar near by. I’m astonished when I walk over to see what they’ve done. They’ve managed to drag the huge 2’ X 3’ X 5’ boulder about 25’ down to the stream crossing where they’ve incorporated it into one side of a deep flume channel enabling hikers to simply step across the stream. They estimate it weighs 1200 pounds. I’m still kicking myself for not taking pictures of them building this amazing work of art in rock.
At this point a guy comes by hiking the trails barefoot. I’ve seen some peculiar footwear on the trail, tennis shoes, sandals, yellow rain boots, but barefoot!! We should have asked them if they were going to the top. Strange footwear we’ve seen could make an interesting discussion thread all by itself.
This report is long enough. No pictures worth posting. I’m ripped I missed taking shots of the rock work.
AMC New Hampshire Chapter Trail Work Weekend at Cardigan Lodge is great way to try your hand at trail work. I’m sure many who frequent this site have some interest in doing trail work as a way of giving something back to the trails that bring them so much enjoyment. I hope this TR serves to pique some VFTT interest to give the Cardigan Lodge Trail Work Weekend or any of the other trail work opportunities out there a try.
Lucky for me, my wife and two sons (13 & 15) like going to Cardigan Lodge to the point where it’s practically a mandatory family trip. This is win-win situation for me as I get share my love of hiking with them as they’re not into peak bagging to quite the extent I do. I think one thing they like about going up there is the camaraderie of Cardigan Lodge, good food and hospitality. Certain of the work and Lodge crew leaders are notorious characters that my two sons have formed an attachment to.
We arrive Friday evening. We relax and partook in the buffet supper of three kinds of lasagna with garlic bread prepared by Devon of the Lodge Crew. We drink wine and smooze with old and new friends. The crew leaders meet in the library to discuss work projects and develop a list of projects designed to meet current needs of the trails and varying abilities of the volunteers. Leaders try to make everyone welcome and make everyone feel their work is important.
One interesting project is a trail relocation entailing couple of hundred feet of side hilling and much rockwork. It’s classic trail work stuff that comes to mind when one thinks of trail work. I would have liked to gone on that one, but was given my first crew leader assignment to lead a work crew to brush a section of remote trail. I write up the projects on signup slips and put them out on the Cardigan trail map and volunteers are requested to sign up for crews. I hang out nearby to explain the projects and help folks decide which project to sign up for.
In the morning a hearty breakfast is served by the AMC Lodge Crew and work crews muster out front ready to go at 9:00. My two sons accompany me in my crew of 7. We drive 30 minutes to Four Corners to get to our work area. The trail is hard to find and we spend 30 minutes looking for the trailhead. We ask for assistance from a local and are soon on the trail. We began brushing in open woods. We gain elevation and come to an area of old fields with open canopy that tends to get thick with blackberries and brambles. Brushing is slow going here.
By 3:30 we reach a ledgy knoll that offers a fine view and makes a good place to quit. I radio Craig’s crew that’s coming our way on the Woodland trail and expects to meet up with us. They have a chainsaw and brush cutter. I establish radio contact I inform Craig, we haven’t made it to the junction. They’ve reached the junction and are heading in our direction. Craig suggests we holler to each other to see if we’re within earshot. Craig hollers but forgets to take his finger off the button and nearly blasts my eardrums out. Other crews listening in think this is funny. We hear the holler so we agree to wait for them to come to us.
Clouds are building all afternoon some of them quite high. An big thunderstorm pops up suddenly from the west over Cardigan ridge just as Craig's crews arrives. The winds are tremendous and lightning starts crackling. We abandoned the ledgy knoll ASAP. The heavy rain heavy soaks those who didn't think it would rain and left raincoats behind. We arrive cold and tired at the lodge in time for happy hour. The lodge has lost power and we’re instructed not to use the toilets or showers. The power comes back just before dark. Devon still manages to cook a turkey dinner in spite of the power outage and we have another hearty meal.
The leaders meet after dinner and draw up work plans for Sunday. This time I sign up for Tim’s crew that’s going back to the trail relocation area to take down a widow maker and do some rockwork at a stream crossing. Tim Doucette proves to be a wizard with tools and as well as a good leader and instructor. A big tree is broken low on the trunk and is hung up in the small branches of other trees and hangs directly over one of the main trails tourists take to summit Cardigan. Tim and crew use the grip hoist to pull the butt off of the stump. The tree drops to the ground, but is still hung up. The grip hoist is re-positioned and tree is dragged along the ground it until finally becomes unbalanced and comes crashing down. The grip hoist is used to drag the trunk up off the trail. The tree measures a good 20 paces in length. The job is accomplished in a safe and efficient manner.
We walk to a small stream crossing where Tim and crew begin rearranging boulders to make it easier to do the stream crossing. There’s one humongus boulder Tim considers moving but maybe not. I get engrossed for an hour of so in building a little water bar near by. I’m astonished when I walk over to see what they’ve done. They’ve managed to drag the huge 2’ X 3’ X 5’ boulder about 25’ down to the stream crossing where they’ve incorporated it into one side of a deep flume channel enabling hikers to simply step across the stream. They estimate it weighs 1200 pounds. I’m still kicking myself for not taking pictures of them building this amazing work of art in rock.
At this point a guy comes by hiking the trails barefoot. I’ve seen some peculiar footwear on the trail, tennis shoes, sandals, yellow rain boots, but barefoot!! We should have asked them if they were going to the top. Strange footwear we’ve seen could make an interesting discussion thread all by itself.
This report is long enough. No pictures worth posting. I’m ripped I missed taking shots of the rock work.
