:-? the cohos trail is back open again!:sun
WINTER 2007
THE COHOS TREKKER
The electronic newsletter of The Cohos Trail Association
REINVENTING THE CT
Humanıs have debated as long as humankind has walked the surface of this small planet about the possibility of life after lifea second go-ıround, another level, a higher plane, a new dwelling house for the soul, one last chance to get oneıs act together...not that I ever will. The Cohos Trail Association, I am happy to report, is reorganizing so that it is a stronger entity with an enhanced mission.
Recently, The Cohos Trail Association closed the 162-mile long trail system for the 2007 hiking season. But that did not sit well with a whole host of people. Good citizens began writing and calling, trying to breath new lifeinto the beast. They succeeded.
Today I can report that The Cohos Trail Association (TCTA) will reorganize with an emphasis on managing the big footpath system from Coos County, not from my desktop in far off Spofford, NH. The Castines, Lainie and Peter, of Pittsburg (the last town on the trail at the very top of the State of New Hampshire) have been very active in the maintenance and financial health of the system, and they wish to step in to help me transistion TCTA from down-state to up-state and to build a worthy Coos based organization with strong ties to local schools, local civic organizations, local volunteers of every stripe, and local resources. That is what is needed. Thatıs what it will get.
After ten years of volunteer work developing the remote trail and its structures, designing and publishing its maps and guidebook, collecting a database that numbers about 1,300 names, and trying like bloody hell to find this odd property boundary pin or that in the middle of nowhere so I could figure out where the trail could or could not be laid out, I am thankful that folks have come forward to lay talented hands on the heart of the association.
I am particularly grateful to the Castines and a host of people known and unknown who pledged a major dose of support for a trail that meanders through some of the finest terrain in all the Northeast. For some reason, they share my vision of Coos County, New Hampshire. They, like me, love that grand, isolated, heavily timbered and oh-so mountainous million acre chuck of real estate (pronounced co-ahss). To me, Coos is New Englandıs undiscovered gemstone. Sure, travelers love the White Mountains on the southern edge of the county and tramp all over them, but most megalopolians donıt know that there is a whole other breathing, dynamic world north of the Presidential Range.
Itıs that remote outpost that has held me spellbound for more than three decades, ever since I drove into the county for the first time in 1969 during the record snowfall winter, traveling under a mesmorizing aurora borealis. I stepped out of the car at 30 below to watch the celestial fireworks and said, ³Damn, this is the place! A mite chilly, though.² I came back to live and work and to start a family in the county in the first days of 1972. Last year, I took my granddaughter hiking on the Sanguinary Summit Trail in Dixville, and we stayed at the Panorama lean to that Cohos Trail volunteers built on North Sanguinary Ridge. It looks out on world-class sunsets and more than fifty-miles of terrain in Vermont and Canada. Every kid should experience this.
But the Cohos Trail never could be a one man show. Hundreds of people came forward over the years to help make the path a reality, like the day 35 souls showed up in the backcountry of Columbia township and helped ferry by hand two tons of donated lean-to material about two miles up 3,097-foot Baldhead Mountain, a very pleasant and isolated summit no one knows exists. When the last set-screw was torqued in place in the steel roof, and the six folks remaining stood back and looked at the new sleeps-six lean-to, the moment took my breath away. It was amazing to me what people will do when they have a deep love of place and a passion for the natural world on its terms.
But, alas, it became increasingly difficult to raise sufficient funds to cover rising costs, particularly insurance costs. With more money going into such expenses, there was less and less funding for actual on-the-ground maintenance. If a trail canıt be maintained well, it shouldnıt exist. Safety has to be the number one concern of any trail organization that maintains a trail open to the public. When gasoline retail prices surpassed $3.00 in the summer of 06, trampers stopped buying trail guides and trail maps and other sources of revenue declined. It created a cash-flow dilemma that was sure to create problems in 07. So rather than put the hiking public at risk, we decided to close the trail.
No sooner than we published the decision to shut down the CT for the season the phone began to ring off the hook and the email in-box filled up with, not hate mail, but pledges of every permutation of support. Made me a bit teary in the eye, I can tell you.
Now efforts are underway to not only resurrect the CT but to push it to the next level, where it becomes a modest but essential economic force in central and northern Coos County. Part of that plan is to apply for a major multi-year organizational grant that can help us develop a solid Coos-based entity that, within three years, would have the strength in self-generated dollars and numbers of volunteers so the trail could then stand on its own in perpetuity.
Thereıs talk about creating new products, such as the long-promised (and complete but not published) databook, a CT embroidered patch, a fine new ³Get Lost² CT tee-shirt and cap, and perhaps even an authentic looking Cohos Trail sign that people can tack to their bedpost and sleep under every night. (Just the thing a loving spouse would want, donıt you think?).
Thereıs scuddlebutt about stepping up marketingmore effective on-line fundraising efforts, a brochure for state waysides and local visitorıs booths, social events, guided hikes, chamber of commerce activity, perhaps a wilderness ³survivor² race, and the like.
And there is a great deal of interest in pumping up the trail adopter program. We have always enjoyed having a number of dedicated people who get out on certain trails each year and do spring cleanup and summer chores. But the trail is so long and, in many places remote, that itıs been tough pulling in adopters in some sections. So there is chatter about organizing local maintenance clubs or teams tied to schools or civic organizations or just to a cluster of nuts who happen to like getting dirty and sharing a beer after a hard day on the trail.
Living so far from the Cohos Trail (and working full time) has meant I havenıt been effective enough in developing strong local, Coos-based initiatives that can see the trail through to a bright future. Now, local Coos-based folks have come forward and said, ³weıll help take it from here.² Those are very welcome words. The trail will be the better for it.
Now I can concentrate on the CT guidebook, maps and databook and spend more time raising funds, while terrific new blood builds a locally-based social and maintenance network around the trail. Then, maybe, I can go hiking the CT once in a while without having a branch looper in one hand, a bowsaw strapped to the backpack, and a messy jar of yellow latex blaze paint leaking and running down my sweatshirt.
If you wish to show your support for the Coos Trail, be it financial, trail maintenance, material donations, guiding, social endeavors, or whatever, please call or email: Lainie and Peter Castine in Pittsburg, 603-538-6777,
[email protected] (
[email protected]). Or get a hold of me at 603-363-8902,
[email protected] (
[email protected]).
SLIDE BROOK TRAIL IS CLOSED FOR GOOD
The Slide Brook Trail has been flooded by beaver activity and is closed for good. The path, between the Owls Head Trail trailhead and the old B&M railroad bed in Jefferson, is underwater in parts and the water pushes through to the property of an adjacent landowner. That individual does not wish for a trail to be built on his land so that we might bypass the flooding.
That being the case, we will have to send trekkers (northbounders) east along Route 115 a mile to the junction of Route 115A. At the junction, hikers will have to turn northward and descend less than a quarter mile to where a powerline passes over the highway. Not too far beyond the powerline, look to the west for a bar-gate that crosses an opening 100 feet off the highway. This gate is situated over an old railroad bed of black cinder. Take this pathway west toward Cherry Pond and Moorhen Marsh in the Pondicherry Wildlife Refuge and back to the original track of the Cohos Trail. The detour is not terribly long or time consuming but is a must now and for the future. (Reverse all directions if southbounding.)
COL. WHIPPLE TRAIL GETS A FACELIFT
Also in the Pondicherry Wildlife Refuge is the Col. Whipple Trail. It stretches from Whipple Road in Jefferson to a trail known as the Ice Ramparts Trail near the shores of Cherry Pond. This two-mile stretch of footway saw a great deal of improvement in 2006 and is in better condition that it has been in since the region was logged a year after the original trail was put in by TCTA. Stacy and Greg Boone of Twin Mountain, student crews from the White Mountains Regional High School, a crew from the Kingdom Corps of the Northwoods Stewardship Center, and refuge manager David Govatski have put a good deal of effort into upgrading the trail. One notices improvements right away when turning off Whipple Road. A new freshly painted gate is in place and a good deal of trash has been removed from the right of way.
More work is planned for 2007 and beyond, particularly improving the puncheon bridges in the low country, building up several low areas with fill, and developing a small trailhead parking lot.
PROJECT CONCEPTS FOR THE FUTURE
The two Cohos Trail lean-tos in remote terrain and the organized tent platform site called Percy Loop Camp on North Percy Peak in the Nash Stream Forest have proved to be popular with campers and thru-hikers making the long trek along the length of the CT. Each facility is spaced a long dayıs hike apart, providing a little comfort for distance trekkers, particularly when the weather is poor.
There is some interest in eventually increasing the number of organized overnight sites. One potential site that has been batted around a bit could be at the height of land on the Ben Young Hill Trail in Clarksville. That terrain would be a fine location for a small lean-to. The view from the topknot is delightful to the south and southwest. On the horizon, one can pick out Dixville Peak, Baldhead, Mt. Muise, North Percy Peak, the hill country surrounding Cranberry Bog Notch, big Bunnell Mountain and other summits in the Northwest Peaks range.
Other potential ideas include developing the long-approved modest tent site on Sugarloaf Arm in the Nash Stream Forest and another tent site somewhat near the falls in the river between First and Second Connecticut Lakes in Pittsburg, provided the upcoming land-use plan for the region gives the green light for such an animal.
MAJOR NEW TRAIL?
Just heard a rumor about the concept for a new trail for the big bookend summit at the northern end of the Northwest Peaks range. Bunnell Mountain (formerly Mt. Blue) stands 3,724 feet in elevation and is the tallest peak in northern New Hampshire north of the White Mountain National Forest. The peak looms within the boundaries of the Bunnell Forest managed by The Nature Conservancy. That tract borders the northwestern reach of the Nash Stream Forest
2007 MAPS COMING
The graphic work on the 2007 version of the Cohos Trail maps is complete and will be going off to the printer in a week or so. They include all trail changes, increased information about what to do at the many trail junctions, and an easier to understand color key for existing paths, link ways, and proposed trails.
LIKE A PUPPY, THEREıS A TRAIL YOU CAN ADOPT
Have nothing to do? We can change that. Adopt a section of the Cohos Trail. Get in shape, lose weight, be a hit with your friends, and smell awful by the end of the day. Here is a list of trail sections up for adoption. (Hand tools only. If there is a need for power tools, call or email and let us know.)
The Old Summer Club Trail.
Ideal for residents of Stark, Groveton, Milan, Berlin or Lancaster. Two miles in length, up the south flank of South Percy Peak to the col between the North and South Percy. The trail begins 1.2 miles north of a parking lot on the east end of Christine Lake. A walk into the trail takes about half an hour. Last saw work in the fall of 2006. One trail bypass needed around a huge blowdown, plus clipping, and sawing away any new trees that have come down over the winter. Benefit: After working on the trail, you can continue up South Percy or North Percy for the fabulous views up there.
Gadwah Notch Trail.
Remote section beginning at the Headwaters Road gate at mile 11 at the very end of the Nash Stream Road. Section rises two long miles to a new trail cut in spruce and fir in Gadwah Notch itself (about a quarter mile above Bulldozer Flat). Much of the route is wide grassy old tote road and needs little or no maintenance. But once above the wide open high meadow known as Muise Bowl, the trail narrows and begins to fill in. A good deal of clipping has to be done in there for a quarter mile. At a rotting log pile nearby, 100 feet of berry cane has to be clipped back two feet on each side of the trail where it grows just above and south of the crossing of Nash Stream. At Bulldozer Flat and above, stone cairns must be shored up and some minor clipping carried out. There is little need to cut blowdowns on this path, as most trees are young and short. However, there are some wirey birch trees that have bent over and can be removed easily enough with an ax or a bow saw. A few short drainage channels would help dry out the footway just north of the Flat. Benefit: Lunch at Bulldozer Flat, with its wonderful view of unknown 3,700-foot mountain ranges. Moose and bear frequent the area.
The Baldhead Trail (southbound)
Remote section of trail in Columbia township that takes a pleasant and ascending two-mile walk to reach. The Baldhead Trailıs southern segment is about 1.5 miles long and climbs steadily out of the Sims Stream Valley up to and through Gadwah Notch. The walk-in follows old tote roads, crossing Sims Stream several times, before rising steeply for 200 feet just below a junction with the Baldhead Trail segment of the Cohos Trail. Once at the junction, flag the junction with something, like a bandana or red surveyor tape. Turn south to take care of the southern section of trail. This path is all woods trail. Most of the way is open hardwood or mixed forest. Clipping is always necessary were small pockets of young softwoods encroach upon the trail. There are usually blowdowns in high-elevation terrain near and in Gadwah Notch. Bypass big tangles if you can and saw out anything that is manageable with hand tools. If there is too much to handle, report the problem and weıll get in there with a chainsaw. Benefit: Splendid remote woodlands, and lunch at Bulldozer Flat, if you make the quarter mile trek out to the great view there. Overnight at the Baldhead lean-to three-quarters of a mile north of the trail junction you flagged when you came in. Note: Two people should work this section to be on the safe side.
Baldhead Trail (northbound) and Kelsey Notch Trail
Same as the Baldhead Trail description above, except once on the CT, you move north toward the summit of Baldhead and the Baldhead lean-to there. This section is 2.75 miles long and runs up Baldhead to the lean-to and out to Kelsey Notch. The structure, latrine and its environs usually need a bit of cleanup. Beyond the lean-to the way is known as the Kelsey Notch Trail. It crosses very close to the summit and down the east flank of the mountain into the Phillips Brook Valley and out to the Kelsey Notch Road (snowmobile trail). Trail is in good condition, but is best worked as a two-day effort with an overnight at the lean-to. This path should be maintained by two people, for safety sake. Benefit: A lean-to stay. Terrific view from Baldhead. Fine, very remote country, the most isolated on the northern half of the CT.
Sanguinary Summit Trail (southern section)
The Sanguinary Summit Trail is nearly four miles long, but the southern section is about 1.5 miles in length from its start at the height of land in Dixville Notch to its end on a grassy woods lane just north of Abeniki Pond north of the Balsams Hotel. This trail is popular with hikers and Balsams guests. There are dramatic views on the approach to the high ridge trail and beautiful open hardwood forest with restricted views on the ridge itself. Trail is largely level except where it falls from the height of land down to the Abeniki Pond area. Benefit: Fairly short and in open hardwood forest. Fine views. Not too much clipping, generally, and blowdowns tend to be manageable with a bow saw or ax.
Sanguinary Summit Trail (northern section)
The Castines of Pittsburg have expressed interest in this 2.5 section of the CT, but it would be great if others joined them. This trail needs more work than all the others. Itıs longer than most sections, has major clipping needs, must have blowdowns removed each year, has water diversion requirements and perhaps even a relocation in one area at some point. The Panorama lean-to resides in this section, and the site needs to be clipped and cleaned each year and the lean-to, spring, and latrine inspected for maintenance needs. This would be a great trail for a school or a civic organization to adopt. Benefit: A stay at the lean-to. With permission from the Balsams, it is possible to drive up onto the ridgeline on a weather tower access road to within 700 feet of the lean-to. That cuts the trekking time considerably. Fine views can be had in many areas along the route. Wildlife sightings are common, as black bear and moose frequent the area.
All The Others
There are other trails in the system that were not created by TCTA but which are always in need of work. Three of them, the 1,1-mile Sanguinary Ridge Trail, the Table Rock Trail, and the Three Brothers Trail are largely on State park land in Dixville Notch. Brushing out these trails would be fine yearly civic projects for local schools, scouts or others.
TCTA has trail adopters out on the Rowell Link, the Percy Loop, the East Side Trail, the Col. Whipple Trail, and on the Ben Young Hill Trail. They do a great job, and you can join their effort to make the Cohos Trail as fine a
backcountry asset as it can be. Last year, the Kingdom Corps crews worked on the route from Gadwah Notch and through to Kelsey Notch and on the Sanguinary Summit Trail. I picked up the Old Summer Club Trail late last fall. It needed lots of care then. So all the sections that required effort received work. Now weıre counting on you to come forward to help us this coming year and in the years ahead.
BEAR LEDGE CAMPGROUND
At Pittsburg in the far north, the Castines have developed a series of rustic tent sites on their property high on Prospect Mountain and are finishing one heated overnight unit, as well. Trekkers are welcome to contact the Castineıs about their Bear Ledge Campground facilities and about their new summit trail that leaves their domicile and reaches one of the great views in all of northern New Englanda panorama that includes a vista across 3,000-acre First Connecticut Lake to Mount Magalloway and the big Maine border peaks in the distance. Boundary mountains in Canada also show their faces up there. Splendid.
If you are thinking of starting your hike from the north and hoofing it south (or need a an inexpensive place to crash on the way north), contact them or one of the other fine Pittsburg area resorts listed on our website (www.cohostrail.org). They will be happy to help you. To reach the Castines, call 603-538-6777 or email
[email protected] (
[email protected]). Ask about viewing several of their websites, as well.
FIVE DOLLAR FUND DRIVE REVIVED TOO
Now for the dollar and cents part. In a few weeks, we will send along a request to all on our email list to participate in our annual Five Dollar Fund Drive. The drive is our way of fleecing you of your hard earned cash and then telling you that youıve supported one of humankindıs great causes.
Seriously, The Cohos Trail Association would like to raise $5,000 in Five Dollar Fund Drive donations in 2007, up a great deal from last year. You may contribute any amount, from $5.00 to $5,000. (Never did get that cool million weıve been asking for each year.) Think about it, then wait until our Five Dollar Fund Drive email request shows up on your computer. Read it after youıve had your morning coffee, please, so it wonıt be so much of a shock.
If you are too impatient to part with your money, please send your donation to: The Cohos Trail Association, 252 Westmoreland Road, Spofford, NH 03462.
See you on the trail, where wondering about in the wilderness is blessing, not a curse.
Kim
Kim Robert Nilsen
The Cohos Trail Association