Franconia Ridge Trail Reconstruction

[peakbagger]

A NH senator got an "earmark" in the budget to rebuild the "loved to death" and rather beat up loop from Lafayette Place that runs up to Greenleaf Hut via Old Bridle Path and then onto the Greenleaf trail to the Summit of Lafayette south along the Franconia Ridge Trail over Mt Lincoln and then over to Haystack before leaving the AT down Falling Waters trail and back to Lafayette place. The work has just started by a large crew from many organization and led by the AMC. (Note it also includes the same route coutnerclockwise ) . I have not found a good link with details, but the general articles are that they are going to be doing major trail hardening and some relocations all along the loop. My guess is the AT portion of the work is mostly building scree walls to direct the crowds onto one path to minimize damage to the ridge. The trail is used by many folks including trail runners and between lazy hikers and trail runners, many paths of least resistance around hardened staircases have caused erosion issues and substantial widening out of the trail bed. Falling Waters down near the falls is in need of major work as the steep soils covering ledge are not well suited for the year round volume of traffic.

The crews work Monday through Thursday and at this point no closures have been announced. They are doing serious rock work in places and expect that at times, folks may have to wait while they are doing particularly hazardous work moving boulders and step stones. To paraphrase another local club known for their rockwork, "if the rock can be handled by one person it's not big enough for a step"

No schedule on how long they are working but at least part of the crew are high school and college age so that implies that staffing will decrease by the end of the summer. My guess is this is multiyear event.

[HankIV]

Earmarks get a bad rep, sometimes rightfully so, but this seems like a good one. That part of the AT is pretty beat and way wider than need be.

[peakbagger]

I agree the trails particularly Falling Waters and OBP were in dire need of reconstruction and hardening. Despite AMC having a major hut on the OBP, they did not do the official maintenance on OBP. rather they left it to a volunteer group the at one point was doing excellent work but over the years aged out to the point where they could not deal with the cumulative damage. There is a pretty strong objection in the trail community on directing the money directly to AMC and AMC's total lack of transparency to date. Reportedly the individual from AMC in charge of the project does not have a great rep as a team player unless he is in charge of the team and gets the publicity. To date no one has been able to get budgeting info on the project, the concern is that dollars that could go into trail work is going into supporting the AMC budget or "friends" of AMC.

With respect to the width of FRT, there have been issues with the summit ridge being trampled for 50 plus years, there were attempts at screeing in the trail in sections to concentrate use to allow the areas outside the walls to regenerate, it was partially successful for a while until trail runners and others figured out that the moss and other alpine plants regenerating that area outside the wall was a lot softer and convenient for passing slower groups. There was an attempt to use the string method of keeping people on the trail but it was spotty and not that well maintained. There also have been volunteer summit ridge runners but some of the volunteers didn't have personalities that worked effectively with the public.

I personally feel that one option to consider is install a bypass trail around the lower Falling Waters Trail near the waterfalls. The soils and conditions in that area just cannot handle the year round traffic unless some hard core upgrades like walkways and staircases are built. Folks going up Falling Waters to do the ridge loop tend not to look at the falls in their rush to the ridge so given them an option to skip the falls plus give the people who are just going to the falls and its many water crossings, I expect many would gladly take the fast way out via a bypass.

[Ear Drum]

... With respect to the width of FRT, there have been issues with the summit ridge being trampled for 50 plus years... .

I've generally seen either children or non-hiker types (no hiking clothes or even backpacks) walking around in the grass up there. About all you can do is gently remind them, "Grass grows by the inch, and dies by the foot," with signs, and by speaking to folks. Meaning, all of us speak up, as well as the volunteers there.