THE COHOS TREKKER

President's Message

Well, here we are in May. Temperatures are rising and the snow is pretty well gone. Temperatures have already been into the 80s.

We have been out GPSing and flagging trails for approval of the landowners in Pittsburg and Clarksville. Stay tuned for a reroute of the trail from Weirs Tree Farm to the Deadwater Region. This will bypass the Ben Young Hill Trail. The Round Pond Brook Trail and Camp Otter Road Trail have been GPSed and flagged, waiting approval. The Moose Alley Trail is in the process of being GPSed and flagged.

Hopefully many of you will be able to attend our Annual Summer Celebration this year, scheduled for the last weekend in June. See upcoming events in this newsletter or the website for details.

If you would like to adopt a trail, please email us. We are in strong need of trail adopters in the north country. Adopters are always welcome to stay at Bear Ledge Campground or the Mountain Bungalow at no charge.

Beginning next issue, we would like to start a readers comments column. So send your trail adventure comments and/or stories to Cohos Trail.

See you on the Trail

Pete Castine
President
The Cohos Trail Association

THE COHOS TREKKER - by K. R. Nilsen

HELLO FROM THE COHOS TRAIL

REWORKING THE ROUTE

All long-distance trails go through route changes on occasion, and the Cohos Trail is no exception. Soon the pathway may be rerouted to some degree in the Clarksville area. We are looking into the possibility of utilizing some of the Route 21 snowmobile trail to move from Weirs Tree Farm (sensational views) into the Dead Water area south of big Lake Francis.

Should this reroute come to pass, the Cohos Trail will drop Ben Young Hill off its list of summits, but we’ll still make it possible for hikers to reach Rudy's Cabins and Campground on Clarksville Pond, a popular stopping point for thru-trekkers. This reroute will shorten the pathway marginally and eliminate a good deal of highway and secondary road walking.

In the future, this reroute could be extended all the way down to Coleman State Park and eliminate road walking altogether from the park to Lake Francis.

COMING SOON TO A TRAIL (NOT) NEAR YOU

Over the last weekend in May, Pete and Lainie Castine and I scouted a number of new trail routes, flagging the ways, and taking notes, in anticipation of being able to develop these new pathways this summer.

The First Connecticut Lake Trail, nearly four miles of it, was paced out and GPS'ed. Despite the fact that snow had just recently retreated from the woods, the old woods way was reasonably dry underfoot. A major logging cut has been completed adjacent to where the old path runs, but the logging job had little impact on the route, except for a short span two-thirds of the way along. We will bypass the log yard there by skirting just south of it in the woods and return to the original way, just before it turns downhill to cross Coon Brook.

The Cohos Trail Association anticipates building nearly 500 linear feet of bog bridging in the pitch above Coon Brook. The old skidway is fine for snowmobiling but is utterly unsuitable for foot traffic, so we hope to build a substantial string of simple bog spans just to the east of the mucky lane so that the structure will not interfere with winter snowmobile traffic. Custom-sawed local materials have been priced and it looks like the job will be a go.

We also anticipate the bridge over Coon Brook will get some new decking and new railings to make it perfectly safe to cross. On the approach to Magalloway Road, nearly four miles along, the trail cuts down an old angler trail that is full of blowdowns. These will be removed and the route clipped.

And finally, we will look into the possibility of placing a sign kiosk near the Magalloway Road, to carry a map and other information regarding the First Connecticut Lake Trail and the Moose Alley Trail whose future trailhead will be just 200 feet away.

On a ridgeline several miles to the north, we ran a proposed route from Round Pond Brook south toward Route 3 in beautiful woodlands surrounding Round Pond Brook. This new footpath, to be called the Round Pond Brook Trail, will feature a mountain lake ringed with low summits near the trailhead, a nice waterfall in the brook about 1,500 feet south of the parking area, several feeder streams, a large bog (below the trail), and open mixed forest with good going underfoot. The mix of features, plenty of water, and raspberry cane on one ridge, makes this route fine habitat for wildlife. Last year we came upon a timber doodle (woodcock) on the ridgeline. It stayed put long enough to get a good photograph of it.

Just a little extra effort is needed on this proposed trail to sort out how to reach Route 3 from the southern ridge. We will likely follow a property boundary line east on high ground, then, once we obtain the eastern corner, turn south and drop down into the Connecticut Lakes State Park at its southernmost line and reach Route 3 there.

We still have a little work to do sorting out how to get around a few minor moist spots in the proposed Moose Alley Trail, but most of that route has been flagged, too. This two-mile stretch begins where the First Connecticut Lake Trail ends at the Magalloway Road. Uphill to the north 200 feet is a degrading log yard. The trail will cross that old yard, once we clean it up, and enter a skidway with deep ruts. That skidway will have to be both ditched to drain it and bypassed in places. Half a mile to the east, the skidway becomes indistinct and the route becomes a pleasant meander in mixed forest and openings filled with low growth and blueberry. This area is a haunt of moose. There is sign everywhere, from footprints and scat piles to heavily browsed vegetation.

The Moose Alley Trail reaches its northern terminus on Route 3, just south of Big Brook Bridge. A short road walk to the bridge and beyond will eventually take trekkers to the proposed Falls in the River Trail, a route that has also been flagged.

Work on the four-mile First Connecticut Lake Trail will begin shortly. Most of the way requires minor ditching and clipping, and moving debris off the forest floor in the log yard bypass. The big job will be hauling and hammering together the sections of the 500-foot bog bridge string on the slope above Coon Brook. Luckily, a truck could, with caution, get within just a few hundred feet of the site, so moving materials by hand will not be a major chore.

Signage and yellow blazing should complete the project. The First Connecticut Lake Trail will be the first major hiking trail in northern Coos constructed in nearly a decade, since the cutting of the Sanguinary Summit Trail in Dixville.

HOW TO CROSS A BEAVER BOG

Recently, Pondicherry Wildlife Refuge Manager David Govatski and I tried as best we could to find a way to route a new trail in the Jefferson lowlands where the former Slide Brook Trail is now closed. That trail has been flooded for some time by water backed up behind extensive beaver impoundments. There is no way to skirt the area to the east, and all the terrain to the west is moist to sopping wet underfoot.

In our tramping, we discovered an old 300-foot beaver dam that snaked across Slide Brook wetlands. We worked our way out onto the dam to view two big beaver lodges and the sharp summit needle of Owls Head looming more than a thousand vertical feet overhead.

The dam was stable, so we hatched a plan that will be submitted to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. Utilizing the old dam's top and its downstream slope, we figured we could create a long puncheon bridge structure, much like the one we hope to build on the First Connecticut Lake Trail. Once built, the plank bridging would link two dry sections of country that are now separated by open water. On its northern end, the bog bridging would bring hikers back onto the Slide Brook Trail below where it is flooded. Problem solved.

PICK UP THAT HAMMER AND SAW

There is much work to be done of the Cohos Trail this year, and we can use your help. Call Pete and Lainie Castine at 603-538-6777 or email Cohos Trail and tell them you are the greatest free-spirit volunteer on the planet and you don't mind getting a little sweaty and dirty. Men, women, and kids welcome.

CANADA CALLING

The Sentiers Frontaliers hiking club of Lac Megantic, Quebec recently emailed to say that the club should begin building a long link trail between their 45-mile trail system in the Eastern Townships of Quebec and the Cohos Trail this summer. Much of their new trail will be developed on Mont D'Urban and Mont Saumon (Mt. D'Urban and Mt. Salmon) and will reach a little used rural lane that empties into the highway just north of the international border and U.S. and Canadian port of entry stations there.

Once complete, the new link will make it possible for thru-hikers to experience more than 200 miles of hiking on what will then be the second international hiking trail in the East.

THE LAST WORD

The Cohos Trail is a long pathway through mountainous logging country. Logging cuts are not pretty, but some logging professionals do a far better job of harvesting wood than others. One such case is the recent logging job adjacent to where the First Connecticut Lake Trail will run. This is a selective cut, not a clearcut, so some of the forest canopy is still intact and will continue to provide shelter and nutrients for forest wildlife. Also, the cut was done during the winter when the ground was frozen, so there was a good deal less impact to the forest floor itself. Also, new types of wood harvesting machines, ones that run on continuous treads instead of tires, do not disturb the soil anywhere near as much as traditional wheeled harvesting machines.

To me, this logging cut shows that the logging job managers and cutters took much care in their efforts. We all use wood products every day. And wood products must come, directly or indirectly, from forests that have been logged by humans. How we log matters. And how we use the products of what logging provides matters, as well. This logging cut shows that there were other considerations taken into account, other than just "getting the wood out."

Recreation in forests is important to local economies. Poor logging practices degrade recreational potential, but careful harvests, like this one, may in a year or two, actually enhance the recreational experience. Selective cuts can increase the chance of seeing wildlife that forages on new growth. Moose, deer, and black bear thrive in such areas. Cuts open new vistas. And the new openings encourage berry cane and bushes to sprout along the trail. I, for one, am very fond of eating wild raspberry, blackberry, and blueberry along the trail, and I eat my fill when I’m out on the trail in July and August.

Today, I pushed a number of wooden stakes into my garden to mark rows of vegetable plantings. I used toilet paper and a paper towel or two (cut in half). I read a newspaper (and will recycle it) and sorted through my mail (all printed on paper). I’m going to increase the size of my grape arbor this year. It’s made of wood. And I've got to put up more firewood. All of that is the product of logging, of course. I suspect you used the products of logging today, too. We should hope that the harvest was done wisely, and we should use the products that wood harvesting affords us wisely, too.

See you on the trail.

Kim

K.R. Nilsen. board chair (percypeaks)

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