THE COHOS TREKKER

President's Message

I would like to take the opportunity to welcome Armand Buteau as the new vice-president of the association. He replaces Luke O'Brien who filled the position temporarily. Luke will continue on as a valued board member where his trail building expertise is well appreciated. Armand brings a vast knowledge of the lands here in the north country as well as previous experience as vp of the local snowmobile club.

I would also like to remind everyone about the 2nd Annual Summer Celebration on 26, 27 and 28 June at the Sportsman's Lodge. There are still rooms left at the lodge, but we don't expect them to last for long. We are looking forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones! It promises to be another fun filled weekend.

Lainie has been working hard getting the new trails flagged, GPSed and ready for approval from the state and landowner. She now has a new helper to keep her company in the woods. Welcome aboard Maegan Haynes.

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.

See you on the Trail

Pete Castine
President
The Cohos Trail Association

THE COHOS TREKKER - by K. R. Nilsen

HELLO FROM THE COHOS TRAIL

THE DEAD WATER TRAIL OPENS

The first of a number of new routes and pathways for the Cohos Trail in the Connecticut Lakes region is now open. The Dead Water Trail is a reality. It is signed and blazed and can be hiked now.

The Dead Water Trail begins at the Weirs Tree Farm in Clarksville and runs north to a junction with the Dead Water Loop, a logging road/snowmobile trail a few miles south of the Ceder Stream Road which follows the southern shoreline of six-mile Lake Francis. TCTA treasurer Lainie Castine was out on the new, wide Dead Water Trail the other day blazing and putting up signs. She came upon a cow moose and her calf, a porcupine, and beaver activity.

The new route eliminates the Ben Young Hill Trail over the upland of the same name. But the new route maintains a spur out to Rudy's Cabins and Campground on the Clarksville Pond Road below Ben Young Hill. Many hikers like to stop at Rudy's to set up camp or pay for a warm bed to sleep in and a warm shower to rinse off a week of trail grime. The spur to Rudy's will remain marked and will be included in future maps and publications.

The new pathway was made possible by the work of Sandy Young, who manages the state's interests on Lyme Timber Company properties in the Connecticut Lakes working forests in Pittsburg, Clarksville, and Stewartstown, and by private Clarksville landowner Albert Cloutier.

The Dead Water Trail eliminates a great deal of road walking on Route 145 and Cedar Stream Road. It is a much more direct route between the Weirs Tree Farm and Lake Francis Campground on the north bay of Lake Francis. It shortens the present course of the Cohos Trail, but future routes in Pittsburg will increase the mileage again so that the trail will remain somewhat similar in length to what it is always has been.

The work was also made possible through funding from the Neil and Louise Tillotson Fund, the American Hiking Society, and from the Fields Pond Foundation. Dollars from those charitable organizations are continuing to fund development work on a host of other new trails we hope to open this year and next.

THE CAMP OTTER TRAIL

Almost every last piece is in place for the development of nearly four miles of trail in the forests near the north shore of First Connecticut Lake. This new route, when open, will be called the Camp Otter Trail in honor of the historic, century-old lakeside fishing camp.

The association will soon take delivery of one hundred heavy three-inch-thick planks, and some bridge decking and railing timbers, too, so that a lengthy series of bog bridges can be constructed just to the north of the Coon Brook snowmobile bridge, out of the right of way of an existing local snowmobile trail. When complete, the bog bridging will consist of about fifty ten-foot spans linked together to form a single structure nearly five hundred feet in length. Once that's complete, the association will turn its attention to replacing some sections of the deck of the Coon Brook snowmobile bridge and restoring its safety railings.

The bog bridge structure is necessary, as there is no way to come off the ridge down to Coon Brook without crossing a section of poor forest that grows low and spotty because of perpetually moist terrain. Once finished, this long bog bridge will be, by far, the largest single trail structure on the Cohos Trail.

Robert Paradis of Stark has done all the milling for the project, using a portable bandsaw mill located on his property. The association has a policy whereby it will try to purchase as much raw material and finished goods locally, preferably from existing businesses in Coos County, in an attempt to stimulate, by some small fraction, the local economy.

The Camp Otter Trail will be a very pleasant woodlands jaunt on old existing routes between the Dorman property on the Camp Otter Road all the way to the Magalloway Road just to the north of the bridge over the Connecticut River. The pathway will deviate from the original route only once so that hikers can avoid crossing a large log yard recently created as a staging area for shipping timber cut in a logging operation nearby. A bypass as been flagged just to the south of the log yard so hikers may skirt it in the woods once the bypass is clipped and the footway cleaned of debris.

This trail will be a major new pathway in the region open to the general public. Almost all the work will be done by volunteers. If you would like to assist in creating the long, new bog bridge structure on this trail, please contact Pete or Lainie Castine in Pittsburg at 603-538-6777 or email them at email us. We will post information on the cohostrail.org website when volunteer workdays will be scheduled for the project.

Work will consist of carrying the sawed planks and peeled log rounds short distances to the construction site. Those handy with a hammer can pound 10-inch spikes into the planks or work on the decking and railing on the Coon Brook bridge. Some minor cutting and clipping of small growth will be necessary, as well, in the corridor where the bog bridge will snake.

Luckily, volunteers will be able to drive quite close to where the project will be located. If you would like to volunteer, bring with you a pair of work gloves and eye protection. Wear boots and long pants. Bring a gallon of water for drinking, too. And don't forget the bug dope, lunch or a snack.

Once the Camp Otter Trail is open, it will eliminate miles of road walking along Route 3 in the Connecticut Lakes region. We hope to develop three other new paths that will directly or indirectly link to the Camp Otter Trail so that hikers and other recreators can move over all new terrain as far north as Big Brook bridge on Route 3, about two miles south of Second Connecticut Lake dam.

THE FRENCH CONNECTION

For years, the Cohos Trail Association has courted its counterpart in Canada, the hiking club known as the Sentiers Frontaliers. They have a forty-five mile system of trails cut in the tallest of the boundary peaks in the Eastern Townships of Quebec. Their system is about to get seven miles longer and link directly (with U.S. and Canadian customs stations in between) with the Cohos Trail.

The Sentiers Frontaliers recently sent us an email indicating that the club has scheduled the opening of the new high country path being forged from Mont d'Urban over Mont Saumon (Mt. Salmon) and out to a rural lane just north of the international boundary customs stations. They have scheduled the opening of the ambitious new footpath for August 18th. The trail will feature some points where extensive views of two nations may be had over rocky outcroppings and from cliff environments. It will pass close to the north shore of remote Boundary Pond.

This year, travel into Canada by foot or by car will require a travel visa or a visa card. You will need one or the other if you wish to return to the States legally and avoid a great deal of trouble.

Once the new Sentiers Frontalier trail is in place, trampers will be able to move from the Crawford Notch in White Mountains all the way to Mont Megantic in Notre Dame du Bois, Quebec or out to challenging Mont Gosford on the Maine-Quebec border. The joint two-nation system will be the second formal international foot trail in the East.

More news next month. A number of interesting new developments are emerging. So stay tuned. There will be lots to talk about.

Kim R. Nilsen, editor

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