Spring Things: Trail Work & Paddling

PHOTO: Springtime is trail work time! Adam and I set out to do some spring cleaning on his adopted trail, the Lincoln Brook Trail. How do you think the trails stay clear? Volunteers! You too can volunteer and help maintain your favorite trails. The Belknap Range Trail Tenders invite you to join them on June 3rd to work on the White Trail. For More information check out their Facebook page or email them at BleknapRangeTrailTenders@gmail.com.

by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer

Poof! It is full Springtime out there now. Summer is less than a month away. Our garden is rototilled and we’ve planted a few things but I am glad we waited since it frosted last week.
Lakes and rivers are warming up and the bugs are coming out too. I ride my bicycle to work wearing a jacket and gloves in the morning and it is too hot on the ride home.
Spring is time for trail work. Volunteer trail maintainers are out tossing sticks, removing fallen trees and clearing waterbars. Please consider volunteering. Tools and training are free for the asking–just show up on an organized trail work day.
It is easy to google Volunteer Trail Work opportunities. The AMC provides a list on their website and in their White Mountain Guide of the Clubs and Associations out there working hard to maintain trail networks. All the groups are happy to welcome more volunteers.

The Belknap Range Trail Tenders have already held a few work days and many more are in the works. Check out their Facebook page or email them. For their first work day they met at Lockes Hill. They have been working on the Belknap White Trail most recently. No experience is necessary; just arrive in proper clothes and footwear and also bring along gloves, water and your lunch.
Adam is the trail adopter for the seven mile long Lincoln Brook Trail in the middle of the designated Pemigewasset Wilderness. Last Saturday he asked me if I was interested in helping him clear some of “his” trail. I answered yes. He thought he was joking because, well, it isn’t easy to talk someone into hiking four miles to begin trail work.
I showed up with two bicycles so we could ride down the Lincoln Woods Trail. This made for speedy travel of the first 1.9 miles to the wilderness boundary. We hid the bikes in the woods and continued by foot up the Franconia Brook Trail.
Along the way we cut out some blow-downs and tossed sticks and we realized we’d never make it to Adam’s adopted trail if we continued to clear the Franconia Brook Trail. So we hiked on and walked around and over and through areas that needed clearing.

This section of the Lincoln Brook Trail from its intersection with the Franconia Brook Trail to the crossings of Franconia Brook and Lincoln Brook is lightly traveled due to nearly every hiker discovering on their electronic devices the Black Pond bushwhack/bootleg trail-shortcut. We used our hand saws and loppers and went to work. We were surprised and delighted when a pair of backpackers came walking up the trail and thanked us for our efforts.
We cut hobblebush and small trees leaning into the trail and we cleared, to the best of our abilities, two rather large trees that blocked the trail. We limbed and dragged what we could and only left behind an easy step-over.
When we reached the first brook crossing we couldn’t believe it was so way past lunchtime.
We sat on rocks by the water and ate and drank eagerly. We were both tired. The two of us cleared one half of a mile of trail. We’d hoped to make it to the second brook crossing; trail work takes a lot of time.
On the way back out we couldn’t stop ourselves from doing a little more work, even if it wasn’t our trail. We spent the whole day out in the woods!

Paddling season has begun. The warm afternoons have made for some fun paddling on the Contoocook River between Hillsboro and Henniker. Becca and I put our packrafts in just below the dam near the center of Hillsboro. The water was fast and for our first outing this was exciting. I made certain that my life jacket was fastened tightly.
It took us two hours to float down the river where we took out at the Town of Henniker Eisner Conservation Area. The river access was a 2019 Eagle Scout project by Matthew Noyer built in memory of Cliff Eisner, Jr. Eisner was an outdoor and kayaking enthusiast and a math teacher at John Stark Regional High School.
Lynda and I have dragged out our kayaks and have returned to the Eisner Conservation Area river access a few times after work. The water level has gone down but the water is still cold.
We paddle up the river and then turn around for a fun ride downstream. The kayaks are much faster and easier to paddle than the packrafts since the water is smooth here. But please don’t go downriver from the Eisner river access because the rocks are big and the water is crazy and only the most talented helmet-wearing kayakers call the Freight Train section fun.
The path up the river bank is muddy and slippery. It is laughable how dirty we got pulling the kayaks out of the river. It was a lot more difficult than sliding the boats into the water.
I look forward to getting out with friends to do more trailwork this summer and heading out to paddle whenever I get the chance.
Have fun.