Dry River Wilderness - Project Planning

During the 2009 field season our 2 Wilderness Teen Crews will be working in the Dry River Wilderness Area in the southern Presidential Range in the White Mountains. These 2 crews will focus their efforts on brushing out overgrown trail, clearing and installing drainage, and some cairns and scree wall work above tree-line.

In preparation for the Volunteer Teen Crew the projects and the camp that the crews will use must be scouted out before hand. This past rainy Wednesday, June 24, Nick Scott (AMC Camp Dodge Projects Coordinator), Matty Zane (AMC Trails Volunteer Programs Intern), Cristin Bailey (USFS Saco Ranger District Trails Supervisor), and myself (Alex DeLucia – Trails Volunteer Programs Supervisor) headed down from the summit into the Dry River Wilderness.

Despite the weather we were able to hike down the Crawford Path to the Dry River Trail as far down as Dry River Shelter #3 and then back up to the summit. We determined quite a bit of projects for the 2 weeks of Volunteer Teen Crews and located the designated campsite that the crews will use.

This is a very unique project in a very wild place. The rugged terrain and remoteness make the Dry River Wilderness a real adventure. Our first crew to work on the Dry River Trail will start on Monday, June 29. They are in for a great week.

Photos: Alex DeLucia

AMC Trails Airlift 2009

Dodge Staff Training 2009

The new Dodge staff finished their training this past week, and is now ready to hit the trails, and begin an epic season of trail crewing!!!!! From hearing Alex DeLucia’s amazing trails stump speech a total of 13 times, to installing 15 bog bridges, to assisting in leading National Trails Day, the dodge staff had a wide variety of experiences which all will directly benefit them leading volunteers out on the trails this summer.

Head crew leaders Ack and Maya, along with projects intern MattyZane, all arrived on the 25th of May, to begin a month long training. The first week was mad crazy, having the hut kids as well as the pro-crew participate in most of the trainings—including the famous White Mountain Day. The crew was also able to share their knowledge of trail work with the entire hut crew, giving them a training of basic trail structures and trail maintenance. The week ended on a bang, as the crew got decked out in costumes for Funktion—to celebrate the beginning of the season.

The three assistant leaders, Leah, Goose and Hannah, arrived the second week, along with the Berkshire staff to “rock” out some rock work, and other trail structure training. That following weekend we were all able to put our leadership and trail work skills to work, by leading volunteers for National Trails Day—from bog bridging, to rock barring and patrolling, NTD turned out to be a giant success.

The Third week of training was all about Alpine work, felling, and driving—a solid combo. We all got to experience the excitement and “master the Mountain” by cruising up the famed Auto Road to do some alpine flower and rock work training—as well as digging up some geo-cashes. The following day we put on our lumberjack attitudes, and went to Lonesome Lake to chop up some blow downs, and trees to use for native bog bridges. The week ended with a BBQ at the DeLucia Palace with the Highland center staff.

The final week of training was spent in the woods at Lonesome Lake. Projects Coordinator NickScott led us through a mock week in the woods, to get jazzed and prepped for the season. While we did install a fair amount of Bog bridges, we spent the majority of the time scouting out projects and learning how a typical week is run.

All in all, the training was very beneficial. Although it was a long process, all of the information and skills we learned should help us rock it out in the field.

submitted by: Dodge Intern Matty Zane

Trails Volunteer of the Month - June 2009

Chris McNeil

Six Husbands Trail Adopter

I’ve been hiking and rock climbing for a long time but only started doing trail maintenance a few years ago. I signed up for a week long crew at Baxter State Park in 2005. I enjoyed it so much I returned again in 2006. Alex was my crew leader when I started out and in the course of sitting around the camp fire after dinner I learned about the “adopt a trial program”. When I checked it out on the AMC webpage I saw that Six Husbands trail was open for adoption. I hike this trail several years ago and remembered it was a tough trail but a fun hike with some interesting features. There are a couple of caves to scramble through and some ladders to help climb up the steep sections. I liked the idea of the adoption program too, since I could work the trail at my own schedule.

When I started work, the trail was incredibly overgrown. Lopping, lopping, and more lopping till I was exhausted. Little by little the trail started shaping up and is now in pretty good condition. Since the brushing is over for the time being I’m looking at improving the drainage below treeline and building more and better cairns in the alpine zone.
I get some interesting comments when I tell people I’m the Six Husbands adopter. The trail seems to have a reputation as a wild and crazy trail. Although Six Husbands is challenging and hard, it is well worth the effort. There are a number of rock overlooks as the trail goes up to Jefferson Knee. The views of the Great Gulf are spectacular and there are great places to sit and admire the mountain landscape. Hikers who venture into the Six Husbands are well rewarded by the breathtaking scenery. There’s also a sense of satisfaction to push your limits on a really hard trail and complete it.

Six Husbands trail is a hidden gem in the White Mountains. It is a remote and steep trail. It is a trail that hikers remember and enjoy taking about with other hiker friends. I highly recommend it and hope you get to enjoy it too. Hope to see you out there.

Chris McNeil