Hi Flatlander! Here is a long-overdue report of what has happened over the summer & fall of 2008:
In August, Kim Nilsen and I went to Ramblewood's Campground and flagged out a trail from Ramblewoods to the top of Covell Mountain, then down the east side of Covell to Round Pond. We then contacted the State and Lyme Timber Co. and let them know that we had a route all marked out. A date was set for September 11th to walk this proposed route. To make a long story shorter, they rejected this first proposal because of logging that will be happening in the near future. They weren't too keen on my steep switchback trail descending Covell Mountain either...so it was back to the drawing board, so to speak!
On September 8th, I GPSed a trail that runs from Round Pond to a skidder path heading towards Coon Brook Bog - sparking the idea that maybe we could just run the trail on the west side of Route 3 instead of crossing over to the Camp Otter Road. Kim had just been out there (proposed 1st Lake Trail) and found the conditions by Coon Brook extremely wet over a large area and it would be very difficult to maintain a trail through there long-term.
On September 9th, I walked and GPSed the Third Lake Trail with Jillian Kelly of Fish and Game. We discussed the possibility of installing 50-60 feet of bog-bridging off to the side of the snowmobile trail and we (T.C.T.A) are awaiting final approval on this.
On September 12th, I recruited a Pittsburg local (Armand), who had knowledge of the Covell Mountain area and we left Round Pond to find a more suitable route from Round Pond to the Covell summit. After sloshing around in swamp, we managed to find a decent way to the top via moose trails - but we had the swampy area to contend with still.
On September 19th, my daughter Lisa came up from southern Maine and we hit the trail again. This time we went back in from Ramblewoods - flagging up through to Lyme Timber Co.'s border, then we flagged all alongside the boundary to the summit of Covell... then we started down the other (northern) side - flagging heavily until we reached the swamp. From there, we branched out in several different directions to try to find the lesser of all evils. We were losing daylight fast and had to abort the mission and walk all the way back to Ramblewoods, 11 1/2 hours later.
On September 20th, I suckered Lisa in going back out, but this time we went in from the Round Pond end to scout out around the swamp from that angle... We had our GPS and when we found and flagged a route that was somewhat acceptable, the GPS said we were only .01 from the previous day's flagging - but we couldn't find our flags anywhere!...We ran the base of a ledge through some pretty mucky stuff but no luck! Lisa's dog started lunging and growling at something nearby and after about a half an hour of this, we gave up - retraced our steps and went back to the truck.
On September 29th, John Stull from Pennsylvania, came up and he and I took the Round Pond Trail, headed north and successfully flagged a route all the way to Coon Brook Bog Road.
On September 30th, John and I went back in where Lisa and I were on the 20th, did a lot of scouting and found a route around the swamp. Yeah!
Although we had our GPS, we could
not find any of our flagging from the 19th! So we were defeated again!
On October 8th, Armand Buteau and I went back in from Ramblewoods, removing any unnecessary flagging and checked to make sure the necessary flagging was still there... and yes it was -
All Except For the Swampy Area! - someone had gone in and removed about 1/8 mile of flagging, which is why we couldn't find it!
We reflagged it and finally connected the two ends, by-passing the swamp.
So....this is what the proposed route looks like on paper...
On November 6th, Carrie Deegan from SPNHF and I walked a section in the Brundage Forest. There is one short section of the proposed trail that actually crosses land belonging to the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire's Forest.
Carrie was very receptive of the route with the possibility of approximately 30 feet of bog-bridging....and we are awaiting final approval.
From Round Pond, the proposed trail extends to the Coon Brook Bog winter road, to Unknown Pond, to Big Brook Bog, where hikers would then hoof it down Big Brook Bog Road to Route 3, cross the road, then east to the Falls in the River.
N - O - W...to the second project of the season, the Mountain Bungalow on Prospect Mountain is complete and operational...
...and we have now obtained permission from landowners to connect the trail from Young's store to Ramblewoods Campground... The actual cutting will begin in the spring of 2009.
Also, there is a new log lean-to located on Prospect Mountain, on our property - complete with woodstove, for those chilly, damp nights...All work on this lean-to will be complete for the 2009 hiking season!
P.S. Sorry I was so slow getting this posted! And Thanks for asking!
