Post by percypeaks on Dec 20, 2010 11:56:31 GMT -5
The new year, 2011, should bring the completion of the Cohos Trail as originally planned and revised. So thru-hikers should have an experience on the CT that no one has enjoyed so far.
In the south, near Pondicherry Wildlife Refuge in Jefferson, the Slide Brook Trail should be redeveloped and reopened after five years of closure and a long road walk around the closed path. Hopefully, by mid-summer, crews will have completed a 600-foot puncheon span atop an abandoned beaver dam, allow the trail to skit private lands that are not open to the public.
In the Nash Stream Forest, we will have made some substantial improvements to the Gadwah Notch Trail, making it easier to follow and more pleasant underfoot.
In Pittsburg, virtually all the road walking along Route 3 will have been eliminated, as the Covell Mt. Trail comes on line, the Black Cat Trail, too. And, if we are lucky enough to procur sufficient grant money, we might take a stab at the restoration of the Deer Mt. Trail spur to the summit of that peak near the Canadian border.
So if you approach Pittsburg township from the south or start your hike on the Cohos Trail at the border, you should be able to spend almost all of your trek in the woods rather than on a road. You should be able to get to several new open summits, cross the largest puncheon span in the state at a spruce bog near First Connecticut Lake, reach the roaring Falls in the River on the trail of the same name, reach the six-mile view on the east end of Lake Francis, and quite possibly walk across the newest and northernmost covered bridge in the state.
And if things go as planned, we may have ready a third lean-to on the Cohos Trail, hopefully in Dixville, which would allow hikers to move out of the Nash Stream Forest on the Gadwah Notch Trail and reach Coleman State Park without having to carry a tent. If all goes well, we will have lean-tos at Baldhead Mt., near Dixville Notch, and on North Sanguinary Ridge.
All of this is just part of the equation. In 2012, we hope to open a fourth lean-to, perhaps in the Nash Stream Forest, and erect a second covered bridge or convert one of our existing small bridges into a covered span so that it lasts far longer without heavy maintenance. We also hope to be able to open the proposed Trio Trail between Percy Loop Camp and Pond Brook Falls, finally eliminating two miles of road walk in the Nash Stream Forest.
This sort of activity could be repeated for half a decade until the Cohos Trail boasts a fine string of lean-tos and other structures from Mt. Cabot to Pittsburg, and supports four or five covered bridges along the route. Perhaps a covered bridge might be able to be developed at the Dixville Wayside on the east side of Dixville Notch, one over Pike Brook just north of Nash Bog in the Nash Stream Forest, and a second one in Pittsburg.
With the trail complete end to end, it makes sense to try to improve it by adding places to get in out of the rain and low-maintenance bridges. Once we get the lean-tos system completed and the bridges hammed together, we might even think (well down the road) of developing one or two low observation towers, one on Dixville Peak and one on Deer Mt.
If we could pull all that off in the future, the Cohos Trail would become a must hike in the east, and a real asset to the hiking community from here to Timbuktu.
percy peaks
In the south, near Pondicherry Wildlife Refuge in Jefferson, the Slide Brook Trail should be redeveloped and reopened after five years of closure and a long road walk around the closed path. Hopefully, by mid-summer, crews will have completed a 600-foot puncheon span atop an abandoned beaver dam, allow the trail to skit private lands that are not open to the public.
In the Nash Stream Forest, we will have made some substantial improvements to the Gadwah Notch Trail, making it easier to follow and more pleasant underfoot.
In Pittsburg, virtually all the road walking along Route 3 will have been eliminated, as the Covell Mt. Trail comes on line, the Black Cat Trail, too. And, if we are lucky enough to procur sufficient grant money, we might take a stab at the restoration of the Deer Mt. Trail spur to the summit of that peak near the Canadian border.
So if you approach Pittsburg township from the south or start your hike on the Cohos Trail at the border, you should be able to spend almost all of your trek in the woods rather than on a road. You should be able to get to several new open summits, cross the largest puncheon span in the state at a spruce bog near First Connecticut Lake, reach the roaring Falls in the River on the trail of the same name, reach the six-mile view on the east end of Lake Francis, and quite possibly walk across the newest and northernmost covered bridge in the state.
And if things go as planned, we may have ready a third lean-to on the Cohos Trail, hopefully in Dixville, which would allow hikers to move out of the Nash Stream Forest on the Gadwah Notch Trail and reach Coleman State Park without having to carry a tent. If all goes well, we will have lean-tos at Baldhead Mt., near Dixville Notch, and on North Sanguinary Ridge.
All of this is just part of the equation. In 2012, we hope to open a fourth lean-to, perhaps in the Nash Stream Forest, and erect a second covered bridge or convert one of our existing small bridges into a covered span so that it lasts far longer without heavy maintenance. We also hope to be able to open the proposed Trio Trail between Percy Loop Camp and Pond Brook Falls, finally eliminating two miles of road walk in the Nash Stream Forest.
This sort of activity could be repeated for half a decade until the Cohos Trail boasts a fine string of lean-tos and other structures from Mt. Cabot to Pittsburg, and supports four or five covered bridges along the route. Perhaps a covered bridge might be able to be developed at the Dixville Wayside on the east side of Dixville Notch, one over Pike Brook just north of Nash Bog in the Nash Stream Forest, and a second one in Pittsburg.
With the trail complete end to end, it makes sense to try to improve it by adding places to get in out of the rain and low-maintenance bridges. Once we get the lean-tos system completed and the bridges hammed together, we might even think (well down the road) of developing one or two low observation towers, one on Dixville Peak and one on Deer Mt.
If we could pull all that off in the future, the Cohos Trail would become a must hike in the east, and a real asset to the hiking community from here to Timbuktu.
percy peaks
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