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This was my third trip of the year doing trail
maintenance on the Mt Clinton Trail. I had forgotten my own bow saw, so
I picked one up, along with a pair of loppers, from the AMC
storage locker in Crawford Notch. I
was going to work on removing blowdowns and trimming branches on the
portion of the trail below where I had left off in June.
After climbing up the Crawford Path to Mizpah
Springs Hut, I rested for a few minutes in the hut's dining room, eating a
power bar, drinking some water, and taking a picture of Mt Jackson out the
window before hitting the trail.
Luckily, there were no new blowdowns along the
section I had worked on back in June, and only a few spots that needed
some additional touchup brushing. Below that was a different story.
All-in-all, I removed about 8 or 9 blowdowns, which was harder than
usual because the borrowed saw was a bit dull. I also did quite a bit of
brushing.
As I worked my way lower down the trail, I
started to see a lot of moosewood, much of which was growing up right in
the middle of the trail. It seems to spread by underground runners, so
it was a bit harder to get rid of than spruce or fir. When removing
entire small trees, we were taught to cut them off slightly below ground
to avoid ugly stumps that someone might trip over.
By 3:30, I had worked my way down to about
2700 ft, almost 1100 feet below the hut, and about halfway (or just
over) to the junction with the Dry River Trail. I was tired, and it was
time to call it quits. It took me an hour to hike back up to the hut,
where I rested and refilled my water bottles, and then started to head
back by way of Mt Pierce.
There are very few views along the Mt Clinton
Trail, so it's nice to climb up to Mt Pierce on the way back. It's a bit
of a steep climb up from the hut, but the views are worth it. This time,
Washington and Monroe were enshrouded in clouds. Only Eisenhower stood
out on the long ridge, seemingly holding back the fog from its southern
neighbors.
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Closeup of Mt
Jackson from the window in the Mizpah Springs Hut dining area. |
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