A few photos from a trailwork day with Dave Stinson. Dave, shown here on the railroad grade section of the Oliverian Brook Trail, has been working with me for ten years on trail maintenance. He is certified as a crosscut sawyer by the Forest Service and has lovingly restored several vintage crosscut saws. Thank you for all your good work, Dave!
The water level in the beaver pond beside Oliverian Brook Trail has gone down since the spring.
The west branch of Oliverian Brook, looking upstream at the crossing on the Cutoff.
This fallen red maple was one of a number of blowdowns we removed.
Beech foliage along a nice hardwood section of the Cutoff.
Dave taking a break at a spot where the trail comes back near the brook, before it starts its steady climb up towards the Square Ledge Trail.
View upstream along the brook. An earlier route of the Cutoff followed the brook closely in the upper part; now it's located well up on the slope, away from the brook.
View of Hedgehog Mountain from a ledge near the top of the Cutoff. It was blustery and cold up there, with snow squalls on Mt. Passaconaway. An invigorating day for trailwork!
Sign at the top of the trail. The Cutoff is in the Sandwich Range Wilderness, so according to management policy the signs have no trail mileages on them.
Near the top of the trail I dropped down a short distance off-trail to a small wooded cliff for a look up at Mt. Passaconaway looming across the valley.
Heading out after completing our work of cleaning drainages, removing blowdowns (except for a couple of large step-overs), and doing some hobblebush brushing. The Cutoff is the adopted trail of the AMC Four Thousand Footer Committee through the Saco Ranger District. If you're interested in adopting a Forest Service trail, contact Cristin Bailey (Saco District) at cristinbailey@fs.fed.us or Jenny Burnett (Pemi District) at jburnett@fs.fed.us.
On the way down I took time out for a quick bushwhack to a couple of interesting features on the west branch of Oliverian Brook. This natural ledge dam features some unusual rock slabs.
Just downstream is this attractive small cascade.
Back on the Oliverian Brook Trail, a scene along the main branch of Oliverian Brook. It was a satisfying day in the woods of the Sandwich Range.
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