Took a mid/late afternoon hike to one of my favorite ponds on Veteran's Day. (Veterans, thank you for your service!)
The section of Little East Pond Trail that follows the century-old grade of the Woodstock & Thornton Gore Railroad through open hardwoods is always a pleasure to walk, especially when the leaves are down and the forest is wide open.
Some fairly intensive logging is planned along the lower half of this trail in the near future - a "sanitation harvest" of white ash that has been infested with Emerald Ash Borer (EAB). The purpose is to control the spread of EAB, which has been moving northward into the White Mountains. (Including our yard in Lincoln, where we had to have a beautiful white ash taken down.) Unfortunately, there appear to be a dozen or more flagged routes for skid trails crossing the Little East Pond Trail, which runs counter to the recommendations in the WMNF documents concerning the East Pond Brook Ash Harvest: "To protect the Little East Pond Trail a feller-buncher will be required and minimal trail crossings will be utilized." and "Design features to protect the trail should include minimal trail crossings and no hauling along the trail." It would seem that fewer trail crossings should be considered for the project.
I always stop to check out this piping that served a logging camp along the railroad near Clear Brook.
A couple of pieces of remnant rail beside the trail.
In 2022 and 2023, the all-volunteer Mad River Trail Collective (www.madrivertrailcollective.org) installed 9 sections of two-foot wide boardwalk on Little East Pond Trail, totaling 246 feet. Several short sections bridge small drainages. This 110-foot section, located where the trail turns right off the railroad grade, is the longest boardwalk. Excellent work!
Another section of boardwalk. These are "armored" with rocks at either end.
The woods looking very November-ish on the climb to Little East Pond.
On my many visits to Little East Pond, I have never seen the water this low. The pond is very shallow to begin with, but this fall's drought has exposed the shoreline all around the pond. The view of Scar Ridge (L) and Middle Scar Ridge (R) is always a treat.
I could see that a nice sitting rock at the northeast corner, normally accessible only by a heinous bushwhack, was easily accessible today.
I followed the exposed shoreline to this perch using rocks, gravel and sticks for footing.
Looking back along the east shore.
Skies were gloomy, but there was a bit of brightness to the south.
After a nice break on the sitting rock, I returned to the south end of the pond and wandered up along the west shore for a different perspective.
Looking across at a gentle spur ridge that descends southward off the main ridge between Middle Scar and East Scar.
A gnarled old red maple at the SW corner of the pond.
Descending the trail with sunset coming on.
11/13/24 Missed you by a day!! Had done East Pond several times but never Little East, really enjoyed the trail. Did the rail line go past that deep gully? The trail goes uphill a bit beyond but no evidence of the rail. Yup those skidder roads seem to cross the trail often sadly...
ReplyDeleteHi Jim, Glad you liked Little East. It's a longtime favorite of mine. The rail line does continue a little bit past where the trail makes the right turn onto the long uphill boardwalk.
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