If you have walked the Old Bridle Path on West Rattlesnake in the past couple months, you may have seen a trail crew hard at work. If you are a local who walks it frequently, then you may have noticed some of the progress. The Old Bridle Path or “OBP” as we call here at the SLA is one of the most hiked trails in New Hampshire. Annually, the trail sees over 30,000 visitors. This is in part due to the short length of the hike and the high quality view from the summit. We often say that it is a “great bang for the buck”, with the buck being physical exertion.
However, with so many visitors, the path takes a beating and soil erosion becomes a major concern. As the trail erodes, a gully develops in the center, and eroded materials fill up water bars that divert water off trail. The erosion exposes roots and rocks that hikers tend to walk around. As a result, the trail widens and more material washes downhill. Eroded soil can wash into streams and ultimately into Squam Lake, lowering water quality and adding nutrients that contribute to algal blooms. If you want to help reduce soil erosion and trail widening: avoid walking along the edge of the trail or on side-trails, step over/on water bars and other structures instead of walking around them, and don't remove brush and logs placed along the edges of the trail or in side-trails (I think it looks ugly too, but we put it there for a good reason!).
This year, the SLA has started a project to replace/refurbish water bars, add check steps, and add retaining walls to prevent the erosion of the mountain into the trail, and into the lake. The project kicked off with a volunteer day where we hauled 6x6x8 pressure treated lumber up to the summit. Even with 2 people per timber and over 40 volunteers, it was a long, hard day. The Student Conservation Association contributed 3 teams of 6 AmeriCorps members for 2 week trail hitches. In total, the SCA spent about 1,500 crew hours in which they did an amazing job installing 2 retaining walls, a log ladder, a rock drainage, and many check steps at the Summit of West Rattlesnake.
Over the past two weeks, I served on a 2 week (10-day) trail hitch with two of my fellow LRCC AmeriCorps colleagues who serve with me at the SLA, Kaela and Kyle. We set out with a mission to install 4 log drainages and as many check steps as possible in key areas of the trail. We kicked off our first day with a group from UNH’s Forestry Program who came and felled some red pines to be used for log waterbars. Then we peeled the bark off the logs with draw knives and bark spuds. It smelled great peeling the trees, but the bark was full of sap and would spray sap as I peeled with the draw knife. On day 2 we finished peeling logs and started digging ditches to place the logs in. In order to hold the logs securely in place, we needed to make gravel or “crush”, by breaking up rocks with sledge hammers. After setting the logs in place and securing them with extra crush on the downhill side, we had to add dirt. So we dug “borrow pits” to get mineral soil to pack into the drainage. Mineral soil is tan and has a very fine particle size which makes it pack very well and forms a great base for the drainage channel. On day 3, we installed another drainage and helped the SCA to “naturalize” the area they were working, and pack out their gear on their last day. Day 4 we started making check-steps and widening a choke point in the trail. Check steps have to be dug into the side of the trail, and pinned with large rocks on the downhill side. Crush is placed as a base for the step and gets hammered in underneath and around the ends of the timber to fill voids and solidly lock the timber into place. Then the step is filled to level with crush and topped with freshly dug mineral soil. Large rocks are then placed atop both ends of the step and packed in with dirt. The goal is always to create a solid structure that will not trap water, shift, or erode over time. We spent the rest of our trail days, crushing rocks, digging dirt and placing more checksteps.
Over the course of our 2 week trail hitch, our team installed 4 log waterbars, 17 checksteps, and rehabilitated 3 rock waterbars. When I started on day 1, I had envisioned us completing so much more in our two weeks. The reality is, trailwork is hard, slow, hot, wet, and utterly exhausting labor. My mom called me over the weekend after my first week on trail. I complained to her about the hard work, and the aches and pains. She listened for a while and then cut me off and said something along the lines of “Eric, you signed up for it” and “it builds character”. I laughed it off as tough love, but she was right on all accounts (as always…). The second week the work was just as hard, but I thought about what she said, and realized that it was time to buckle down and push through. I had to change the way I was approaching it mentally. Instead of being demoralized by the slow rate of progress and physical exhaustion, I needed to focus on the quality of my labor and recognize our accomplishments with pride instead of self pity. Maybe we got stronger, or just more determined, but the second week felt like it was easier, and we accomplished more each day. Our last day on trail was Friday, August 12, my 25th birthday. We finished off strong with 4 checksteps installed on a steep section that required extra fill. We managed to pack out all of our tools and gear in one, fully-loaded trip down the mountain. We joked that we were ready for a third week on the trail, and honestly at this point, I think we would all be pretty ok with that. Hiking back up the trail, it is great to see our work being used by hikers and our drainages working properly. Visitors might not care how or why we installed the drainages and steps, but I know that they will benefit from it in the ease of their hike, and that our labor will help to hold back the slow but steady stream of erosion for many years to come.
Eric has played cello for 10 years and has performed multiple times in Jordan Hall! Read more about Eric here!