Author: admin

On Thursday, October 18, 2012, Hal Graham and I, both Trailwrights, collaborated to remove two blowdowns near the first water crossing on the Mt. Kinsman Trail.  The first was a Poplar Tree of which the upper forty feet had broken off the main stump about 15 feet above ground and landed vertically in the middle of the trail with the canopy tangled in the adjacent trees. 

As would be expected its removal was a multistep process.  Hal first probed the ground with a rock bar at the base and determined that the trunk and had sunk just over a foot into the ground.  We dug around the base removing rocks and roots to open it up the hole and free the base somewhat.

The second task involved the removal of a 12-inch diameter blowdown lying diagonally across the trail hung up in the adjacent trees just above the first water crossing.  A crosscut saw and an ax made short work of it.

It was a most productive and enjoyable day.  Totals for the day for 2 people x 7 = 14 hours.  Big thanks to Hal Graham and the use of his winch and crosscut to clear up these obstructions. – Bruce

Morning weather was not promising with low clouds and fog on the drive in. It turned out to be a perfect day for playing in the water. After meeting at the little bridge at Chocorua Lake a crew of 6 headed to the trail-head. Forest Service gave us permission to take a vehicle in behind the gate so the trailer was right at the work-site. We used the Clydesdale winch and the walk-e-dog winch ( a Chinese Griphoist copy). We used both winches a couple of times and additional cables,chains, and straps in multiple configurations but we were not able to use a high-line as initially proposed due to the size of the stones we chose and distances the rocks had to be moved. Five stones were moved into place to make the crossing easier for all. Workers were Dave Dick, Bob Spoerl, Bob Seston, Howard Mathews, Jean-Sebastien Roux, Bernie Calder and Tim Twitchell.