Moving Rocks on Monadnock

We are so thankful for the more than 50 volunteers and staff that prepared to join us at the 17th Annual Monadnock Trails Week! Even with the threat of rain and storms, volunteers accomplished major trail structural improvements and retained important ecosystems at Mount Monadnock and Gap Mountain during this year’s event. The Forest Society and New Hampshire State Parks worked together to host the 17th annual event from July 13 to July 17. 

On Monadnock’s Marlboro Trail, stone check steps were installed to reduce gully erosion on a 70-foot section of moderately sloped trail. A stone staircase was extended by 25 feet on the Dublin Trail to reinforce the steep slope until it reaches a gentler grade.

Waterbar installation was completed on the White Dot Trail from logs that NH State Parks had peeled and stored on-site to again reduce erosion from water and constant foot tread use on the lower portion of this popular trail.

Another crew attended to trailhead improvements at Old Toll Road, Dublin Trail, and Marlboro Trail by adding Forest Society property signs and sprucing up the area.

On Gap Mountain an all-girls crew from Camp Wa-Klo in Dublin, NH cleared back saplings on the Middle summit to keep valuable blueberry and early successional species habitats open to the great blue sky. 

 

By the end of the event, 39 volunteers had contributed approximately 447 hours to trail improvements. Thirteen Forest Society staff and temporary crew leaders spent more than 288 hours leading and supporting their efforts. 

 

 

 

 

 

This year's Monadnock Trails Week was sponsored by Eastern Mountain Sports, which provided the trail work teams with coffee and donuts to energize their morning, awesome swag to sport on the mountain, a $100 gift card to be raffled at the end of the week, and three additional volunteers to help out on the trails. 

The Forest Society would like to extend our extreme gratitude to all volunteers, crew leads, State Park staff, and Forest Society staff who joined us for this week of trail work! We would also like to thank our sponsor, Eastern Mountain Sports!