Volunteers Take on a Mountain of Improvements during Monadnock Trails Week

Volunteers for Monadnock Trails Week just completed the 12^th year of trail improvements on Mt. Monadnock. Volunteers worked with Forest Society staff and trailwork professionals to accomplish projects that make hiking the mountain safer, easier, and less impactful to the surrounding forest.

And with hiking destinations like Monadnock becoming increasingly popular, there is a literal mountain of work still ahead to improve the routes all the way to the 3,165-foot summit.

Each morning the group would circle-up over coffee and donuts to hear about the day’s projects before choosing how they’d spend the day. There is always a project on one of the main trails; White Dot and White Cross, because of how much hiker traffic hits those trails. But this year hard-working volunteers spread out over seven different trails.

Some of the volunteers take this opportunity to give back to the mountain they love and grew up climbing. Others want to learn from the pros while spending time outside with a good group of people. And the most rugged of the bunch come to sweat off the morning’s donuts while crushing rock and building a methodically constructed stone staircase.

This year, perhaps the biggest Monadnock Trails Week in terms of attendance, accomplished nine projects in only five days. How do we do it? With a lot of rocks, sweat,and dirt.

Scroll down for a list of project accomplishments and photos. 

2017 Projects:

• White Dot- culvert removal/replacement, trail turnpiking
• Pumpelly- rock stairs and drainage
• Dublin- brushing in braided/bootleg trails
• Parker- cleaning waterbars
• Royce- 120’ trail reroute
• Gilson Pond loop- footbridge stringer replacement
• Nature Trail- new 20’ footbridge, rustic timber benches, rock step stones