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Trail Work Above the Trees
The alpine zone provides a specific challenge to those interested in trail maintenance. As Laura and Guy Waterman put it in their book Backwoods Ethics, “At stake is a reconciliation of twin objectives: to preserve the threatened and endangered species of alpine vegetation or, more broadly, the fragile alpine ecosystem of which such vegetation is a natural part; and to preserve equally the opportunity for people to be up there on the mountain heights, to honor the great value to the human spirit of experiencing that realm of the mountain gods.” This accurately states the conundrum of alpine work: how can we tell people where to go without making them feel constricted? Furthermore, how can we tell them where to go without the benefit of a corridor amongst the forest where the trees delineate the path? The problem solving for such an interesting issue begins with the pre-planning. The plant species in the area must be considered for alpine trail work. Caution must be taken to find out if any of the species are rare or endangered. For the work on Lowe’s Path, we were lucky to find that, though there were species of concern nearby, none of the plants in the immediate work area fell into either category, and therefore no out-of-the-ordinary measures for protection were needed.
Educating the public is another important piece of alpine trail work. While they were at work on the project, the trail crew hiked up two signs to place along the trail, as well as an informational binder that was located at Gray Knob. The signs and binder notified hikers of the crew’s presence, provided background information, and encouraged interested hikers to ask questions about this wonderful area. A number of alpine trail maintenance tactics are relatively new. The techniques are surprisingly non-obtrusive and help to maintain the wilderness feeling of this awe-inspiring area. The main techniques that the crew used included building scree walls, rebuilding cairns, and brushing. A scree wall is a sturdy structure made from nearby rocks that is usually one foot or less in height. The walls are used to subtly direct the hiker to stay on a certain section of trail or “tread.” They’re built low, so that the hiker rarely notices their presence. With strategic placement of cairns, the hiker will be looking ahead to the direction the trail will be taking, instead of focusing on the walls.
Deep down, alpine trail work is largely about the psychology of convincing the hiker to follow a particular path. It seems obvious, but lacking trees to define the edges of a trail presents a unique challenge above treeline. In an effort to make a more inviting walk, the trail crew installed a few rock staircases and removed rock obstacles which hikers were likely to leave the trail to hike around. The emphasis here is on keeping the hiker on a defined path, with the assumption that the hiker doesn’t mean to crush sensitive alpine plants, but in the past merely hasn’t been able to tell exactly where the trail is because the route wasn’t clear. When the route isn’t obvious, hikers take multiple routes, resulting in “braiding,” or places where two trails have developed and intersect occasionally. RMC’s fall trail crew has done an artful job of paring the trail down to a central path. Their work is work worth seeing for yourself! Finally, an important part of RMC’s Waterman Fund grant has been a focus on educating the public and furthering discussion about alpine trail work techniques. The RMC gathered together professionals and volunteers who work with alpine zones in the White Mountains, including local trail supervisors from the White Mountain National Forest, to discuss management techniques and ways they can be improved. The project has also included mapping GPS points at which work has occurred, along with the collection of “before” and “after” photos, so the relative success of the work can be monitored in the future. The photographs will be used to make three photo albums (one for RMC’s Crag Camp, one for Gray Knob and one for the RMC’s staff housing, Stearns Lodge) to be used to educate hikers and future RMC staff on the importance of alpine stewardship and trail work. Keep an eye out for these informational albums soon to be at an RMC location near you. We hope you soon have a chance to enjoy the newly improved alpine section of Lowe’s Path! Leslie Ham worked on RMC’s summer trail crew this past year, and served as fall caretaker for RMC’s Gray Knob. She has also worked in the Adirondacks on a trail crew, as well as in Antarctica.
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It
is covered in wild cranberries, spruce krummholz, and, this past
fall anyway, four members of RMC’s fall trail crew. You
guessed it! “It” is the special alpine section of Lowe’s
Path that RMC’s fall trail crew of Matthew Moore, Jeremy
Loeb, Will Manty, and Jessie Veverka has been working to restore.
This section of Lowe’s Path runs from its intersection with
the Gray Knob trail to the summit of Mount Adams. In an effort
to limit the impact hikers have on the sensitive alpine flora,
the crew is employing many tactics to make a more streamlined
trail and a better experience for both the hikers and the environment
they are passing through. The work is being funded entirely by
a grant from the non-profit Waterman Fund with matching funds
from the White Mountain National Forest. The Waterman Fund is
dedicated to alpine stewardship in the Northeast and funds projects
similar to this one on Lowe’s Path.
Before
work begins, the trail crew must also be trained about how to
choose rocks that are in large quarries, and not ones that protect
soil or fragile root systems. Other important trail work tactics
are “rock-hopping” to avoid stepping on plants, and
being aware of the importance of using outhouse facilities before
heading up into the alpine zone.
A
well-placed cairn is of the utmost importance in the alpine zone.
They should be placed so they can be seen with the sky as a contrasting
background, close enough to the trail so that hikers don’t
have to go off the tread way to follow them, but not so close
that they bump into them. The crew set to the the work of re-building
dilapidated cairns and moving others that sent a confusing message
to hikers about where the trail was located. Surprisingly, one
of the most tedious forms of trail work, which many readers are
probably intimately familiar with from work on their own yards,
is clipping—known as brushing to trail workers. Simply clearing
the trail of branches that have grown into the path can make
a much more inviting choice for the hiker.