Summer is a great time to be in Vermont. Between the wealth of mountain biking and hiking trails, swimming holes, breweries, and incredible food… It’s easy to find something to do. Unfortunately though, there’s no snow. So what does an organization that’s focused on backcountry skiing do? Do we go on vacation? Go mountain biking? Twiddle our fingers until the snow returns?
We can’t lie… some of those things do happen. But, the truth is, the less snowy months of the year are actually some of our busiest times. With 300 miles of trail to take care of there is always something to do. Brush grows up in the trail corridor, trees fall, bridges fail, trails get rerouted, beavers build dams, culverts get jammed, etc… With this amount of trail the work is never ending, and it’s only with the help of our Trail Chiefs, volunteers, and partners that we are able to keep the trail open.
Below is some of the work that has happened in just the last week… Wednesday to Wednesday. This is just a sampling and additional work has been and will continue happening between now and the first snows.
On Wednesday, July 11 Matt & Greg headed down to Section 13 to meet up with Wayne Flewelling to try and find a route from the future site of a Vermont Huts Association hut to the Catamount Trail on the south end of Chittenden Reservoir. In the map above you can see where the current Catamount Trail runs (red and orange segments), and the locations of the new trail segments and hut. Currently we are coordinating efforts with Velomont to finalize the route south of the hut and plan to clear this corridor in early August with the help of UVM’s TREK Program. For the route north of the hut down to Chittenden Reservoir we have identified a potential path and have submitted info to the Green Mountain National Forest staff. This section still needs to go through the Federal Forest Service approval process. Our hope is work to open this section will be completed sometime during the summer/fall of 2019. In the end this reroute will provide access a backcountry hut, and move skiers off of a few miles of snowmobile trail and road. Personally, we can’t wait to ski these new sections!
Wayne Flewelling during our scout at South Pond. Early in the day things were not looking very promising as we kept getting cliff’d out while trying to find a route to connect South Pond back to the Catamount Trail near Chittenden Reservoir. Fortunately, Wayne remembered some exploration he had done with his daughters 20-ish years ago and that information ended up being the key to the puzzle. Thanks Wayne!
Here’s a shot of Wayne taking a break for lunch at the site of a cabin which burned down last fall. This cabin was slated to become one of the Vermont Hut Association’s new huts. Fortunately, funding to rebuild the hut is available and soon there will be a new structure here that skiers, hikers, runners, and bikers can all take advantage of.
Here Sigh Searles and Will Skerret double check the GPS on a walk through of Section 26. During this trail work session with our Outreach Coordinator Scott Berkley, this team cleared a number of blowdowns and evaluated an old bridge and developed a plan to rebuild it later this summer.
Sigh getting after it with the chainsaw. Someone once asked… “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around… Does it make a sound?” Well, we don’t have the answer to this question, but the frequency at which trees fall in the woods is higher than one might expect. And the number of those trees that end up across the Catamount Trail is astounding!
Here David Hodgson (Mad River Path), Scott Berkley, Ned Farquhar (Mad River Path), and Matt Williams inspect a bridge on Section 18 near Waitsfield. This piece of trail, between German Flats Road and the tennis courts off Mill Brook Road, has 11 bridges along its relatively sort length. Last season the CTA worked with the Mad River Path organization to rebuild most of these structures, but there were still a few areas of concern. On this trip we reviewed the work done last season, identified additional areas of concern, and developed plans for final improvements that will happen sometime in the first part of August.
Thank you again to all of our trail chiefs, volunteers, and other partners that offer up their time to help us manage and maintain the Catamount Trail. Without their generosity the Catamount Trail would not exist. Work on the trail will continue until it’s time to ski and we always look forward to seeing old friends and meeting new ones while working on the trail.
Please think about joining us this fall on one of the many Trail Work Days that will happen throughout the state, and consider making a donation to the CTA Trail Fund. While a lot of the work we do happens with the help of volunteers, there are still many, many things that require actual dollars. Brush cutters and chainsaws require maintenance and wear out, trail markers need to be replaced, bridges are made out of wood which needs to be purchased, sometimes trail work requires a professional to come in with special equipment, etc… The work is never done, but with more people and more money we can do more and provide a better skiing experience.
Happy Summer… Think Snow!
