Maintenance Log
Metacomet / Monadnock Trail
in New Hampshire
The sections are referenced to the sections in the 2005 Revision of the M/M Trail Guide with the first number being the section number in the Trail Guide.
If you have comments on Trail condition or have completed maintenance work on the NH M/M Trail, send a message to: MMNH Maintenance Coordinator . We'll post your message in the appropriate listing.
Are you interested in helping us with Trail Maintenance? We can always use an extra helping hand. Take a look at the Currently Planned work described below and, if interested, send a message to MMNH Maintenance Coordinator . Or just let us know when you are available and we'll include you in an upcoming maintenance trip.
Note: Please do not attempt to do any maintenance work "on your own" without checking with us well before you plan to do the work.
Work Day on Gap Mountain. Specifically, we are planning a work day on Saturday September 18th, 2010 to install new water bars on the M/M Trail on the North Side of Gap Mt. If you are interested in participating, send a message to the Maintenance Coordinator address above and we'll send you the details.
3 trail relocations are underway or in the planning stages. These are as follows:
REVISION of Maintenance Log As of August 24th, 2010 we have done a complete revision of this maintenance log to remove extraneous historical information and list only currently pertinent work that has been done on the trail since the spring of 2009.
Note on the compass directions we use. In discussing the trail we use the terms "North" and "South" to describe the overall direction of the M/M Trail. (e.g. the "southern" end is at the MA border, the "northern" end is at the top of Monadnock. Even though there are places the Trail travels west to east, we still use this nomenclature.
Similarly, if you were travelling north and something is to your right, it would be "east" of the Trail. If something is to your left it is "west" of the Trail.
August 2010. Trail clear and well blazed.
Recent work: Russ has inspected and done necessary clearing in the spring of 2010.
Work needed: None at present.
Currently Planned Work: None.
Status: Trail clear and well blazed.
Recent work: Russ checked and cleared trail in Spring of 2010.
Work needed: None.
Currently Planned Work: None
Status: Trail clear and well blazed.
Recent work: Russ checked trail and did necessary clearing and blazing in spring of 2010. In July Russ repainted blazes at the intersection of Monument Rd. and Rt 119 to make the route clearer for southbound hikers.
Work needed: None
August 2010 Status: Road hiking fine (Grassy Hill Rd. is passable in a 4 wheel drive vehicle but there are some rough spots along the way. There is logging currently going on in this area.). Trail clear to Tully Brook. The trail currently follows the route as described in the Trail Guide.
An alternate bypass trail has been constructed to avoid wet areas on the trail between Grassy Hill Rd. and Tully Brook. This trail is not currently open pending an agreement with the land owners. When the bypass is opened the current trail will continue to be maintained and will be the official route of the M/M Trail.
Recent work: June 2010. Rt 119 and County Rd. (at the beginning of this section) have been reblazed so there should be no problems in following this piece of the trail. Also brush was cleared along Rt 119 to make blazes more visible.
Trail from Grassy Hill Rd. to Tully Brook cleared and reblazed in July 2010.
August 2010: Status: There may be a blowdown just north of Tully Brook. This blowdown is easily bypassed.
Recent work: Inspected and cleared in spring of 2010.
Currently Planned Work: Clear blowdown.
Nov 2008 Status: Trail clear of brush and blowdowns.
Recent work: Walter cleared trail in Spring of 2010.
Blazed in July 2008.
Work needed: We should discuss signage at junction of trail with Widow Gage Rd. both to identify trail passing through the Fitzwilliam Town Forest and to keep people who are trying to do the loop hike over Little Monadnock from getting lost.
Currently Planned Work: None.
Long Range Plans: A relocation of this portion could take the Trail to a crossing of Widow Gage Rd. directly opposite the point where the Trail currently leave Widow Gage Rd. This relocation is currently low priority.
June 2010. Status: All blowdowns on this section have been cleared. Blazing good. Brush pretty clear.
Currently Planned Work: None.
Status: August 2010. Unknown but likely open and in good shape. Sign post at top of trail (at M/M junction) has broken off.
Recent work: Unknown.
Work needed: Repair sign.
Possible long term work: There are a couple of places where this trail is washing out where it goes directly up relatively steep slopes. One of these places (just beyond the seasonal stream (just above the climb over the rock ledge) could be replaced with a couple of long switchbacks. Also, it might be interesting to figure out how to bypass the climb over the rock ledge.
Currently Planned Work: Responsibility of Monadnock State Park rangers.
Status: August 2010. Walter has checked this section. In good shape.
Recent work: A possible new trail route from the power line to Troy Center has been flagged. This route would take the trail off of Troy Town roads. See 20-6 below.
Work needed: None
Currently Planned Work: We are working at getting permission from landowners for the reroute.
August 2010 Status: In good shape.
Currently Planned Work: None.
Long Range Plans: We have flagged a route which would eliminate the walking on paved roads in Troy by taking the Trail down the East side of the ridge and intersecting with the old railroad right of way. As the ridge drops steeply in this area, the route we have flagged will probably need modifications to slab the side of the ridge as much as possible. We are working at getting permission from landowners for the reroute.
Status: August 2010. Good condition, well blazed.
Work needed: None at present.
Currently Planned Work: None.
Status: This portion of the trail is experiencing heavy use with resultant trail erosion.
In summer and fall of 2009 extensive work was done in this section to repair water bars and put in new ones. An SCA crew spent over a day working in this area plus various work by Walter, Frank and Hiel .
Recent work:
Long Range Plans: A major reloaction of the trail up Gap Mt. is planned by the Monadnock State Park and the Society for the Protection of the NH Forests. This rerouting will take the trail off of the Goodridge property and well away from their house. This route has been flagged and needs to be inspected to look for water problems. Construction of the reroute will take place in September or October 2010. This reroute will eliminate some sections of the trail that currently have serious erosion problems.
Recent work: (This side trail is maintained by the Society for the Protection of the NH Forests)
Work needed: None at present.
Currently Planned Work: See above.
Status: August 2010 This portion of the Trail is heavily used and has, as a result, experienced heavy erosion. New water bars have been installed and the old water bars have been cleaned.
Recent Work: In late July two blowdown blocked the trail north of the turnoff to East Hill Farms. Both of these have been removed.
On August 14, 2010 a 3 man work party put in 7 new water bars (or extensions to old bars) at the upper end of the trail up from the North Parking Lot.
Currently Planned Work: More water bars need to be added. A work party is planned for Saturday September 18th.
Status: August 2010. Trail clear. Bridge over stream is in good repair. This trail experiences heavy use particularly in the summer with hikers coming in from East Hill Farm.
Work needed: A number of water bars are needed on this trail to check erosion.
Also Renewal of blue blazes on Old Mill Rd to East Hill Farm.
Currently Planned Work: We plan to mark locations for new water bars in the immediate future and put them in if there is sufficient manpower available on the Sept 18 work day.
Recent work: Trail inspected and cleared by Walter W.
Work needed: None.
Currently Planned Work: None
Status: Trail clear and well marked. As this is not a recommended way of climbing Monadnock, this trail shows little wear.
Recent Work: July 2010: Frank and Walter cleared the trail and cleaned water bars.
Work needed: No immediate need for work.
Long Term Work: More water bars are probably needed in sections that follow the fall line.
Currently Planned Work: None.
Trail is reported open by the State Park.
Recent work:
Work needed: None. This trail is maintained by the Monadnock State Park.
Currently Planned Work: None by M/M maintainers.
Section 22
22-1 Rt 124 to White Arrow Trail at Picnic Grove
(Bottom of Page 82 in Trail Guide)
August 2009: A 5 man work crew headed by Frank spent most of a day installing and repairing water bars as indicated by Patrick Hummel (Manager of the Monadnock State Park).
There is a section of the trail at about .8 miles where the trail should be relocated a few feet to the left (going N) as the trail has become a stream bed at that point.
There is a section of the trail just south of the Cart Track where the trail climbs steeply past a large boulder. The trail could easily be relocated here with a wide sweep to the East (and return) to eliminate this steep climb (and future erosion.)
22-2. White Arrow Trail to summit of Monadnock
(Middle of Page 83)
August 2010 Status: As this is a major trail to the Summit of Monadnock it can be assumed to be in good condition