Fly Rod Crosby Trail
Your Help Needed for Fly Rod Crosby Trail Clean-Up
Three Projects & Three Levels of Difficulty
Join us on June 22nd & August 24 from 9 AM – 2 PM on the FRCT.
Our Recreation Ranger, Matt Kusper will be leading volunteers to complete a few projects. “Volunteers can meet us at the Cascade Stream Gorge Trailhead, where we’ll hike to the FRCT trail after a safety briefing. We’re hoping to tackle three projects; rebuilding a stone stairway, correcting social trails to define the main trail, and installing stepping stones; each project offers varying degrees of physical difficulty allowing volunteers to choose,” says Kusper. “We’ve scheduled a second Trail Clean-up Day on August 24th on another section, if you can’t make it on the 22nd.”
Volunteers should dress for the weather, and wear sturdy, close-toed footwear, and long pants. Bring work gloves and eye protection if you have them and enough water and a snack to get you through the day. Bug spray and sunscreen are highly recommended. Tools will be provided, and we will have extra work gloves handy.
The FRCT is managed and coordinated by the High Peaks Alliance. We are seeking year-round volunteer trail stewards to care for sections ensuring the trail’s sustainability and accessibility for all. Contact Matt Kusper at (704) 877-5567 or [email protected] for more information.
The Fly Rod Crosby Trail is a 22-mile community trail, built and maintained by local volunteers to give trail users a unique look at the historic, natural, and cultural landscape of Maine’s High Peaks region, as told to them by Maine’s first registered guide and local hero, Cornelia “Fly Rod” Crosby. The goal of the trail is to help residents and visitors take an active interest in preserving the unique character of High Peaks communities and natural resources.
June 11th Workday Update
The Summer of 2016 has been a relatively cool one. At the High Peaks Alliance, we have taken advantage of the fair weather to maintain and improve the Fly Rod Crosby Trail. We held our second workday on June 11th, with the help of some community volunteers.
This workday, board members were joined by AmeriCorps and Maine Conservation Corps member Dylan Cookson, Trailmaster Bud Godsoe, and community volunteers. They started at the Madrid trailhead and carpooled up an old logging road to the Horse Hobble section of the Fly Rod Crosby Trail.
The group was divided into two teams that hiked south. The first team followed behind Bud Godsoe. As Bud bucked and limbed fallen trees with a chainsaw, they cleared out the cut remains and clipped branches that had grown onto the trail.
The second team forged ahead with cutter mattocks and began work on redirecting and cutting a 30-foot section of trail that was obscured by tall grass.
The Horse Hobbles Section of the Fly Rod Crosby Trail is a gorgeous hike. Volunteers stopped to take in the scenery as they passed curious plants, monolithic yellow birch trees, a forest floor mottled with wildflowers, and shoulder-high Hobble Bush.
The crew ended its workday with lunch by the stream. In all, the crew cleared 1 mile of trail and redirected a 30-foot section of trail. It was a productive and fun day with everyone happy to have spent so much time on this gorgeous section of the mountain trail.
June 11th Trail Work Day
Location: Madrid Trail Head, Madrid, ME
Event Title: Trail Work Day on the Fly Rod Crosby Trail
We will meet at the Madrid trailhead of the “Fly Rod” Crosby Trail at 9:00 am. The trailhead is off Reeds Mill Road in Madrid and can be most easily reached by turning onto Reeds Mill Road from Route 4. Beverages and snacks will be available at the beginning of the day. Tools will be provided.
The work site is approximately one mile along a section of the Fly Rod Crosby trail overlooking the Hardy Stream. The work will be clearing, rerouting, and maintaining short sections of the trail. This will be a moderately strenuous hike at over 1500 feet with sweeping views of Saddleback and Saddleback Junior. Please dress for the weather, and bring lunch, snacks, gloves, water, and sturdy hiking shoes.
We should be back at the trailhead at about 3:00 pm.
May 14th Trail Workday
On Saturday, May 14th the High Peaks Alliance had its first trail work-day of the year on the Fly Rod Crosby Trail. High Peaks Alliance President, Milt Baston and Board Member Betsy Squibb were joined by AmeriCorps member and Maine Conservation Corps Environmental Steward, Dylan Cookson, and community volunteer John Pietroski.
Together they put in 16 hours of work clearing and redirecting sections of the Fly Rod Crosby Trail around tall grass, and waterlogged and eroded areas.