AMC’s professional and volunteer trail crews had a busy year in 2009. Please consider supporting their work through AMC's Trails Fund.  AMC's professional and volunteer trail crews allow AMC to maintain over 1,500 miles of trails in the Northeast.

2009 Professional Trail Crew Highlights 

Three professional crews completed 17,742 project hours in 2009, a 36% increase from 2008. Highlights include:

White Mountains

• Eisenhower Loop Trail (AT): built and repaired cairns, installed trail erosion and hardening structures, including check steps in the alpine zone trail (supported by grant from National Forest Foundation.)
  
  
• Cascade Brook Trail (AT): completed reconstruction of 0.8 mile section of trail, including rock stairs, drainage, step stones, cribbing.
  
  
• Kinsman Pond Trail (AT): Addressed highest priority erosion, mud, and gullying issues, installing rock stairs, waterbars, bog bridging. More work needed.
  
  
• Franconia Brook Trail: addressed erosion issues using rock stairs and drainage work on section eight miles inside the Pemigewasset Wilderness. More work needed.
  
  
• Pine Bend Brook Trail: constructed rock stairs, retaining walls, and water bars on a steep section of trail that had fallen into disrepair.
  
  
• Rumney Rocks Climbing Area: installed rock stair on steep section of climbing access trail where cliff vegetation was being trampled (supported by grant from the Access Fund.)
  

• Mahoosuc Trail (AT): installed rock stairs, drainage, and bog bridges on section between ME/NH state line and Mt. Carlo. Rock stairs, rock check steps, and scree wall built on section between Gentian Pond and Mt. Success.
  
  
• Grafton Loop Trail: tent platforms and outhouse constructed at Bull Run campsite.
  

• Blue Hills Reservation, Massachusetts: worked with MA Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) to install drainages, culverts, boardwalk and turnpiking on three wetland sites, and continued bridge and turnpike building on Skyline and Cutler Trails, Wilson Mountain, and Ponkopoag Camp.
  
  
• Middlesex Fells Reservation, Massachusetts: addressed erosion and bootleg trails through combination of rock stairs, trail realignment, and brushing.
  
  
• South Portland Trails, Maine: worked with South Portland Land Trust to construct Soule Trail, requiring boardwalk, bog bridges, and a stream bridge. Improved Long Creek Trail with wood cribbing and treadway reconstruction.
  
  
• Burnt Island, Maine: installed cairns, step stones, drainage, cribbing, and a 16 foot bridge on this part of the Maine Island Trail. 

Your support of AMC’s Trails Fund supports hiring, supervision, training, equipment, materials, transportation, and housing of our professional crews in New Hampshire and Maine.

2009 Trail Volunteer Highlights
(Northern New Hampshire, Maine, Cardigan (NH), Berskshires (MA), Delaware Water Gap (NJ))

Volunteer trail crews contributed 27,980 hours of service throughout AMC's region in 2009:

• 911 trail volunteers in northern New Hampshire and Maine, including volunteer trail crew, trail adopters, alpine stewards, and corridor monitors, contributed 19,335 hours of service in 2009. Of these volunteers:
  
• • 235 Trail Adopters provided 4,681 volunteer hours.
    
  • 185 volunteers provided 11,116 hours of service as part of 1 to 3 week volunteer vacations in the White Mountains, Baxter State Park, and Acadia National Park
    
• 63 volunteers contributed 3,200 hours of service as part of AMC’s Teen Trail Crew program in the Berkshires in 2009.
  
• AMC-Cardigan Volunteer Trail Cerw logged 1,425 hours of service in 2009.
  
• Mohican Trail Crew volunteers provided over 4,000 hours of service in 2009.
  

Our volunteer trail crews are critical to our trail maintenance efforts. Here are some examples of what they accomplished:

2009 Volunteer Trail Crews
Type of Work:	Number or feet installed:
Rock steps	38
Step stones	42
Cairns	95
Alpine scree wall	900 feet
Brush-in	850 feet
Scree rocks set	79
Native bog bridge	8 bridges (800 feet)
Prefab bog bridge	305 bridges (2,440 feet)
Turnpike	1,680 sq. feet
Rock water bars	22 (163 feet)
Wood water bars	2 (16 feet)
Dips	10 (134 feet)
Ditches	137 feet
Drainages cleared	496 (7,705 feet)
Brushing-out	12.2 miles (64,210)
Brushing-out	12.2 miles (64,210)
Sidehilling	105 feet
Check steps	71
Blowdowns removed	67

While volunteers provide many valuable hours of service, your support of AMC’s Trails Fund supports volunteer recruitment, training, and management as well as equipment and materials.