At the BRATTS trail day last weekend I met Dan Tinkham, who is the proud adopter of the East Gilford Trail.
I've been a little curious about the 'lakeside' trails, and with Tuesday off decided to head that way, check out the 'Overlook' and see Dan's trail.
Found the Wood Rd parking lot, saddled up and walked into the woods.
Plan was a CCW loop , via red-orange-blue-yellow trails. Finding the red trail was no problem.
You are in a maze of twisty passages, all alike.
- ADVENT, text adventure game ca 1980
But after a short time I found myself in the Gunstock cross country trails. I'm usually pretty good at figuring out the proper trail to take, but I missed where the red trail headed off toward the orange trail. The Gunstock map I found at one junction didnt show the hiking trails; my hiking map didnt show the Gunstock trails. My GPS didnt show either trail network.
Rather than thrash around I followed one road that I figured would take me to Gunstock's parking lot, so I could pick up one or another hiking trail. Ugh. Hot, gravel road + nearby water. I quickly picked up an entourage of midges, mosquitoes and deerflies.
Orange Trail
Arriving at Gunstock's access road, I did find the Orange/Red trailhead ... which took me back in more or less the same direction from which I had just come, along an overgrown gravel road ski trail. Oh well. I kind of expected that. I did eventually reach what I suspect was the high end of the link I had been looking for. Marking that in mind for future reference I continued the ascent. With my entourage.
The orange trail finally broke off from the road network and immediately crossed a stream. My first response was 'Finally!' almost immediately followed by 'You have got to be kidding me' ( or words to that effect). After leaving the road, the Orange trail immediately crosses a small stream, leading the unwary hiker directly across a wet ledge of the infamous Belknap slick rock. This is the most unexpectedly slippery surface I've ever run across. I don't know the name for this dark, innocuous looking rock, but I've fallen on it a couple of times. It's like trying to walk on ice.
Unfortunately, a lot of the trail has rock of this type, including a number of steps made using it. And this ledge crossing was not the only one that crossed water at some wet ledgy spot. It almost seemed like the trail was laid out to maximize stream crossings at inconvenient spots. But at least the streams were small. So it was less a barrier than a nuisance.
The Overlook
'The Overlook' ... Maybe it was just the frustration at the extra 2 miles of buggy gravel rds I'd just walked, but I was not very impressed by the Overlook. My first thought on reaching it was that maybe it should be renamed to 'The Overgrowth'. But it really wasn't that bad. Just a lot less than I'd hoped for, esp after what I'd just come up. At this point - less than half way through the hike - I just wanted to go home. It didnt help that I had started out a little sick.
But I darned well didn't want to go back down the Orange Trail. So ... onward ... The rest of the Orange Trail was more of the same, though fewer water crossings at this elevation. Not a lot to be said about it, other than I was happy to reach the junction with the Blue Trail.
I headed up the Blue Trail and over to the ledges at the top of the East Gilford trail, ot even interested in the fire tower today. At the ledges I thought I'd sit and enjoy the view before getting on with the real point of the day - the East Gilford Trail.
So after finding the best possible spot to sit, and getting my sun hat out, and taking a few pictures ... it started raining. <sigh>
I didn't want to delay getting down in case the rain or the trail turned out to be tough... so I wolfed down my food and headed out again.
East Gilford Trail
At this point I couldn't really be very fair to Dan's trail.I was tired, frustrated, hungry and anxious about wet ledge .... but I can definitely say I'd rather ascend than descend this trail. Ascent in the light rain wouldn't have been too much of a problem, but there are a couple stretches of ledge with just enough slope to be uncomfortable on descent. And a couple seem to have that slick composure. I'm obviously not alone in my nervousness; there were quite a few sections with herd paths around them.
Getting past the open ledges, the next part of the trail is basically a woods walk with some minor boulder/ledge ...mmm... not quite scrambles. If it weren't for this slippery rock ( and the wet) I wouldn't mention them. But again, with the rain I was very cautious over this section.
Finally got out of the rockfall/boulder area and into sloping dirt. one patch had some nice new! stone steps over what would otherwise have been a slide on roots & mud. That was a nice help!
Shortly after that, the trail levels out and becomes basically a walk on a logging road. Of course, now that I was on the flat and relaxed, I twisted an ankle. Sigh. But, to my relief, it was only a twist, not a sprain. Whew!
Paying a bit more attention now I started seeing newts here and there; and then I saw an animal. I think it was a juvenile woodchuck, but I've never seen one in the woods before. The woods here are in a conservation easement, with active logging in the area. In fact the trail runs alongside an area of regrowth; I suspect the woodchuck came from that area and was looking around for a new home. At least, that 's where he ran off to when he became aware of me.
So ... back to the car none the worse for wear, and feeling better than I had started out.
Aside from missing the turn on the Red Trail, all the trails are well blazed and in good condition. The footing is good, if you watch out for that dark slick rock.
Not a very cheery report, I really did not enjoy the day as much as I'd hoped; I have no plans to do the Orange Trail again, ever; it's an ok trail but the view is simply not worth the effort to repeat. The East Gilford Trail I might try again, if I can work out a route that takes me up it and descends on something other than the Orange Trail. I suspect the EGT would be fun to ascend on a drier day!