Gorham Lodge Relocation Site Scouting Hike # 2

Jump to candidate sites: "County Line, Route G, or Gleason Brook.

Jump to a site-by-site comparison

The purpose of the hike was to investigate possibile sites for the Gorham replacement lodge. Inspection of the topographic map suggested 3 possibilites: Route G, the Overhang, and the County Line. I also wanted to explore all the "slots" in the trail south of Spruce Peak.

There are three such "slots." They are marked by a steep rise to the south, steep, smooth vertical rock faces on the north, and run from southeast to northwest. I wanted to inspect these slots because of the possibility that the rock harbored springs or formed the headwaters of brooks.

The day was cold (25-30 degrees), snowy (flurries until noon), and windy. A few spots of sun appeared in the afternoon. There were 3 inches of light, puffy snow in the valley and as much as 8 inches at the 2400-foot level of Bamforth Ridge.

I reached the River Road trailhead of the Long Trail at 7:15 and returned at 3:30. It was the first Monday of deer-hunting season. I saw no traces of hunters, but two tracks of their quarry. A party of 4 hikers, following the same route as mine, started later and ended earlier.

I arrived at Duxbury Window at 8:08, Eric's Slot at 8:41, and the Route G at 8:53. I investigated Route G until 11:00. I continued on the LT and reached the Overhang at 11:08. I investigated the Overhang until about 11:45 (sorry, no exact time check). The party of 4 had passed me and I hiked with them until 12:34, when I reached the County Line site. I took a GPS reading there and found I was within 100 feet (+- GPS accuracy!) of my intended destination. I started my return about 1:45, took about 15 minutes to investigate Eric's Slot East and arrived at the trailhead at 3:23.

The trip to the County Line took 2:35. The return took about 1:45. These times are comparable to the 3:00-hour hike-in time to the Bamforth Bridge project and Eric's 1:45-hour descent on 26 May with a party of 5 from "Catchup Corner" (see below). As an approximation, expect 3 hours to hike to County Line and 2 hours to return.

The longitude, latitude, and elevation data came from Eric's GPS unit. They have not been corrected. The GPS unit indicated an elevation of 245 feet at River Road. As the LT Guide indicates an elevation of 400 feet, the altitudes given here may be 155 feet too low.

Sites investigated

At "that narrow stone cleft that we always talk about fixing" (Eric's words) I bushwacked under the hill on the east. I could walk just under a rock face but the underbrush was inpenetrable. A large beaver pond was visible.

I backtracked and went to the north of the pond, near where Steve T and I went in the summer. I went through very dense softwoods and emerged in a few feet at a 100-foot cliff overlooking the beaver pond. Eric has bushwacked here. The beaver pond is considerably larger than appears on the maps.

I followed the top of the ridge to the north on open rocks. Seeing a small ravine, I descended a short distance through softwoods to a small brook. The brook's ravine flattened and turned into hardwoods. At this point I intersected with what I assume to be Greg W's Route G.

I continued a short distance left (downhill, I presume) through birches, but found to obvious shelter sites. I continued right into a thicket of softwoods and lost the trail within 200 yards.

I marked the junction with Route G with 3 bands of yellow flagging tape on a birch. I used yellow tape to mark the route back, up the brook, across the rocks, and to the inital lookoff to the beaver pond. I flagged a route through the softwoods (no more than 200 feet) and came to a brook, which I followed downhill to the west. There I encountered another segment of what I thought were Greg's flags. These ended suddenly. I was probably very near the LT, but I saw no trace.

I backtracked to the top of the brook, where I had first seen Greg's blazes. I tried to find a trail back through the softwoods to the point where I left the LT. This trail loops around itself to approach the first overlook. These flags should not be followed! This softwood area is no more than 100 yards across.

In reviewing Greg's description, the route I took was quite close to Route G. The length of this section is about 0.4 miles (from the topographic maps) or 2000 feet (Greg's description). This is a most attractive route for the LT.

The double-banded tree at the end of my search is about 2.3 miles from the road via Route G. This is Greg's description of the route between the the "bare ledge" and the possible site (with my emphasis):

2930 [feet from the start of Route G at the LT]: Junction with a spur trail which leads left,
short distance to overlook. It's a really good view.


2930-3014: Descend at 5 degrees through jumbled rocks. 84 feet.


3014-3080: Descend 45 degrees down fall line narrow chute (15 feet wide). Are the rocks movable? 
Possible to build trail? 66 feet.


3080-3154: Turn left. Sidehill 74 feet.


3154-3238: Turn right. Descend across slope at 5 degrees. 84 feet.


3238-3496: Descend fall line which varies from 15-30 degrees. Pick way through jumbled rocks. 
No construction possible. 


3496-3570: Large rocks form a natural "giant's staircase." Need to use hands to pull up and 
over each "step." No construction possible.  79 feet.


3570-3661: Pass through 3 foot wide slot gbetween pieces of bedrock. Descend at 15 degrees. 
Seep running through slot as well. No construction possible. 91 feet.


3661-3740: Turn right. Descend across slop at 30 degrees picking way across jumbled boulders 
(each the size of an office desk). No construction possible. 79 feet.


3740-3809: Descend fall line 70 degrees in 15 foot wide chuste between cliff on one side 
and very large boulders on the other side. Staircase? 69 feet.


3809-4240: Follow stream on right, cliff on left. Sidehill, some cribbing and stairs needed. 
431 feet.


4240: Possible overnight site. Stream continues straight (east). Cliff bends to
the north. Flat wet area opens up to front. Turn left.


4240-4529: Continue sidehill and traverse of jumbled boulders at base of cliff, uphill from 
wet area. 289 feet.


4529-4722: Climb at 30-45 degrees through boulder strewn narrow slot. Construction needed: 
193 feet.

I climbed the knob above the beaver pond then down to the next "slot." Entering the slot, there is an overhang on the left (north) side of the trail which offers shelter from rain. The west side dropped aburptly and was clearly unsuitable. I followed the east side down a short slope and found... a beaver pond. I followed the north side to its headwaters and a large slab, then gradually uphill. I found myself back at the beaver pond and Route G! I returned to the LT and climbed the same hill again, back to the overhang.

South of the overhang the trail climbs sharply to reach an open ridge for the next mile. At one point a cleft appears on the right (west). The trail descends next to the overhanging rock, down to a slot, turns left for a short distance, and climbs to another outcropping. The location allows descending hikers to stop, look back, see their comrades behind them, and wait for them to catch up. This happened on 2 of our work hikes, so I call this "catchup corner."

After the long open ledge, the trail descends a few feet, crosses a small brook, and climbs slowly through a flat field of birches. I triple-banded a tree at the brook and flagged a trail down the brook for a few hundred feet. I found a pool aboout 3 by 6 feet and several inches deep. There were no leaves in the pool. The water was audible. The pool is at the junction of two streams. One flows from a rock crevice; I don't know if it is a spring. The other flows from the birch area east of the LT. There is gravel about 1 cm in size on the latter brook. There are rocks on the north and the GPS reading is inaccurate.

The land on the west side of the trail is birch with little understory. It rises gradually to the southwest.

On the east is a similar birch stand. One section is flat, about 100 feet from the trail. I marked 2 birches with double yellow bands and marked the nearest spot on the trail with triple bands. This area slopes gradually to the east. This is a candidate site for a shelter. The north side drops through very thick softwoods to the pool of water. I did not blaze a direct trail, but estimate its length as less than 500 feet. The topo map indicates that this entire area is lies in the 2480-2520 elevation. A small knob is about 0.12 miles from the trail. I saw no evidence of it.

This site is the hardwood saddle visible from the LT/Alpine junction. On the topographic map it is recognizable as the flattest spot on the Bamforth Ridge (with the possible exception of the area south of it, where we installed bog bridges). It is almost due east of the Gleason Brook site. However, the LT shown on most maps is incorrect, according to the map Dave presented to the meeting in September of the section. It is where the LT bows markedly east from the LT shown on maps.

The County Line site is on the north slope of hill 2768. The bog bridges the section built in 1999-2001 are on the south slope. The bog bridges, it turns out, are equally inaccessible from north and south!

Comparison of 3 sites

Hike-in route.Trails which afford the shortest route to the site during construction.

Hike-in distances.Miles from the nearest road whence volunteers can hike in.

Segments.The Winooski South relocation will create a 9.9-mile section of the LT between Montclair Glen and the first shelter north of the river. (I assume that this will be located 2.0 miles from US 2.) The approximate midpoint is the "Overhang" just south of the LT junction with Route G.

Effort Summary

8.5 hours of work, 2.0 hours travel; total: 10.5 hours.

Writing report: about 8 hours