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Baxter State Park - Abol Trail Relocation project - volunteer report, July 2015

billski

Active member
Joined
Feb 22, 2005
Messages
16,207
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Location
North Reading, Mass.
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ski.iabsi.com
Spent two days of my vacation helping the Maine Conservation Corp re-route the Abol Trail. The trail is one of three main paths to the peak of Katahdin. It was closed last year due to a rock slide which has destabilized the area for the forseeable future. The reroute adds another .75 miles to the trail and goes through some deep, deep forest, untouched for 100 years. It has been quite a challenge. All the work is with hand tools, except the initial tree cut. Even stumps are pulled by hand. All water bars will be of rock. It rained incessantly, but the work went on. What a crew. It probably won't be hike-able until next year, as it needs some serious erosion control as the top priority. Enjoy!
 

bigbog

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Feb 17, 2004
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4,882
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Bangor and the state's woodlands
Nice stuff(and work!) Bill. It's not easy terrain...lots of rocks..and stumps are all over, everywhere.
Has always been tough hiking/driving throughout the area around the mountain.
 
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freeski

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Joined
Nov 9, 2014
Messages
312
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Location
Concord, NH
Can't imagine how hard the work is. Pulling tree stumps with hand tools? Very cool you helped out up there. I've never been to Katahdin, but need to make the effort.
 

ironhippy

Member
Joined
May 16, 2014
Messages
408
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18
Location
NB Canda
the abol trail was by far my favorite way up, I loved it because within 30 - 40 minutes of hiking, you had views across the state, it was also by far the quickest way up to the top. I think I did the trip to the summit in under 2 hours twice using Abol.

I'm excited to see the new trail though.
 
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