[Philmont] Rough Trails on Mt. Phillips

Dan and the list,
   
  I agree completely. Our crew did the same trail up and over Trail Peak in 2005 and we were proud to have done that route. Makes me sweat thinking about it.
   
  Pete Swiggum
  Green Bay, WI
  Philmont 2005
  ICWTGBTP!!
  

Daniel Preston <prestonar@bellsouth.net> wrote:
  You make a good point, Gregg. In 2002, we hiked up the old trail to
Trail Peak. This trail is rocky and straight up the mountain. There
is something to be said for the effort it takes to reach a mountain
peak, especially one that is a memorial to the WWII training flight
that crashed there. We took the new easy graded trail down the
mountain back to Baubien. I don't think there would have been the same
sense of accomplishment if we had taken the new trail up to the peak.
Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating steep rocky trails everywhere -
let's just not make the entire Philmont experience a walk in the woods.

Dan Preston
Louisville, KY
On Jun 27, 2007, at 8:01 PM, Gregg Nuessly wrote:

> And now for something completely different. Please give us MORE
> rough, rocky trails!
>
> Lets not be too quick to remove rocks from trails. In 2004 our
> conservation project involved reworking a trail that was nearly flat
> as a pancake undulating along a ridge. The first thing they asked us
> to do was to remove the small, flat rocks with tiny plants growing in
> between on the trail that were holding the trail together, despite no
> tree cover and lots of foot traffic! ARGHHHH! No amount of
> discussion with the leaders could change their minds on this issue.
> I hope to get back there someday to see how badly the trail is
> probably now eroded. Around the corner they were putting rocks into
> the trail to REDUCE EROSION and produce a stair-casing affect. Same
> trail conservation leaders, very different messages. Remove the
> rocks, smooth the trail over and you will likely end up with the
> eroded freeway up Mt. Baldy from Baldy Town or the slippery, rutted
> trail on the upper western face of Black Mountain. I say the trails
> up both sides of Mt. Phillips are great. Leave them alone. IF there
> is any desire to change them, then keep the rocks and the grade, but
> add a few switchbacks on the western approach from Clear Creek Camp so
> that the water won’t run straight down the trail in the rain.
>
> Repeat after me, “rocks are good”. They help stabilize the soil in
> the trail and reduce erosion; stabilize footing; come in amazing
> shapes, colors and patterns to give those of you who only look at the
> ground something more interesting than dust to gaze at; and are much
> more interesting to hike up/over/around than manicured trails with a
> constant 6% grade. No offense to trail crews anywhere, particularly
> at Philmont, but give me a variable pitch, rocky trail any day over a
> flat or constant grade, rutted out trail that runs like a stream in
> the rain. Philmont trail crews do an awesome job maintaining trails
> that frequently get overused and eroded by rains. Lets not sanitize
> the place into a series of cake walks. Please!
>
> Gregg Nuessly
> Venturing Crew 2125

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Received on Fri Jun 29 15:57:10 2007