 GREEN MOUNTAIN NATIONAL FOREST
Big Branch & FR 10 8-16-02
Ruts in a mudhole on VAST Trail 7C north of Forest Road 10, made by illegal ATV travel. Location coordinates by GPS receiver: N 43 degrees 23.501', W 72 degrees 54.426' (21 feet limit of error).
Today's observations began as a scouting trip to the old growth stand in Big Branch Wilderness, south of Big Branch and west of Lost Pond Brook. I also had time to check for illegal ATV use along FR 10 from the Appalachian Trail crossing to FR 30. I found the old growth stand. I also found evidence of ATV use on snowmobile trails connecting with FR 60, which extends north from FR 10.
On the way out I met Jim Malloy, the GMC campsite caretaker from Griffith Lake. He told me that he had been to Stratton Pond two days earlier, and observed that the sign barring mountain bikes from the trail between FR 341 and North Brookwood had been removed from its post by someone with a wrench, since the bolt and nut had been taken as well as the sign. I told him I had photographed the naked post yesterday.
Illicit ATV use clearly is stimulated by seclusion. There is no recent ATV use along FR 10 from the AT crossing to Landgrove, except from FR 60 and FR 30, both of which are dead-end spur roads. ATVers evidently find the comparatively well-traveled FR 10 to be a bit too public.
Two snowmobile trails leaving FR 60 show ATV tracks, but not recent ones (since the last rain). One trail was a VAST trail marked 7 F3 E, which left the road at N 43 degrees 23.183', W 72 degrees 55.700' (22 feet), 2.17 miles from the junction of FR 60 and FR 10. The other was VAST trail 7C, which continued northward from the end of FR 60 (N 43 degrees 23.501', W 72 degrees 54.426' (21 feet)), 2.65 miles from its junction with FR 10.
FR 322, which extends southward from FR 10 toward Old Job, has four-wheel-drive tracks. I did not have time to follow it.
FR 31, which extends northward from FR 10, is gated but has recent four-wheel-drive tracks in the grass. I presume they were made by GMNF employees, unless there are other people who have keys to the gate.
|
More