2016 Q1 White Mountain National Forest SOPA

A number of interesting items:
Removal of Langdon shelter. No replacement.
Moriah Brook bridge study
Guyot Shelter repair/rehab along with removing structures from the Pemi Wilderness area
Thoreau Falls bridge update
Decommission New Path trail 1.4 miles along with new parking lot and trail connector

LINK: http://www.fs.fed.us/sopa/components/reports/sopa-110922-2016-01.pdf

The corridor 11 snowmobile relocation appears to cut off the traditional winter hiking access to North Twin. Assuming it wasn't brushed-in, it would need to be broken out by winter hikers, and the Little River crossing might also be in doubt.

The Langdon shelter did need some TLC, but it's a shame they are going to remove it. The work done on the Mountain Pond shelter was really nice, so we know that rehabbing can be done. I suspect that the Mountain Pond shelter gets a lot more use though.

The Tripoli Road Campsite Relocation and Roadside Hazard Tree Removal Project sounds interesting as well.

No decision on Thoreau Falls bridge until next year?

I expect that the closure of campsites along Tripoli road will be controversial. The ones along the brook seem to fill up first with the sites on the north side of the road far less popular.

I am disappointed when they list projects with no info like the Guyot Moriah Brook Bridge and Lake of the Clouds projects.

They sure have to go to lot of trouble on some of these projects to make a logging operation sound like its something else.

The Little River Bridge was fenced and posted for quite a few years when I first started my winter list. This location was the original trail head for the North Twin trail and I had read that the reason it was moved was that the trail ran through the Twin MTN public water supply. If you look at the historical imagery there has been a gravel pit where the house now sits and what appears to be dammed pond on the west side of the brook prior to 1990 so the fence on the bridge may have been to keep folks from accessing the water supply and the gravel pit. It would be interesting to see who exactly owns the bridge which I believe has been replaced since the early days. Given that hikers take a quick left after crossing the bridge avoiding the new home and the reservoir, I don't think its a given that the bridge will be closed to hikers. The snowmachine traffic is far more intrusive of the new house as the route runs right up the road.

TJsName said:

The Langdon shelter did need some TLC, but it's a shame they are going to remove it.

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I'm really bummed out about that shelter. It was in a nice quiet area with hardly any traffic.

jniehof said:

The corridor 11 snowmobile relocation appears to cut off the traditional winter hiking access to North Twin. Assuming it wasn't brushed-in, it would need to be broken out by winter hikers, and the Little River crossing might also be in doubt.

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I don't see how the Corridor 11 relo affects winter North Twin access at all, except that there is a brief overlap at the summer parking area/trailhead/bridge. The current route from the end of Little River Rd following the old railroad grade doesn't cross or share any of the current snowmobile trail.

JCarter said:

I don't see how the Corridor 11 relo affects winter North Twin access at all, except that there is a brief overlap at the summer parking area/trailhead/bridge. The current route from the end of Little River Rd following the old railroad grade doesn't cross or share any of the current snowmobile trail.

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Some people take the snowmobile trail to Haystack road instead of following the whack. It is a bit longer, but likely wouldn't need to be broken out. Of course, if you are worried about breaking trail, being the first to do the twins after a snow isn't a great plan.