The High Ridge Trail is the most distant trail within the Castle in the Clouds Conservation Area, joining Mount Roberts and Faraway Mountain to Mount Shaw. The trail is a former carriage road, and runs for about 5 miles across the highest ridge of the Conservation Area. The trail is always at elevations of over 2300 feet, but consists of easy to moderate grades across its entire length. This trail is accessed via several other trails on the property.

When the Trust acquired the property a few years ago, this trail was extremely overgrown and in poor condition. In places brambles and bushes were waist high, long stretches were overgrown with shoulder high goldenrod in summer, and some sections of the trail were narrow footpaths. Its remoteness made it a difficult trail to access for maintenance and improvements.

Before describing the volunteer efforts on the High Ridge Trail, I must thank Dave Roberts, Property Adopter, Castle in the Clouds Conservation Area, for his incredible dedication to this protected area and for his extensive contributions to the many stewardship projects that have been implemented over the past two years, including his investment of time and energy into all of the projects on the High Ridge Trail described below.

In 2005 the Lakes Region Conservation Trust launched a Trail Adopter program on its two largest properties, the Castle in the Clouds Conservation Area and the Red Hill Conservation Area. People and teams were invited to adopt individual trails on these properties, to assist the Trust's volunteer Property Adopters and staff with stewardship and maintenance. A team of Trail Adopters, organized by Trust volunteer Larry DeGeorge, adopted the High Ridge Trail this past spring and have worked tirelessly since then to see this trail restored.
This team, the Whippers and Loppers, tackled the trail bit by bit, whipping and lopping and clearing and cutting along its entire length. The changes to this trail are dramatic as a result of these efforts.
Thanks to the Whippers & Loppers for their tremendous efforts to improve the High Ridge Trail: Larry DeGeorge (Trail Adopter Team Leader), Gerry DeGeorge, Terri and Lee White, Edie and Paul DesMarais, Ellen and Jim Eisenhower, Gail and Kurt Dietzer, Janet and John Millay, Pat and Ted Greenberg, John Adams, George Vanderheiden, Mike Hewitt, and Mary O'Brien.
In Fall 2005 the Trust determined that a bridge on the High Ridge Trail was in need of a complete replacement. Dave Roberts pulled together a team of three volunteers skilled in bridge repairs for the project.
Thank you to Marty Gilman, Stacy Gilman, and Philip Zaeder for their bridge reconstruction efforts. Marty worked on this project from start to finish, including taking measurements of needed repairs with Dave beforehand and ordering the materials. His son Stacy volunteered to help with bridge construction. Philip contributed his skills in stone wall building to do the stonework necessary to create a stable foundation for the bridge.
Parts of the High Ridge Trail were so overgrown with bushes and brambles that volunteers with hand tools could not have reopened them. For two extremely overgrown sections at either end of the trail, the Trust contracted with a local contractor, Blair Rudolph, who was willing to bring his tractor and brushhog all the way up to the High Ridge Trail. The Whippers and Loppers first opened these sections as much as possible to make them accessible to the tractor, and then the sections were brushhogged in Fall 2005. The week before the brushhogging was scheduled to begin, a storm brought down a number of large trees across trails within the Castle in the Clouds Conservation Area. Blair was willing to clear the trees from the trails in addition to brushhogging the sections of the High Ridge Trail. Thank you to Dave Roberts for making a generous financial contribution to the Trust for this brushhogging and tree clearing, and for working with Blair on-the-ground to complete this project. Thank you to Blair Rudolph for his willingness to take on a project in such a remote location and for accommodating our changing needs during the project.
In addition to the above volunteer projects, Trust volunteers worked on view clearing projects at summits along the High Ridge Trail and at other summits. These projects will be summarized in a subsequent Volunteer Project Highlight.
Photo taken along the High Ridge Trail, October 2005. -Dave Roberts Photo Photo taken along the High Ridge Trail, November 2005. -Kristen Clothier, Lands & Stewardship Director, LRCT