Indian Well Reroute Part 1

Introductions. Look how clean everyone is. 

A crew consisting mostly of REI-Milford employees along with a few locals and CFPA pros took on the challenge of cutting in 600 feet of new trail near the falls at Indian Well. This is the first part of a larger reroute that will bypass the hazardous "butt-slide" up to the overlook.

Completed reroute in red.

The existing trail has two steep sections and a road walk, all hazardous. This section of the Paugussett gets a lot of use from park visitors who are out exploring but who are not hikers. They'll park at the beach and decide to walk over to the falls or the overlook and are not prepared to scale a cliff.

Building the trail down to the brook.

Thanks to the reroute, the first steep section is now closed, and there is also new trail section leading down to Indian Hole Brook. During the summer, CFPA's Rock Crew is planning on building a rock crossing so that the trail can link up with the unmarked trail to the Falls. If it gets flooded, people can always revert back to using the road bridge. In the meantime, people can either use the old route or pick their way across the stream on their own.

Colin explaining how to bench in the trail.

There was a LOT of earthwork on much of the reroute benching into the side of the hill. More work, but now the grade is much easier to walk and less prone to erosion. 

Up on the plateau.

A much easier walk.

Part 2 of the reroute will be longer, with the goal of bringing people up to the overlook without needing to climb up the steep rock formation. The new route will head north along the base of the rock formation, about half way up the slope, until the formation ends, before angling up the hill. There will then be either a spur to the overlook or the trail will do a loop back to the south up to the overlook.

All done! Time for pizza.