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A friend of a friend met someone on a hike recently who mentioned a new trail up Couch from the Cold River. Supposedly, this was in a recent article in Adirondac (?). It is unknown who marked this trail. Is there any truth to this? I hope if it's an unauthorized trail, someone removes it.
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It's kind of hard to remove a trail. You can brush it in, put up signs, and tell people to stay away, but sometimes that just makes it worse. It's like trying to 'un-fry' an egg...Originally posted by dundee View Post
Tom Rankin - 5444W, etc., etc.
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Besides the herd path from Times Square there is no trail off of Couch in any other direction. I believe there used to be one that was used by Grace Hudowolski when she visited the Hermit of Cold River. I doubt that any trace of that trail would remain today.Comment
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In this post-truth age of fake news, I guess this passes for a reliable source?Originally posted by dundee View Post
I call BS ... but if enough people attempt to find this mythical trail to Couchsachraga, it'll appear and become a self-fulfilling prophecy!
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Even if it existed, I doubt it would ever become popular enough to remain usable without someone going back on a regular basis to keep it open. It'd still be quicker and easier to approach Couchsachraga via the normal herd path. The horse "trail" on the east side of the Cold River is in pretty rough shape as it is, and getting into the Cold River area itself is at least a full days travel for the typical hiker.Comment
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That was my first thought, but you know how some people love to mark things and look at the trail up Donaldson from Calkins. That didn't exist a few years ago.Originally posted by Trail Boss View Post
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To my knowledge, the Calkins Brook route has been around since the 90's (there's a post here somewhere; can someone back this up?). It's unmarked and developed into what it is today because of its desirable proximity to the Calkins Truck Trail and Seward trailhead. In addition, it allows hikers to hike the Sewards as a loop. All these factors contributed to its popularity and continued existence (and current state of obviousness even without markers). That doesn't justify its origins but there you have it. A route from the distant Cold River horse trail to Couch doesn't have the same appeal.
Now if someone told me they heard of an illegally-cut and marked trail running up the very popular <name withheld> mountain, I'd believe it because I saw it. How it happened and why it's been allowed to remain is a mystery to me.
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Dsettahr I was talking to a Ranger a couple weeks ago an he was saying they were spending a week opening up the horse trail on the other side of the Coldriver. If I understood him he was on the crew helping them.Comment
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that would be nice !! and would explain confusion of " new" trail up Couch.
are they doing a clean up from Ermine brk to old washed out crossing below Duck hole ?
Neil and I were crossing right at Oluska lean to this summer even after big 2 days of rain.
A lot trickier than old crossing but doable, We wore our trail runners and used a pole to probe for depth. -
i remember that trail being a mess when trying to get to ermine brook two years ago. we were wondering how the heck horses were supposed to get through when we were forced to crawl or bushwhack frequently.
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That trail was definitely getting to the point that it needed a weeks worth of work (at least) to prevent it from disappearing forever. I imagine in 5 to 10 years time that it will probably grow in again (that trail gets so little use that seedlings sprout right out of the middle of the tread). Not that that's a bad thing- I think that it's appropriate in the Cold River area to send in trail crews once every 5-10 years to work on the trails. It keeps the area wild and challenging to traverse without allowing the trails to completely disappear.
Did they say if they were also going to be working on the horse trail south to Newcomb? When I traversed that section of trail maybe 5 years ago, there were spots where it was very difficult to see at all where the trail was.Comment
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