Greater Boston NEMBA

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The objective for this trail is to create a viable preferred route through an area of the Fells that is experiencing an abnormal proliferation of unplanned rogue spur trails and braids. By defining the preferred and most sustainable route through this area, later work could be done to close unnecessary and redundant trails to bring ground and secondary vegetation back. Furthermore, this trail would create a new and highly desirable singletrack extension of the current Mountain Bike Loop. By attracting MTB riders to this new link and the later-planned Phase 2 and Phase 3 stacked loops, the potential side benefit will be to relieve some pressure on other already overburdened trails within the park.

Currently, this trail is assigned to pedestrians such as hikers, dog walkers and snowshoers. We propose to make this trail a fully shared-use trail to include availability to skiers and mountain bikers. The upgrade to the trail, while limited in scope, is necessary to properly route visitors from one end of the proposed segment to the other in a safe manner. In addition, the upgrades will stabilize the tread in a few spots that are nearly, but not quite, sustainable. The proposed work will make the trail sustainable for several years before needing further attention.