The restoration of the Mad River Trail, funded by the Town of Waterville Valley, and implemented by the Waterville Valley Athletic & Improvement Association [WVAIA], was a project that was begun last spring and completed in the fall of 2012. A five man crew, led by Jed Talbot of Off the Beaten Path, a professional trail building company employed by the WVAIA, worked on several areas of the trail that were affected by tropical storm Irene in September of 2011.
In the spring of 2012, the crew relocated an 800-foot section of the trail that had been obliterated by the storm. This involved cutting some trees and winching out the stumps, ripping up and carrying off the four-inch layer of root-infested organic topsoil; and then, filling the trailway with mineral soil [sand/gravel], dug on site, which involves finding an upturned rootball somewhere well off-trail in the woods, and digging through the topsoil to find the good dirt; and then, filling up a dirtbag [large canvas beach bag similar in size to a 5-gallon paint bucket], tromping through the woods, while lugging it by either hoisting it up on your shoulder, or hugging it to your chest, over to the trail, and then spreading it by hand. It was quite a job.
Additionally, 17 timber steps were installed at the base of the existing timber steps, each three-piece section screwed into the frame of the previous step, making it exceptionally tight and strong, and therefore more resistant to deterioration. Five damaged steps on the existing timber stairway, just above the new set of stairs, were replaced, using the old fashioned method of staking the steps with wooden stakes, which is consistent with the existing construction. Two stream crossings, which were gutted by the flood, were improved with stepping-stones: one, at the bottom of the timber stairway, beside the big rock, and the other, just a little north where the former crossing was a short log bridge, which was washed downstream somewhere by Irene’s raging torrents. Also, a short timber footbridge was constructed at the base of the stone stairway at the southern end of the trail.
In the fall, the crew, using a high line and grip-hoist system, installed seven giant stepping-stones that span the width of the Mad River’s West Branch. Aided by the donation of twenty, or so, Moose Run stones by Brian Blanchard Construction company, and the concomitant transportation of them to the site thanks to a generous donation of time by Town employees, the crew began placing the stones on the southern end of the crossing, working toward the West Branch Road end of the crossing; and then, once they were in place, constructing two short, stone stairways down to the stepping-stones. These were each double-lined with “gargoyles,” large stones that are sunk and leaned against the steps to lock them into place. 
Some of these stones weighed approximately 3,000 pounds. One such stone, already on site, was dragged across the stream with the grip hoist and placed in the deepest section of the streambed. All of the construction, with the exception of one instance of rock splitting, (using a system of “feathers and wedges” and a portable generator), was done without any machinery, just digging bars, the high-line grip hoist, and often one or two other 1-ton hoists, that were used as “directionals,” to manipulate the giant rocks into place. Needless to say, this all required a heavy dose of exceptionally hard manual labor, working 9 to 10 hour days, four days a week. On the last days of the project, the crew installed a water-bar on the stone stairway at the southern end of the trail, which ascends a chunk of Mad River glacial ledge that water continuously runs down and gurgles up onto the stone stairs, causing a long slow “seep” to encase the stairs in ice when the weather turns cold. This proved to be a daunting task, because the water source was coming from several different places (something that was discovered once the crew dug up the existing section of stairs). Time will tell if the water remains off the stairway below, but as of this writing, the frozen waterfall is directed off to the side of the stairs, which remain dry.
To conclude, the project was completed under budget. In conversation with the Town, it was suggested that this money be put into a “Mad River Trail Fund,” to be used for future work on this very popular “town trail” loved and used by so many residents and visitors to Waterville Valley. With the completion in November 2012 of the bridge over the Mad River which is part of the Nordic ski trail network, and which allows access to the Mad River Trail, we’re looking forward to a good winter season on the trail.
