It had been a while since I had taken a ride on the Ossipee Line and I wanted to see how things were looking now that all the leaves were off of the trees. I set on at Mountainview in Center Ossipee and began my trek north.

Recently I had been helping Dave Towle install some gravel in the area of the switches to make it easier for snowmobiles to ride over. When they gaps between the rail are not filled, riders run the risk of their skis sinking in between the rails and breaking a ski, or worse, getting into an accident. As I approached the switches a NH Trails Bureau official was there inspecting the work. I noticed that his truck was equipt with blue strobes on the rear deck, and front grill of his truck. I didn't know that the Trails Bureau had police officers as I thought that Fish and Game took care of OHRV laws, but maybe they are also employees of F&G.

The Trails Bureau had come down last month and cut the line back of brush with the snowmobile club and it looks really nice. The cut brush helped to open up sight lines, and you can see the crossings well, as well as any obstructions down the track. There were several birch trees in the area of the mobile home park that were beginning to hang down over the tracks.  Recent logging in the area has taken away a lot of the support that the young birch trees were using, so now they are beginning to bend because of their weight. The pole saw made quick work of the hanging trees, and I was able to cut up 6, deciding to leave the rest for another day.

 Heading south, I decided to head down the southern part of the branch towards Rt 28. I was only able to make it about a mile and a half before running into downed trees just past Rail Road. A large white pine about 28" thick had fallen, taking several trees with it and blocking the entire ROW. I was able to cut the smaller trees, and delimb the pine, but my chainsaw was too small to cut the trunk of the pine. I cleaned the ROW as much as I could, leaving the pine for someone with a logging saw to come cut.  With dark aproaching, I headed back to Mountainview to load up and call it a day.

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