Sawyer River Trail

Tuesday, September 8th
The Sawyer River Trail will take us through a seldom visited and very scenic section of the National Forest between the Swift River off the Kanc and the end of the driven portion of Sawyer River Road in Hart’s Location. We’ll get beautiful mountain views especially while we ride the old railroad bed in the wetlands area between Mount Huntington and Green’s Cliff. For you rock climbers in the group we will have one of the few available views of The Captain (3540ft), which the AMC Mountain Guide calls “a striking little peak, a miniature Half Dome with sheer cliffs overlooking the Sawyer River Valley”.

This trail has a number of surfaces including gravel road, double track, dirt path and old rail bed. I imagine that we’ll encounter some mud so plan your foot wear accordingly. This “rail trail” isn’t as smooth as many of the others that we have ridden this year because some of the 100 year old ties are still embedded in the dirt and we’ll encounter tree roots as well.

This route is on the easier side of intermediate. Other than the first half mile the grade is gentle. It’s the surface that can be a bit rougher than usual. Since we’ll also have the opportunity to explore a couple of other trails including the Hancock Notch Trail and Forest Road 86 the total mileage will be up to the group and trail conditions. Probably the maximum amount of riding we could do is about 10 miles.

Directions: Take Route 302 west and about 4 miles past the Bear Notch Road intersection in the “center” of Bartlett take a left onto Sawyer River Road which is a dirt forest road. Go another four miles to the end and park. This is a National Forest fee parking lot. You can pay there if you don’t have a permit, bring one dollar bills.

Please be ready to ride at 10:00am. Note the new time, the mornings are getting cooler. See you there.