Franconia Ridge Restoration Project

• Please follow the trail crew's instructions.

• Do not walk off trail to get around the project site.

• Please be patient for your safety and the safety of the trail workers. 

Did you know that the Franconia Ridge Trail is one of the busiest in the region, with up to 1,000 hikers per day in peak season? The view along the entire length of the ridge is the definition of spectacular. It encompasses a section of the Appalachian Trail, makes the 4,000-footer list and is a bucket list goal for day hikers and back packers alike. That’s why we’re working with the Partnership to Restore the Franconia Ridge Trail to ensure this resource can be enjoyed for generations to come.

The Franconia Ridge Trail Loop was built between 1826 and 1958 before the advent of modern knowledge and practices of building trails for resiliency. AMC, United States Forest Service, White Mountain National Forest, and New Hampshire Parks and Recreation crews are working to restore these trails to ensure they can withstand changing weather patterns and the increased use of The Franconia Ridge Trail. It is comprised of four trails: Franconia Ridge Trail, Falling Waters Trail; Greenleaf Trail, and Old Bridle Path. 8.6 miles of these trails are on White Mountain National Forest lands. The Trail traverses fragile alpine habitats and is home to the third largest connected area of alpine tundra in the eastern United States.

A special thank you goes out to all the trail crews and organizations putting the efforts forward to restore this incredible trail loop. The Partnership to Restore the Franconia Ridge consists of trail crews from the White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire State Parks, Appalachian Mountain Club, Northwoods Stewardship Center Conservation Corps, Vermont Youth Conservations Corps, New Hampshire Student Conservation Corps, Off the Beaten Path, Trailworks LLC and Peter Johnsen & Associates LLC.

We want future adventurers to be able to hike Franconia Ridge in the safest and most sustainable way possible. Our trail restoration work will make it easier for hikers to stay on the trail and avoid trampling the fragile ecosystem from the base to summit. The Franconia Ridge and Greenleaf trails traverse fragile alpine habitat that takes years to recover after being trampled, loss of this vegetation will have adverse effects on the alpine ecosystem. Portions of the Falling Waters Trail has numerous river crossings that have been heavily damaged by recent storms, making these crossing and rocks scrambles increasingly more challenging and dangerous. All of the trails are in need of significant repairs and some areas of the trail system will require realignment. This ensures a resilient future for both the trail loop and the surrounding natural areas.

Get Involved

Crews will spend 20 weeks drilling, splitting, and installing stone steps to make more uniform structures on the Old Bridle Path and upper Greenleaf Trail. If you would like to support the restoration efforts, there are numerous way you can get involved.

Volunteer for trail crew - Sign up for Saturday Volunteer Days. No experience is required, there will be a trained AMC leader on site to prove instruction and guidance. This is a wonderful opportunity to give back to the trail systems of New Hampshire, while learning about what it takes to build and maintain sustainable trails.

Not up for the physically demanding work of a trail crew? Your donations help keep crews on the trails, from paying for tools and equipment, to the necessary supplies need for extended stays in the wilderness.
Donate to the Appalachian Mtn Club
Donate to World Trails Network

2025 Field Updates 

May 26-29 & June 2-6

In the first two weeks crews rebuilt a rock waterbar, built three new steps, filled in crush pads and quarried stone. The Beginning and end of the relocation were opened and connect to the old trail. This work brings the third relocation section close to being completed. Read The Full M.U.D Report Weeks 1&2

June 9-12 & June 16-19 

The crew was able to finish the third relocation section and closed off and brushed in the old path. Work continued on the first relocation section with brushing and quarrying. Large amounts of stone were gathered in preparation for build new steps. Additionally, tread adjustments were made, pushing the hinge of the bench cut back for a more sustainable trail. Read The Full M.U.D. Report Weeks 3&4

June 23-23 & June 30-July 3

The Crew finished cutting the tread for the second relocation and started to move material there for the staircases. They continued working on the staircases on the first relocation section and added a total of 15 steps over the last two weeks and opened a new work site as well! This shows the great progress on the project! Read The Full M.U.D. Report Weeks 5&6

Volunteer Days Updates

June 1 
Number of volunteers: 19
Accomplishments (quick):  Removed leaf litter from entire second relocation (~1000 ft). Clearing sweep of relocation 3 (~1600 feet)
Accomplishments (the more fun version): A monsoon happened on Saturday. We stealthily managed to avoid the rain by having our first event on a Sunday. Lucky us! Our full roster of 19 volunteers, 3 AMC leaders, and two leaders from WTN cleared out all of the drains from the trailhead to the start of the second relocation; cleaned all remaining leaf litter from the second relocation in preparation for the rockwork crew to come in and work their magic; and made the inaugural clearing sweep of relocation 3. The third relocation is now ready for tread cutting and the magic of transforming from a vision into a full trail.

June 14
Number of volunteers: 14
Accomplishments (quick): Preliminary cut 300 feet of tread - excavate 15 med to large rocks
Accomplishments (the more fun version): Saturday, June 14 began in the fog. Clouds seemed intent on hitting the ground even at the lower elevations as we gathered our crew of 14 volunteers in the parking lot. Fortunately, the dreary weather was only temporary and by the time we started hiking up to the third relocation --- with many picks and rock bars in hand --- the clouds had lifted, the rain from the morning had shipped out, and the black flies had tentatively come out to chomp once again. Over the course of the day, we made excellent progress on the pioneering tread cuts for 300 feet of the third relocation, digging down to mineral soil and preparing that section for eventual benching. A few of the sections made for great rock harvesting fields and those particularly psyched to handle the rock bars rolled 15 rocks to the side of the trail for later use as steps, gargoyles, and crush.

June 21
Number of volunteers: 12
Accomplishments (quick): Cut approximately 320 feet of tread, removed 9 stumps
Accomplishments (the more fun version): The forest kept us cool on the first sunny Saturday of summer and a good thing too -- it was warm and we had lots of digging to do! Alongside 12 eager volunteers, our team returned to the third OBP relocation for another session of tread cutting. There were roots. So many roots. And the volunteers tackled them with pride. Each participant cut at least one 20-25 foot section of tread down to the mineral soil and prepared that section for shaping. Jon, Allison, and Heidi took the lead on stump management, using the grip hoist to extract a total of 9 stumps from the second relocation and the first section of the third relocation.

July 12
Number of volunteers: 17
Accomplishments (quick): Dug one new super drain, cleared out one existing drain and rock waterbar, gathered a pile of stones to eventually help close off old trail (30-50 rocks), re-graded and groomed the out slope of ~80 ft of trail. Dug mineral soil to fill and level 30 ft of trail inside cribbing (I would say we probably moved 50 cubic feet of dirt). 
Accomplishments (the more fun version): This week especially we have been feeling the heat and humidity as summer has been in full effect. Although it was sticky out, everyone was still happy and willing to grab a tool and get right to business (with the tool business side down of course). Our mighty group, ranging in age from 10 to 70 something, hiked to relocation 2 and formed a plan: one group was to be the benchers (no one sitting bench), another, the bucketeers, the third, Team Trench. Bob led the classic rock work. The Bucketeers dug three giant holes and carried buckets, and buckets, and buckets of dirt down to the cribbing wall on the second relocation to help level-up and level-out about 30 feet of tread. Meanwhile, our angle-adjustment team got down to business on the top section of relocation 2 with Travis tools, picks, and rakes, to fix the relationship between the in slope and out slope of about 80 feet of trail. There will be no water running down the middle of the trail here folks! Then, there was the trench team. Sometimes, trail work is like magic and that's just what happened when a gulley filled with rocks, leaves, sticks, and so many roots became a beautiful, functional drain by the end of the day! Barry may win the award for most-back-and-forths for the day – he moved rocks up and down the trail to create a pile for later use. Lilly and Ken completed the rock squad. Together, the team rolled one super rock down to the new drainage and released other rocks in the area. 

2024 Field Updates

The 2024 restoration season kicked off on Memorial Day weekend. With many folks on the crew having less experience with masonry, they focused the first couple weeks on cycling people through all sorts of tasks. Volunteers are taking to the drilling and splitting with ease and have been able to make enough material to open up multiple sites and put in 21 new steps. Much of the material needed is below the current work site which requires crew to hand carry rocks up the trail to the work site.
See The Full Work Site Report Here.

Update 2: 6/10 - 7/4
During this time frame crews worked a total of 746 hours, built 47 rock steps, and 4 water bars. They started working on 2 reroutes around highly impacted sections of trail. Tahlia set a beautiful step in a particularly challenging section. Pinched between a large boulder and the edge of the trail, the step has wonderful contacts and visually fits into the landscape well. See The Full Work Site Report Here.

2023 Field Work - Dates: 5/29-10/19 Labor Hours: 3,095

Old Bridal Path, WMNF, Franconia Notch, NH Sponsor: Great American Outdoors Act Partner: USFS Pemi District, Appalachian Mountain Club, SCA, Northwoods Stewardship Center, VYCC

Crew leads - Deva Steketee, Emily Wight, Lou Kimball Accomplishments: 101 stone steps (two rocks wide), 32 stone steps (one rock wide), 9 rock water bars, 3 cairns rebuilt, 100’ alpine scree wall built (18” tall x 18” wide).

2022 Field Work - Dates: 9/12 to 10/6 Labor Hours: 669

Old Bridle Path, WMNF NH, 4 weeks Sponsor: White Mountain National Forest Pemi District, Great American Outdoors Act, Appalachian Mountain Club, Off the Beaten Path Trailworks, LLC.

Crew Leads - Emily Wight and Off The Beaten Path Trailworks Accomplishments: In tandem with, and under the tutelage of, 4 seasoned professional trail builders from Off the Beaten Path Trailworks, 4 AMC Trail Crew spent 4 weeks working on the Old Bridle Path from the USFS boundary up, constructing rock stairs to a high standard. The crew of 8, with a few days’ help from USFS Trail Crew and AMC TC Field Coordinators, built 82 rock stairs, many built two stones-wide, and all built to tight specifications, and replete with rock scree. In addition, they constructed 10 rock water bars to divert water from the trail and the newly built structures.