GRAFTON TOWNSHIP – Two state crews will begin the first of two projects including finishing the restoration of Table Rock Trail in Grafton Notch State Park Wednesday, July 9.

Trail workers from the Maine Conservation Corps began arriving Tuesday at the park, said park manager Jon Metcalf. Their first project starts in an area of the popular hiking trail known as “the flats” and also includes rebuilding an old ladder.

Most of the work involves erosion control and footpath hardening efforts. The crews will be working an 8-day shift, from July 9 through Wednesday, July 16; from Tuesday, July 22, through Wednesday, July 30; and from Tuesday, Aug. 5, through Wednesday, Aug. 13.

The orange-blaze section of Table Rock Trail will be closed to hiking for safety reasons July 22 through 30 when crews commence rock work midway up in the steep section where a wooden ladder was installed. The upper-loop trail, which is blue-blazed, will remain open

Table Rock Trail is a 1.5-mile steep hike that climbs 900 feet in a mile to a spectacular, enormous overhanging cliff face that juts out over the glacially-carved Grafton Notch valley.

Over the past four years, an MCC crew has labored to build hundreds of feet of rock steps, stairways and drainage devices called water bars. Additional work has included installing iron rungs in rock faces, placing stepping stones through wet areas, building raised-earth treadways called turnpikes, a wooden ladder and slope stabilization.

The MCC’s mission is to accomplish natural resource-related projects with long-term benefits for public and private non-profit agencies, and to provide jobs, jobs training and conservation education to Maine people who are economically disadvantaged.

The MCC also promotes and manages volunteer opportunities with public natural resource agencies. To learn more about the MCC’s seasonal program, visit www.state.me.us/labor/mcc/season.htm.

tkarkos@sunjournal.com

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