Maplecrest News

The New York/New jersey Trail Conference is posting updates concerning post-Irene trail problems at www.nynjtc.org/news/postirene-message-hikers-trail-maintainers Local trails fared pretty well; for example, there was only one blowdown on the mile-and-a-half section of the Appalachian Trail I maintain on Stormville Mountain.

It chewed up Moore's Trailer Park, sweeping up homes and discarding them in devastating piles of wood, plastic, orphaned automobile wheels and broken children's toys.

As Hurricane Irene travels northward, leaving the major cities of New York and Washington in better shape than anticipated , new dangers are arising for the remote and rural portions of upstate New York and Vermont, where massive flooding has already devastated several small communities.