Goose Eye Mountain - Wright Trail, Mahoosuc Trail - 7-21-2012

Hiking Trail Conditions Report
	Peaks	Goose Eye Mountain, ME

	Trails:	Wright Trail, Mahoosuc Trail

	Date of Hike:	Saturday, July 21, 2012

	Parking/Access Road Notes:	Gravel road section a bit rough but not bad. Loaded with cars parked on the sides on my drive home as the stream appears to be a very popular swimming area. Parking area can hold roughly 10 cars but if more space needed wideouts before (and I assume after) would be usable.

	Surface Conditions:	Dry Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable

	Recommended Equipment:

	Water Crossing Notes:	rock steps

	Trail Maintenance Notes:	Sign at trailhead for Wright. Trail almost immediately splits in two with no sign. The main trail goes right, the other goes left down to the stream to follow it for awhile before reconnecting. It is not well painted, a couple of times the path goes out onto the stream ledges, and it has some blowdown and a couple small muddy areas. The main trail is a nice footbed, some new paint, with well maintained water bars up to the campsite where it splits into the loops but it isn't obvious. I missed it on the way up. The marked trail goes up the south branch, which is in decent condition, with some erosion from Irene until it hits the open ridge. There is no sign for the south branch where it intersects the Mahoosuc Trail, just a Mahoosuc Trail sign. Same at the north branch although an old small sign is down with an unreadable sheet of paper on it. Unlike two weeks ago when I was on these trails, it looked like someone had put some branches and a small tree across the north branch where it meets Mahoosuc. I removed it. This branch has sporadic crawl over blowdowns, some brushiness and mud, and some eroded sections with only faint old paint. It feels abandoned. Some time ago a huge amount of work went into wood and rock structures on this trail, and many are substantially in decay, but still working enough. It is still easy to follow, and often has a very nice footbed. It comes out near the campsite, and I saw some old ribbon there where the stream washed a bit, as if to close that off. There are no signs at this junction. There is no mention of any trail closures anywhere.

	Dog-Related Notes:	Pepper had it pretty easy except for the stop on Goose Eye Main, where the hot sun and little wind forced him into some cover. He found a small dip spot at Mahoosucs & north branch intersection to cool off, and then more a ways down on the north branch. Then he had many dip n sips by the big brook on the return hike, as we took the section that ran along it. We saw one other dog with thru hikers, that had a slight paw injury which was duct taped but the owners said they would take the dog to a vet in Gorham.

	Bugs:	None to speak of.

	Lost and Found:


	Comments:	The Goose Eye Peaks and ridges leading up to them are some of the best hiking trails I've been on here in the Whites. I saw only 5 people the entire hike, and two were AT hikers. Two weeks ago from here to the notch the few hikers I met were AT. The Mahoosucs trail in this section is great, as is the south branch of the Wright which goes across some bare knobs/peaks with great views. The north branch lacks these views and appears to be almost forgotten or worse, but it is still a nice woods walk. I'll bet a lot of the stream on ledge crossings are very exciting when the water is high. I took out one recent blowdown but the others require a big saw or axe. No bugs even without much of a breeze. All in all this is one splendid hike, but the difficulty of reaching it and the lack of a 4K keep it relatively free of hikers. I'd trade a Jackson and TFW for the Goose Eyes to Old Speck even if NH was to drop a few 4Ks as a result.

	Name:	Pepper and Me

	E-Mail:	windriversjohn at gmail dot com

	Date Submitted:	2012-07-21

	Link:	https://
		Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense.