| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Sawyer Pond, Mt. Tremont, Owl's Cliff, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Sawyer Pond Trail, bushwhack, Brunel Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, August 3, 2014 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Sawyer Pond's parking off Sawyer River Road is modest in size, and wasn't quite full. The road is in great shape. Sawyer Pond's parking off the Kanc is larger, but there is continuing road work on the Kanc right at its entrance. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Rock steps to cross Sawyer Pond outlet. Swift River was a swim for Pepper and a mid thigh wade for me. I chose a spot a little bit downstream from a direct connection of the trails, where the current was a bit slower due to effects of an obstruction. It was actually quite refreshing. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Sawyer Pond to the Pond was a mix of nice trail and occasional muddy but rock filled mud. Brunel had a major blowdown above Owl's Cliff spur, and another below it. Owl's Cliff had two stepover blowdowns. It's sign is on a tree that is now at a 45 degree angle to the ground. Where Brunel hits Rob Brook Road going down there is a nice sign, but no indication one is on a trail while on the road until coming upon some paper signs tacked to a post. There are several major blowdowns and a section badly in need of brushing on the short section of Brunel south to Sawyer Pond. Sawyer Pond is in pretty good shape down to the Swift and up to Sawyer Pond, perhaps one step over blowdown. There are good signs where it intersects ski trails. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Pepper had fun, but this was a drier hike than we would prefer. After leaving Sawyer Pond there were no sip n dips on the whack, or Brunel until we were quite a ways down the latter. Sawyer Pond had a few small drainages on it, but he would have liked more. So he definitely needed water in a bowl on Tremont and part way down it, and today wasn't particularly warm or humid. The ford of the Swift River wasn't his idea either, but once he was swimming he did great. When we got to the other side he happily exited and then went over to where we had been on the hike and quickly looked back at me. Yep, I said, it's time to swim back. So we did. I think he actually liked it. I had him on a bungee type leash wrapped around my waist, but today the current was slow enough he didn't need any assistance. There are no rock hops, even under water, for this crossing. It is also currently deep enough even larger dogs would have to swim. If the current is strong, I would expect most dogs would need some spotting if not assistance. Pepper met 6 very nice dogs at the very end of the hike which he enjoyed. He also got to chase some running squeaky toys on the lower Brunel and on Sawyer Pond. |
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 | Bugs: |
Heading back up Sawyer Pond from the Swift River I was hassled by a couple deer flies (no longer with us), some skeeters and black flies, and face gnats. I eventually put on some Picaridin spray and that, plus a slight head wind, made them disappear. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
We went Sawyer Pond to the Pond, around the campsite/shelter loop, then followed a herd path along Sawyer Pond to the shore directly across before taking off on a whack. We immediately hit a boggy area and had to swing further south before heading up on a compass bearing to the col I had made back at the Pond outlet. It was slow going, and when we hit a second small stream I figured it might go up into the col. But when it diverged from the compass bearing I went with the compass and I ended up hitting the Brunel trail around 3100' instead of the at the col. I probably could have, on seeing Owls Cliff, dead reckoned to the col but contouring was worse than going up. It was slow going much of the way on the whack due to at times thick small spruce-fir and hobble bush sandwiched around an easier section of larger spruce-fir; I think the entire whack took 1.5 hrs. But it was a quick if somewhat steep ascent to the peak thereafter. After that hiking the trails was pretty fast and easy. We didn't see anybody on the trails except two groups on Tremont's peak, until we hiking out from the Pond. Then we ran into 7 people and 6 dogs, most of them looking just like tourists who got out and decided to take the dogs for a walk with no provisions or water. After finishing the hike I drove to the Kanc TH for Sawyer Pond, put on some boat sneakers, and we crossed the Swift. I tape my feet so I didn't want soak them in the middle of the hike, but saving the crossing for last worked out well; it was so refreshing. Much of this hike was just a nice walk in the woods on pleasant footpaths, sometimes through big trees, with plenty of solitude. The whack wasn't a joy but it did its job. We had a pretty good day for summer as well; a few raindrops hit us on the drive home. Thanks Beth, Val and zPorter for your trail reports prior to our hike. Thanks Pepper for another fun hike. |
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 | Name: |
Pepper and Me |
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 | E-Mail: |
windriversjohn at gmail dot com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2014-08-03 |
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 | Link: |
 https:// |
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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. |
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