| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Lord Hill, Pine Hill, Deer Hill, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Conant Trail, Mine Loop, Mine Loop Connector, Horseshoe Pond Trail, Deer Hill Trail, Deer Hill Spring Trail, Leach Link, Ledges Trail, Frost Trail, Deer Hills Bypass |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Friday, May 15, 2015 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Deer Hill's gates were open today. One can park at either the Conant TH on FR 9A or Deer Hill's on Deer Hill/FR 9 to do both sets of trails; the walk between them is quite modest although it easy to move the car. Deer Hill has only a widening of the road to park at. Conant has room for 4 cars or so at the 4 way of old roads with FR9A; there is a sign for the Conant trail there. Deer Hill Rd is in good shape. There is a gate across the snowmobile/old road where the Leach Link TH on the north is; with room for a few cars. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Leaves - Significant/Slippery |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
The dam across Cold River lacked any safe means to cross the central sluice. I suppose if I wanted to risk appearing on Tosh.0 or Jackass 28 we could have attempted to jumped the gap, but I decided that could wait for another day. Leach Link has a bridge over Cold River. All the other drainages are minor step overs. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
The beavers are gone on the south Conant; the trail is high and dry; no more wide bushwhacks. There is a nice sign for Horseshoe Pond on Deer Hill now, but none where it turns right off the old road into a field, but paint blazes on posts make it easy if you are looking for it. The sign for Leach Link going North when coming up from the Dam is there, but there is no sign for the section going South a few yards further up, but there is a post and the trail is obvious. There is no sign for what I take to be the Mine Loop Connector in the redlining spreadsheet, but it is very obvious, indeed the AMC Guide warns about following it mistakenly when Mine Loop takes a sharp right at the intersection. There is a cairn where it meets the Conant south branch but no sign. All other signs are in place. The paths are in good shape, paint blazes are often pretty new, and there is a fair amount of boulder work in a short stretch of the Deer Hill Bypass where it was wet. As Nordic Gal noted there are places where the oak leaves can be very slippery on the steeper sections especially going downhill, such as on the Deer Hill Bypass |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Pepper had fun; he loved all the sip n dips, and squeaky toy chipmunks. The trails were all pretty easy pawpaths; Ledge has some rough ledge but not a whole lot and his pads are tough. In the stretch where we went up Ledge, down Frost and Deer Hill Bypass to Ledge and then back up the Bypass, there is no water to drink or dip in. The spring was filled with algae so I made sure he drank from the outflow. |
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 | Bugs: |
Black flies were, to use Rocket's term, vexing. It varied from nothing to swarms but they were worse on the Rt. 113 side of Deer Hill's trails even when hiking. There was very little wind today. Even so we had mostly bug free snacks at the Cold River Dam. I found roughly a dozen wood/dog ticks on me during the hike, on the drive home or when shedding my clothes for a shower. I suspect the places where the trails go through blueberries bushes along the path to be prime sources. I finally broke down and put some repellent on Pepper being worried about the potential for deer ticks. I haven't given him a full check yet but that comes next. Nothing like finding a tick crawling on ones self at 3 am to ruin a night's sleep. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
After seeing Redliner's trail report, his message that the beaver were gone from Conant, and the excellent pictures from last weekend's hike; and then Nordic Gal's report for Deer Hill, I decided to change a vacation day's plans and bag some pleasant trails whose biggest challenge is the long drive to and fro. Thanks both for the info; we had a great hike. We didn't see another hiker all day. We heard a helicopter presumably working at the AMC resort; too bad we could take one to and from the hike to avoid the drive. |
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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: |
2015-05-15 |
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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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