| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Black Mountain, Sugarloaf Mountain, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Chippewa Trail, bushwhacks, woods roads |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, August 15, 2015 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Room for 3-4 cars at Chippewa Trailhead - lot was fairly full!!!! |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Had some difficulty crossing Titus Brook in the valley between the peaks - probably because I was at the junction of two old woods roads and they were blowdown-filled, so, I was on a blowdown on a blowdown. All other stream crossings were easy. And, there was one significant stream crossing between Titus Brook and Sugarloaf. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Chippewa Trail - no issues. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
why not? Lots of water :) |
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 | Bugs: |
Let's talk about bugs.... lots of streams so I'm guessing they were black flies. Off trail, the place is one huge spider web. I tried to be cautious of the really huge and sturdy webs with the 1"-diameter spiders, but, the rest got a short ride... absolutely terrible. But, no ticks!!! :) |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Black Mountain (Benton), Sugarloaf (Benton)
Excellent day in the Benton area!!! I'll be back!!! Anyway, started for Black Mtn on a sweat-fest. Hadn't been there in a while, so, it was fun to revisit. From there, I noticed a trail on my old topo map heading south (the southern portion of the now closed Black Mtn Tr) from the summit. I wasn't sure where it went, so, I took the steep western ledges directly down from Black. Very dicy ledge - quite scary (for me). Then, I curved around the base of the cliffs to go southward and found some old relics in there, like, someone had tossed them off the ledges???
Anyway, I kept looking for any sign of the old south part of the Black Mtn Trail but COULDN't find anything. Moderately vegetation - not terrible, not super-easy, either. Eventually, I hit the woods road on the north side of Titus Brook and followed that eastward, hoping for faster passage than I'd done so far. Around the top of the brook, I entered a place where the eastern branch of the old Black Mtn Trail should have met. I didn't see anything there, so, crossed over Titus Brook and followed a herd path to the woods road on the SOUTH side of the brook. At about 1700', when I was due NORTH of Sugarloaf, I took a bearing and headed towards the col just to the east of Sugarloaf (old/closed Sugarloaf Trail went up steep ledges I wanted to avoid on the west side of Sugarloaf).
Easy/moderate woods with some blowdown patches to get up to the col to Sugarloaf. Once there, along the ridge, there were herd paths that eventually led to some AWESOME outlooks and the old path along the ridge. FABULOUS views!!!!
From there, I cut back due north into a gully, back to the woods road just south of Titus Brook. I could see on my topo that eventually a woods road would connect back to the Chippewa Trail. DANG was that hard to find!!! Very difficult hunting around Titus Brook at the junction area. Finally, after a couple log landings and BIG blowdown areas, found the woods road that took me back to the Chippewa Trail.
OK, this loop took me FAR longer than I thought it would!!! Only about 6.5 miles but it took me 6 hours..... Anyway, fabulous views!!! Ended up with LOTS of pine needles EVERYWHERE and lots of itching from all the spider webs. EXCELLENT!!!! :) |
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 | Name: |
Becca Munroe |
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 | E-Mail: |
beccahiker@yahoo.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2015-08-15 |
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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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