| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Carr Mountain, Carr Ridge, Willoughby Mountain, Upper Rattlesnake Mountain, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Three Ponds Trail, Carr Mountain Trail, bushwhack, Rattlesnake Mountain Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Friday, June 30, 2017 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Parking off of Buffalo Road at the Rattlesnake Mt. Trailhead there is room for four cars. The Tree Ponds Trailhead has room for a dozen cars. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Sucker Brook was high and deep. We waded up to our knees rock-hopping under water. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Three Ponds Trail's first half mile is in excellent condition. Poor Carr Mountain Trail, although well blazed the trail has become the brook in too many places and it was a wet muddy mess or slippery ledge most all the way. Much serious trail work of construction of many water bars hopefully is in its future. The steep Rattlesnake Mountain Trail had just recently had its waterbars cleaned out and the trail is in excellent condition. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
plenty of water even on the ridge! |
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 | Bugs: |
A bit vexing whenever we stopped but thankfully a breeze kept them at bay and we were able to move just fast enough for them not to catch us. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
A new mountain bike trail--we crossed it not far before we hit the Rattlesnake Mountain Trail. |
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 | Comments: |
We'd been talking about doing this one for a while. This route included Carr Mountain (3k), Town high points of Warren, Wentworth and Rumney, Willoughby Mountain (de-listed 2k peak) and Upper Rattlesnake Mountain. Steve Smith sparked my interest years ago with his account of his & JR Stockwell's traverse. If we had realized just how many open ledge faces, bald bumps and ledges we'd encounter on this traverse we would have saved it for a blue bird day! Just before turning to Carr's summit we found a decent herd path some of the way to the town of Warren's highpoint, a short scrappy whack. The views from Carr Mountain are more restricted every year as the trees grow and the mountain shrinks but the firetower foundation & steps are still intact. We didn't linger here since both of us have been here times before and so we headed south down the ridge on what started out as a swell herd path before quickly turning into a sometimes tight bushwhack. This was a soggy and wet rugged whack all the way. Hard to believe there is so much water between the bare ledgy bumps. We found lots of nice open ledge faces with good views that the clouds shrouded but nice views of the more local peaks. We stayed on the ridge and we hit every bump, we found the southern bald knob to have iron pins and a chiseled triangle survey marker. At about we turned more east and went down the shoulder to the nice bare knob that is the town highpoint of Rumney. Then we stayed on a course that roughly followed the townline until we were back on the Carr Ridge. More amazing ledge faces and a couple of nice ledges--finding a couple old cairns and some not so long ago cut branches and a couple pieces of flagging. Stinson Pond, Stinson Mt. nice vistas and even the outline of Jennings Peak and Sandwich and some outlines of peaks more to the north. There were lots of herd paths. Bryan found a moose antler and we startled a bear. The abandoned Stevens Brook passes through the col between Carr Ridge and Willoughby Mt and we found its old blazes. On Willoughby the register was on the ground at the foot of a tree covered with needles but bryan found it and no one had signed it since it was placed there seven years ago. For the whack to Upper Rattlesnake we stayed just below the ridge to avoid thick woods and or steep ledge faces. This is rugged land. We hit the Rattlesnake Mt. Trail just below the loop intersection and followed it back to our car beating the hard rain by mere minutes. This was a good one! |
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 | Name: |
Nordic Gal, bryan |
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 | E-Mail: |
amybike@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2017-07-01 |
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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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