| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Elephant Mountain, ME |
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 | Trails: |
Elephant Mountain Road, bushwhack |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, August 6, 2022 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
I parked along Elephant Mountain Road near the intersection of Elephant Mountain Road and Birch Brook Road. One of the boulders blocking Elephant Mountain Road at the U-Turn was moved, allowing passage up the road, but I stopped anyway. The road deteriorates quickly (need very high clearance) and it only saves you maybe an hour of road walking round-trip. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
Very minimal. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
I prepped for the worst and wasn't disappointed (I had fun!) The road walk was easy, and the overgrown road walk NNE to the final clearing was straightforward. From the final clearing, you enter the woods at some unofficial cairns, and continue NE. Be careful not to follow the old remnants of Clearwater Brook Trail, as this has been unofficially maintained (and well maintained, from what I could see at the beginning at least) NE towards the Appalachian Trail. The most popular bushwhack begins going north about 50 yards after the clearing.
From here there seems to be two points of view as to how to ascend. An "express" idea is to leave the logging slash early and head generally NNW towards the SW Peak. Otherwise, the more common North whack over the slash towards the meadow col is also an option. I chose the express option on the ascent, since I was going to hit the NE peak as well, so I would descend via the col-slash route.
The immediate ascent was still over a lot of slash until about 3100' then only intermittent slash from there on out. However, this route is VERY thick with new growth, and is very challenging at times especially at a blowdown section around 3300' and before the summit. The summit had the best defined herd path, and the canister was easy to find on the SW peak. The descent to the col and the meadow was easy, and the NE peak was non-descript and the "summit" was ill-defined. I retraced my steps back to the meadow col, and followed what appeared to be a pretty well-defined herd path until about 3400' (higher than the ascent route) where the slash was thicker and deeper for the remaining descent. I think this is the most popular route for bushwhackers based on trip reports, because this was incredibly tedious and moderately dangerous (for a solo hiker) to scramble over all the blowdown and logging slash. This route met up with my ascent route about 200 yards N of the final clearing of the overgrown road. Have fun! |
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 | Name: |
WishfulThinking |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2022-08-06 |
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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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