| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Sandwich Dome, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Smarts Brook Trail, Tri-Town Trail, Yellow Jacket Trail, Pine Flats Trail, Sandwich Mountain Trail, Algonquin Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Monday, June 22, 2020 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Half full; mostly appear to be locals soaking in the brook or out for morning walks and not ascending the mountain |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Mud - Minor/Avoidable |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
None of note. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Trails in great shape overall; Trail Sign at junction of Smart's Brook and Sandwich Mountain Trail is on the ground and has been for at least a month; bolt holes look rotted out. Rest of the sign and the post is in good shape. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Descending Algonquin Trail almost all the water crossings are dried up, except for the very last one of the brook with .4 to go. Not sure I would recommend the trail for dogs; there is one scramble that requires 4 points as it's near vertical up the rock face; did not see a reasonable workaround for dogs though we didn't bushwhack to check. |
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 | Bugs: |
Out in the beginning of Smarts Brook, but almost none after about 2 miles; peak was mostly clear, as was descending the ledges of Algonquin. The last mile and a half or so they were out so bad that spray did nothing. We ended up jogging the last mile or so since it's so flat just to get it over with faster. I think it finally convinced us the necessity of buying some sort of net. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Sandwich Dome just continues to be impressive; the trails we have been on so far are all lovely, mostly easy grades, and have interesting woods, water, or features. We started by grabbing all the loop trails around the parking lot, which are in the guidebook and the maps, but NOT in the redlining spreadsheet...so I'm unsure if we wasted 90 minutes from a technical standpoint. That said, we saw some good spots to dip in the brook at various points along the first mile of Smart's Brook, their locations are obvious when you walk by. Also Pine Flats Trail has a beautiful section of gorge; I imagine there are much less people here on hot weekends, as it's hard to get into the river thanks to the gorge, so may be a better place to chill for awhile away from the crowds that I'm sure form here in summer.
Smart's Brook Trail is really a peach. It follows the water for a time, without jumping across it 30 times, it has easy grades (10% or less most of the time), and goes through interesting sections of forests. There are also a few cool patches of large boulders, and we saw a group of 20+ lady-slippers right on the side of the trail. It was probably the most we've seen at once. Mourning Cloak butterflies were also out in force; we saw groups of 10-20 chilling out together, and they were a constant presence on the trail. Yellow Tiger Swallowtails were also seen here and there.
Descending Algonquin Trail is a fair bit steeper than any part of Smart's Brook, though a large amount of time on the ridge brought us through some amazing forest scenery. First, it's clear a moose has been using this trail back and forth from a hilarious amount of moose scat and prints on the trail, so keep an eye out. Secondly, the fern undergrowth here is luxurious in places, and slightly encroaching onto the trail, though we didn't mind because it was still wet from last night's rain, and since it was 85 and 99.9% humidity and even our hands were dripping in sweat, we liked it. There are a few sections that feature a host of wild mountain flowers, in enough density that you could actually smell them going through, which is a rarity in the White's I think. The smell reminded me of Lily of the Valley. There is also a section of pencil spruce that has so much lichen on it, if you look without too much focus it actually appears like the trees are covered in snow. Seriously, the ridge walk section of this trail was one of our favorites yet.
The ledges of this trail would offer good views; we only got brief peaks through the clouds, but southeast to west views seemed possible, as we could see Tecumseh as well as Welch-Dickey and I believe Morgan and Percival and Israel to the South. Some of the ledges here could be dicey when wet, but some morning sun had dried them out. No one would probably die, but you could have a few broken bones or bruised butts here and there. There is only one actual scramble, and it's really more of a chimney climb. On the descent we had to wedge our hands and feet in a 90 degree crack and climb straight down. Going down and not knowing about the verticalness (verticality? Something else? English is weird)of the scramble, we wandered around for a minute wondering where to go as it looked like the trail just ended at a cliff. After that is descended steadily, before essentially leveling out for the last mile or so, which we ran as I mentioned previously, due to bugs being ferocious.
Biking back actually meant walking up one or two steep hills (250 feet or so of elevation gain in total), as 12+ miles later the legs decided it was easier to walk. After clearing those however, it was about 4 miles straight downhill (about 950 ft of elevation loss) to Route 49, which is essentially flat, so I highly recommend you do the loop in the direction we did if you have one car and are bike spotting like we were. |
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 | Name: |
HotRodJimmy |
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 | E-Mail: |
hotrodjimmy04@hotmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2020-06-22 |
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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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