| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Paugus, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Bolles Trail, Old Paugus Trail, Lawrence Trail, Cabin Trail, Whitin Brook Trail, Bickford Trail, Brook Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, August 29, 2021 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Plenty of room in the parking area at the end of Paugus Road. This trailhead is shared with Liberty, Brook, and Bolles Trails. The road to the parking area is very narrow and rough, with lots of protruding rocks and two wide, deep divots that must be carefully navigated. My Corolla made it with slow, careful driving. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Mud - Minor/Avoidable |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
10 water crossings on this route. The one at the southern end of Bolles Trail and the one on Old Paugus Trail right next to its junction with Bolles Trail both have large stepping-stones that help. The crossing 0.7 miles up Old Paugus Trail from there has a narrow metal grate across it - it could be slippery, but it definitely helps. The three crossings on Whitin Brook Trail were all fairly straightforward rock hops, and are all in relatively close proximity - maybe a relocation could be made to eliminate two of them? The crossing of Paugus Brook on Bickford Trail was the hardest of the day - care and caution were needed to rock-hop across. The final crossing, Claybank Brook on Bickford Trail just below the junction with Brook Trail, was relatively easy with lots of large, exposed rocks. I wouldn't recommend doing these trails after a major rainstorm - the crossings could be very difficult. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
A few blowdowns all around, but nothing horrible. Lots of work has clearly been done on Old Paugus and Whitin Brook Trails to remove blowdowns. A few fairly small wet and muddy areas, but overall the trails were pretty dry. Several trail junctions had signs referencing only one of the trails, namely Whitin Brook/Big Rock Cave, Old Paugus/Big Rock Cave, Bickford/Brook, and the worst (IMO), Old Paugus/Bickford. Right after the combined Old Paugus/Bickford cross Whitin Brook, Bickford Trail peels off to the left, and there's a sign for it, but there's no sign for Old Paugus Trail where it continues ahead. I knew where to go since I'd been at that junction before, but hikers who haven't been there before could get very confused. And that junction isn't even in the Wilderness yet. So IMO there's no excuse for not having a sign for Old Paugus Trail there. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Old Paugus Trail has lots of steep ledges and other steep sections that could be tough for dogs. They'd also need to be comfortable with all those water crossings. |
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 | Bugs: |
Very few, and they weren't annoying. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
Nothing that I can remember. |
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 | Comments: |
This was a fun hike to a less-visited corner of the Whites. Bolles Trail was a wide woods road, and the first mile of Old Paugus Trail follows a woods road as well and is gradual with mostly good footing. The middle and upper parts of Old Paugus Trail, however, involve serious, strenuous climbing with many steep sections, rock ledges to climb, and rough footing. The gully was very steep but not terrible, and the right turn out of the gully is pretty obvious. Further up, there are several other steep ledges that require climbing up - they weren't scary, they just required attention and concentration. Some parts of the trail, particularly near the top, were quite scenic, especially one section of mostly-level trail through spruce forest that looked almost ghostly on this cloudy day (there were no views from any of the outlooks today due to the clouds). I didn't find the trail difficult to follow, but it's still a rough Wilderness trail with little in the way of features to make hiking it easier.
Lawrence Trail is fairly rough near the top, and the relocations are gravelly, so be careful with footing, but it wasn't too bad. The upper part of Cabin Trail goes along a narrow and very steep sidehill, which made me wonder why the trail was constructed there and not at the top of the ridge (which is not far away), but be careful and you'll be fine. Whitin Brook Trail doesn't seem to be used much, which is a shame since it's quite a nice trail - never especially steep and with pretty good footing.
When I got back to the junction of Bolles/Old Paugus/Bickford Trails, I decided to finish the hike by redlining the remaining piece of Bickford Trail that I needed - east of Bolles Trail. This section first meanders through woods on a somewhat indistinct footway (the blue blazes help), then crosses Paugus Brook (which would definitely be very difficult at high water), meanders through woods a bit more, then climbs on a sidehill up a minor ridge and soon reaches a dirt road, where the trail bears left onto the road and then bears right at an arrow soon afterwards. The only other hiker I saw all day was following Bickford Trail in the other direction from here. The trail then runs mostly on contour to Claybank Brook and its end on Brook Trail. I turned right on Brook Trail back towards the parking area, and it first descended then ascended gradually on a relocation. Footing on Brook Trail was OK but not great. From the lower end of the relocation, Brook Trail follows Claybank Brook until reaching the dirt road, which it turns left onto and heads back to the parking area. Brook Trail had some yellow blazes - in fact, the only blazes I saw all day were the ones on Bickford and Brook Trails. The other trails were all unblazed, probably because they're in a Wilderness area.
Overall a very nice hike, roughly 9.8 miles and it took me about 6 hours. As mentioned above, I saw only one other hiker the whole time. No views, but that's OK - the trails still delivered what I was looking for. |
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 | Name: |
GN |
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 | E-Mail: |
ghnaigles@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2021-08-29 |
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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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