| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
None, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Mt. Kineo Trail, Donkey Hill Cutoff, Three Ponds Trail, Hubbard Brook Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, September 4, 2021 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
All roads open, didn't see a car all day in either ends of Hubbard Brook or Mt Kineo parking lot. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
None of note; everything is pretty dry |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Hubbard Brook, despite being re-blazed and cleared in 2016 is in danger of being overgrown again in spots, and beaver activity has done a number on both sides of the trail |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Enough water for dogs, no real difficult crossings or scrambles |
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 | Bugs: |
None |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
A nice loop around Mt Kineo. Started with a road walk from Hubbard Brook's west end to Mt. Kineo trailhead; almost 2 miles exactly. I think getting the elevation for the loop out of the way early is best, which is why we did the road walk first, and took a clockwise direction for the loop. Mt. Kineo trail is in great shape, much of the entire loop is easily trail-runnable if you are into that (we are not), though sections of hodgepodge bog bridges were beginning to fail, and in Spring parts of this trail could be quite wet. Sections of this trail are on wide snowmobile trails, which can be pretty rough in the Spring for bugs and water but were fine now. Donkey Hill Cutoff and the beginnings of Three Ponds Trail brought us by numerous attractive beaver ponds. One section of Three Ponds Trail is basically through a marsh that got my feet wet even with the low-water levels, it may be impassible during Spring, and would need to be bushwhacked on the side; as it was the forest was pretty dense there so we just trudged through. I believe the book mentions this whack. The book noted sections of Three Ponds could be hard to follow; we did not find this the case at all, the trail is obvious on its entire length, even the aforementioned marshy section had the bog grass thoroughly beaten down.
Hubbard Brook is already being overgrown again. Some of the blazes aren't in the best locations, and beaver flooding and aggressive undergrowth obscures the trail on the west side at about a half mile or so. There were many footpaths of people seeking the trail; I set up a few sticks across the false-trails to hopefully help some folks not get so lost in this area. The walk is attractive though, with luxuriant undergrowth in places. This growth is creeping onto the trail though, and if more boots don't get on the ground here, it will get swallowed up in the coming years. The east end of the trail also suffers from a lot of beaver activity. One section they cut down so many trees it looks like pictures of Ypres in WWI. The trail disappears in this section, and the copious footprints in the mud in every which direction showed that we were not alone in getting lost in this section. Try to hug the beaver activity as best you can while keeping your feet dry and eventually you should come across more solid footing, where you should find new blazes and the trail will move up and away (to the northeast) of the beaver activity.
All in all a nice day, where we only saw one other group that was out exploring from the nearby Three Ponds Shelter. Nice folks.
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 | Name: |
HotRodJimmy |
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 | E-Mail: |
hotrodjimmy1810@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2021-09-05 |
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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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