| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mount D’Urban, Snag Pond Peak, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Bushwhack, border swath, Sentier Frontalier, Boundary Pond Road |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, June 12, 2022 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
I parked at the gate on Boundary Pond Rd 13+ mi from Rt 3 in Pittsburgh. The first 8 or so miles along East Inlet Rd were in great shape. Just one or two spots a low clearance vehicle might have trouble. Mid clearance and 2WD made it go fast. At the HOL on the road though, where the road turns right (east) and descends to the spur road that heads east toward Kent, the road becomes much rougher with many small-medium sized rocks protruding from the road. I’d say that mid-clearance is needed. I still had to dodge plenty of the larger rocks though as I otherwise would’ve gotten scraped. 2WD should be okay. Just some rough hills that I made sure to have some momentum going up. Plenty of room to park at the end of the road. No other cars there when I arrived or returned. |
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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: |
Minor drainage crossing that was a rock hop on the SF trail. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
The SF trail has a number of blowdowns on it sometimes large and obscuring the trail. It’s a rough trail. Seems relatively new and lightly trodden. Pretty overgrown and could be cut back a good deal (and travelled more often). |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Sure but maybe watch for ticks on the border swath. |
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 | Bugs: |
Yes, mosquitoes, black flies, and horse flies. Didn’t notice them unless I was on the summits where I reapplied my big spray. I imagine the border swath is tick infested but my 25% DEET seemed to keep them off. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
None |
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 | Comments: |
Day 224, Peaks 212 & 213. 2nd hike and 2nd and 3rd peaks of the day after nearby Mt Kent.
In reading others reports, it seemed to me that folks whacked to the swath by walking along or close by the pond. I decided to whack UP to the swath instead and shave distance. Sounded like the woods near the pond weren’t so great anyway. So, from the gate on Boundary Pond Rd, I whacked N/NW up toward the series of small bumps S/SE of D’Urban. Woods were pokey but not generally open enough. Grades were moderate-steep for a little ways before hitting the ridge and then the series of small jumps where things leveled out. Tried to make my way carefully through and around these small bumps on a bearing, without gainin/losing too much elevation. The woods become genuinely thick the last 0.1mi or so to the border swath. May have been avoidable but I found the not-so-great stuff. Nothing awful about it but slower going than the rest of the whack.
Once I hit the border swath I followed it to D’Urban. The register is A very short ways into the woods on the U.S. side. I’d heard the swath heading up D’Urban from the south wasn’t so nice so I figured that once I was at the summit I’d follow the Sentier Frontalier Trail to the low point beteeen Snag Pond Peak Ad D’Urban. This trail is part of a larger network of trails strung together to try and make a footpath across Canada I believe. Unfortunately it seemed to coincide with the girder swath here but when I saw it diverge partway down I took it. Not sure if it really saves any time as it has minor small twists and turns and also isn’t well used and is rather overgrown so is a bit tricky to follow at times and hard to go real fast on. In any case, I followed it to just south of Boundary Pond where it came very close to the swath. At this point I made the very short whack over to the swath (almost seemed there was a herd path here) and walked the more gradual border swath to the summit of Snag Pond as I read this section of the swath was nice and appeared to be more gradual than taking the SF trail to the summit.
The register on Snag Pond is on the left (U.S) side of the swath. Very visible. Opposite a little cabin that has seen better days. I signed in, whacked over to the SF and followed it north back toward Boundary Pond. I thought creating Thai little loop would add some variety and be fun but poor thinking on my part as I thought I’d hop back on the swath when the SFT came near it again just south of the pond where I whacked between the two earlier. Well that’s what I did except I hadn’t realized that I then needed to walk back UP the border swath a ways to get me close to the east end of the pond where I could whack down to the road from the swath a short distance. Ugh. When I reached the ~2500ft knob I was to whack down from, I took a bearing and headed down steeply but in open(ish) hardwoods at first to the pond/road. Woods soon became much of a PITA but I made it to the road and pond before too long and walked out the road back to my car.
6.5mi, ~1800ft of gain, and 4hr50min. 141 more days and 152 more peaks to go… |
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 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
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 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2022-06-14 |
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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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