| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
North Bald Cap (Berlin), NH |
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 | Trails: |
Roads, bushwhack |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Monday, July 4, 2022 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
We parked at the start of the road that heads toward North Bald Cap roughly 5mi into Success Pond Rd. Large, logged clearing here. We probably could’ve taken the right fork of the road and driven in a bit further. Success Pond Rd into this point should still be doable, with caution, for all cars though it seems to get rougher quite quickly. Though it’s still in good shape, it’s noticeably bumpier than just a month or two ago when I was last on it. |
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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: |
Trivial |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
N/A |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Sure but some of the ledge we climbed up was surprisingly steep. Also, if you’re dumb enough to climb up the overgrown tick infested Skidder roads like ourselves, you should be very wary of ticks on your dog. |
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 | Bugs: |
I don’t remember them really being out perhaps due to it being a morning hike and the strong wind on the ledges. I picked up 4-5 ticks though which I noticed shortly after finishing the hike. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
None |
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|
 | Comments: |
Day 246, Peak 241. A nice morning hike with a friend before 4th of July celebrations :) It was sunny but windy and not too hot.
Where the road forks, maybe 200ft from Success Pond Rd, we took the right fork (which may have been drivable for a ways) which is erroneously called “Ball Cap” on Gaia to its end, then followed a much more overgrown road (shown now as the gray line on Gaia) to it’s end around 2000ft to the west of the peak. When that ended we took a bearing and headed left into the woods and began ascending the drainage to the col around 2550ft. After an initial push through young growth hardwoods we soon found a path that I think was half of an old skidder road. We eventually came out onto very overgrown skidder roads which we used all the way to get to the col. These roads were very overgrown but rarely if ever prickly. Higher up they were very wet and had some water in them too. I figured the nearby woods wouldn’t be any better so I stuck to these. I wouldn’t do so again though given how many ticks we picked up and the fact that we descended nearby in the woods and it was totally doable.
Anyway, we pushed through some spruce/fir around the col and soon turned left and descended to see the wetland others have spoken of. Should have turned left sooner and not continued so far into the col. Looked pretty mucky so we continued back to the NW a short ways to try and avoid it. The wet footing definitely begins NW of where Gaia has it on Gaia. We cautiously crossed it and it was surprisingly easy to keep dry feet. Now on the far side of the wetland, we began ascending , in sometimes scrappy, but decent woods at mostly moderate grades. We came to the ledge quickly enough on the south side of the peak at the base of a very steep scramble up it. We followed the ledge more than we followed a bearing. This took us a little further east. When we finally went back into the woods, it was pretty scrappy and sometimes thick but we pushed toward the summit eventually coming back onto ledge not far from the summit. We came to the cairn nearby the summit. A not-so-obvious herd path next to the cairn leads you to the register in a very short distance.
After signing in, we returned along the ledge but rather than hit the col and skidder paths again, took a more efficient line down. We came off the summit S/SW, skirting the col, then basically followed the drainage down but staying to the north of our ascent line/skidder roads. Woods were decent. Mostly hardwoods. Some hobblebush but not too bad and some herd paths thrown in too. We came out onto the muddy but clear “half a skidder road path” not far from the end of the road shown on Gaia. A quick walk out.
Total hike was about 4.75mi with around 1300ft of gain. It took us 2hr45min with a break at the top, on the ledge, and with lots of picture taking :) 119 more days and 124 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: |
2022-07-06 |
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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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