| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Pisgah - East Peak (Pesky Brook Peak) , NH |
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 | Trails: |
Bushwhack |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, August 28, 2022 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
I drive in about 11.5mi along Cedar Stream Rd to where it turns north. Here, I bore right at this fork and followed what’s shown on Gaia as Pisgah Mtn Trail for an additional 3mi to a HOL on the road W/NW of the peak. I would think that a low clearance vehicle, with care could do this. Mid clearance would be easier though. Cedar Stream Rd is generally wide and in good shape but has some recent minor washout; in particular, miles 3-7 just seem tougher for whatever reason. Pisgah Mtn Trail as far as I recall is a bit narrower and not as dry/sandy but is in fine shape. Again, I think I low clearance car could make it here with care. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
None |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
N/A |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Sure |
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 | Bugs: |
I don’t remember them being much of a nuisance. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
None |
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 | Comments: |
Day 301, Peak 280. 1st of the day. I’d read that this one was not pleasant on a direct bearing from the HOL to the peak. One report here that sounded pleasant went around to the north side but I didn’t want to do that and add extra distance and elevation so I decided to try and cut the difference and not take a directly line but go over the subpeaks along the NW ridge and just generally try to stick to where the woods were good. I’ll explain what I did but if you want to know what worked well, scroll down to the part where I descended ;P
I pushed through the brush around the HOL on the road and soon found a minor ridge just above a brushy area. The woods on this miniature ridge were good. This didn’t last long though. I soon had to descend, then ascend through some poky woods over minor knobs and such. Looking back at my track I pushed north, then south very inefficiently. The contours on Gaia definitely don’t show everything that’s going on here. Nothing too bad though. I basically wound tip contouring to the south of the first knob just NE of the HOL on the road. I soon found a road inbetween this knob and the next one and followed it for a ways hoping to contour to the north of this next knob. The woods were okay. Looked like the road was coming to a wet area though so I soon swung a little higher and before I knew it I was getting pulled all the way up this knob ;P Woods weren’t bad though. Somewhere around here I found a red blazed boundary and a cheese stick wrapper which I carried out! I wonder what crazy bushwhacker it belonged to!
Things didn’t really begin to get unpleasant until between this knob and the actual summit. Though not shown on Gaia there’s a brushy, young growth, previously logged area you’ve got to go through along the ridge. Some herd paths through it but still thick, brushy, unpleasant, and slow. And I was always further from the peak than I thought. The woods became actual woods again though around the true summit. And at least I avoided the tiny bump just to the west of it. Not hard to find the register. After signing in I decided to take a different way down.
I headed N/NW off the summit. Coming off the plateau there was a bit of hobblebush but nothing too bad. I descended to 2300-2350ft and then I stayed along this contour basically the whole way back. It worked very well! The north side of the mountain is not steep so I wasn’t sidehilling and the footing wasn’t bad. Not too wet usually either. Woods were open and I even spooked a moose! I planned on passing through the minor col between the small knob just to the NE of the HOL on the road and the more prominent knob to the east of it. This would also be where I’d join my ascent line. Only minor issue I had was I went just a little too high at the end so I didn’t go through the actual col. Things were a little thicker here. Still, I avoided all the logged stuff and any PUDS. Followed my same route out through some pencil woods again except that at the very end, rather than follow the mini ridge just abjve the brush, I went right through the brush as there was a herd path through it.
In summary, I highly recommend in between the two knobs closest to the road, then contouring between 2300-2350ft on the north side of the ridge, then getting all your elevation at the end when you’re just N/NW of the peak. You’ll avoid the regrowth area, PUDS, and should have good woods the whole way other than maybe the beginning. There should be very little elevation gain if you do it this way. My hike was about 2.5mi with around 350ft of gain. It took me 2hr to complete. 1hr up, 45min down, 15min at the summit. You could probably chop off 10-15min had I ascended the way I descended as it was so much easier. 64 more days and 85 more peaks to go… |
|
 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
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 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2022-08-30 |
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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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