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Ski
Hiking Trail Conditions Report
Peaks
Peaks Howe Peak, Howe East Peak, NH
Trails
Trails: Shelburne Trail, bushwhack, abandoned Kenduskeag Trail
Date of Hike
Date of Hike: Saturday, September 24, 2022
Parking/Access Road Notes
Parking/Access Road Notes: Connor Brook Rd is broken pavement with some puddles at its start then turns to dirt. Should be doable for low clearance. It’s roughest at its start when it’s paved.  
Surface Conditions
Surface Conditions: Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant 
Recommended Equipment
Recommended Equipment:  
Water Crossing Notes
Water Crossing Notes: Rock hopable 
Trail Maintenance Notes
Trail Maintenance Notes: I don’t recall blaze or blowdowns on Shelburne Trail though I’m sure there had to be at least a few of the latter. Easy to follow along the road and not much harder to follow when it turns to a footpath and enters the woods.  
Dog-Related Notes
Dog-Related Notes: Sure  
Bugs
Bugs: None 
Lost and Found
Lost and Found: None 
 
Comments
Comments: Day 328, Peaks 307 & 308. A cold and very windy day. Sunny and beautiful though. Temps warmed slightly but the wind didn’t decrease much though I was out there pretty early.

I followed Shelburne Trail to just shy of the HOL. The trail was easy enough to follow, very gentle along the old road, then steeper and rougher once in the woods though only moderately so. From just north of the col, I headed due east into the softwood forest. A bit thick around the trail but it opened up some as I got away from it. Some spruce but not too bad. I slabbed up the west side of the peak. Got steeper as I approached the peak though the woods were generally more open. I fought through some thick stuff to reach a nice ledge a couple hundred feet south of the true summit. I ran into the old trail here. There’s still some cairns and the occasional footbed in between the ledges. I wasn’t really trying to follow it though so can’t say much about it. Highpoint is obvious enough. Cairn at the highpoint and the canister is just behind it.

From the summit, I began my long trek over to East Howe. Coming off the summit I hit some other ledges to the east, one with a drop off which provided more great views. I believe it was on the false summit just SE of the summit that I saw a bunny! I then headed into the woods and traveled generally SE along the long ridge, passing over several bumps. Woods were only slightly thick through much of this. I began to head more easterly as I neared the col. Very steep here and there are some large boulders/minor cliff bands but I avoided them. The col was long and open enough. Decent woods and moderate grades up toward the summit of east peak. I went over some false summits to the west of the true summit. Th red dot on CalTopo helped. Not much ledge on this peak. I signed in and carefully plotted my route down…

It seemed that most follow the ridge NE from the summit then head steeply down the north side of the mountain back to the trail. That’s a LONG whack and I was more interested in a straight line north back to the trail. Was a little concerned about the the drainage though due to the lack of reports coming that way. Found one person that had descended that way and said it wasn’t too bad though. What I chose to do was head just barely east of north off the summit and slab my way down, staying east of the drainage most of the way. This worked VERY well and I highly recommend it. Easy grades since I was slabbing and open woods. Still a long whack down (over 1.5mi) but pretty much the shortest you can get and it was quite quick. I hit the drainage within a 1/2mi of the trail where it meets another small drainage. This was actually a cute spot with some cascades and small pool. This was around 1300ft. I headed a little more NE’ly now and hit the trail at about 1125ft, about 1mi from the trails start. Just below 1200ft, while still bushwhacking, I found an old oil drum. Quick walk out from there.

The hike was about 8.75mi with a little more than 2300ft of gain. Took me just shy of 5.5hrs. Enjoyable hike with the ledge/views, abandoned trail, and usually good woods :) 37 more days and 57 more peaks to go…  
Name
Name: Liam Cooney 
E-Mail
E-Mail: liamcooney96@gmail.com 
Date Submitted
Date Submitted: 2022-09-27 
Link
Link: https:// 
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