Mt. Lowell, Mt. Anderson, Duck Pond Mountain - Signal Ridge Trail, Carrigain Notch Trail, bushwhack, herd path - 10-12-2022

Hiking Trail Conditions Report
	Peaks	Mt. Lowell, Mt. Anderson, Duck Pond Mountain, NH

	Trails:	Signal Ridge Trail, Carrigain Notch Trail, bushwhack, herd path

	Date of Hike:	Wednesday, October 12, 2022

	Parking/Access Road Notes:	Only vehicle other than a tractor at Nancy Pond Trail at 6:30am. Still the only car there shortly before 5pm. The lot could maybe hold close to a dozen cars there before it would begin to overflow. A huge thanks to my friend who drove me from here to Signal Ridge trailhead in the morning. I didn’t check but I’m sure there was plenty of room there in the morning to park.

	Surface Conditions:	Dry Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant

	Recommended Equipment:

	Water Crossing Notes:	All crossings were rock hopable but if we get the heavy rain/flooding that seems possible today or tomorrow, that could easily change.

	Trail Maintenance Notes:	Signal Ridge Trail I think has the rare old yellow blaze. Easy to follow. I don’t recall blazing in Carrigain Notch Trail. Not as well travelled as the former but not hard to follow. The only place I could see tripping people up was a crossing of a dry brook bed where the trail was not obvious on the other side. Nancy Pond Trail is blazed in yellow but only after it becomes a footpath I think. Not hard to follow. I don’t remember much in the way of blowdowns but I do recall at least one step over and one widow maker/leaner on Nancy Pond Trail, the latter of which was toward the beginning of the trail and was very old. I doubt they’ll get removed.

	Dog-Related Notes:	I’d be wary of bringing a dog on a whack that’s this long and difficult though it wasn’t as gnarly as I thought it would be

	Bugs:	None

	Lost and Found:	None


	Comments:	Day 346, Peaks 330-332. Hearing what one hears of these peaks I was prepared for the worst, but pleasantly surprised most of the way. Without my trusty hiking poles (I thought the whack would be too thick for them) I staggered to and fro up to the HOL on Carrigain Notch Trail via Signal Ridge Trail. The trails were pretty dry all in all. I descended about 1/3mi from the HOL on trail before starting my whack. I began whacking due east, then curved SE along what might be called a very steep ridge. I was worried this would be cliffy and originally planned on sticking closer to the drainage and aiming for the col, but this provided generally descent walking so I stuck to it. Down low, woods were mixed. At times I was in pokey stuff, then finding hardwoods to one side of me, then pushing through a bit is spruce, etc. I also found a steep, rocky, dry drainage to ascend along for a bit. In general, I wouldn’t describe the woods as open, but they were never terribly thick and were generally descent. As I got higher up, the woods became more consistent. Semi-thick hardwoods. Occasional spruce patch but they were low and easy to walk through. Very steep but I only came to one minor cliff band. Easily walked around. The grade lessened and the woods eventually thickened as I headed more southerly along the summit ridge. Small false summit on the NW end. Some low brush that provided excellent views near the true summit. Not hard to find the register. Given how much shorter this whack is (2/3-3/4mi with 1200ft of gain) and how reasonable the woods were, I’d highly recommend this approach compared to the crazy long S/SE ridge approach which sounds like it’s thick the last 1/2-3/4mi and has more cliff bands. Note that the highpoint is NW of the highest contour on Gaia. From the summit of Lowell, I headed due north off the summit. In other words, I did NOT follow the ridgeline back to the NW. I had good going for awhile but as I began to need to slab and contour to stay on my bearing and not fall off the mountain to the east, the woods became thicker, a little blowdowny, and very steep. Certainly nothing you aren’t able to move through and I’ve seen worse but this part was genuinely thick. As I got closer to the col, the woods opened up. Thus far, there’d been little to no signs of moose on the whack but there were plenty of moose paths here in the marshy area. I had good going partway up Anderson but things eventually thickened up. Not too bad except for one every brief section of VERY thick sprice. I then seemed to pop out onto the more open summit come. Some more sprice but I could see ahead and avoid it. Again, all in all, not bad. Not hard to find the register. I went south a ways to try and find some ledge with view someone mentioned. I found restricted views but no ledge. Oh well. Pretty thick scrub around there anyway. I’d looked forward to my descent off Anderson as this ridge seems to be the easiest part of this whack. As it often goes though, my experience seems to be the opposite of everyone else’s. And I saw a lot of it as I got pulled from side to side of the ridge as I often do rather than taking a straight line down it. Got a nice view on the north side of it about 0.1mi from the summit. Woods weren’t too thick but I wouldn’t describe them as much better than the average I’d seen throughout the day. I think the worst part was falling off the ridge down in to the col where woods thickened and things were a little blowdowny. The col itself was long and thick. Very pokey. Other than the summit of Duck Pond itself, it tended to be that the further away from the col I got, the more open the woods became. Not too hard to find the canister. Found two balloons on my way and, surprisingly, a broken glass bottle under the summit tree that I packed out. I whacked N/NW off the summit. I stayed, at minimum, about 0.1mi away from the pond. I didn’t have the issues of very thick woods that others did. Woods were semi-thick around the summit but opened up quite nicely before thickening up a bit as I neared the trail again. I’d been keeping my eye out for the abandoned bootleg trail but hadn’t seen it until I was just about to cross Nancy Brook. The trail seeemed to turn right away from the pond here but it soon disappeared and I was now further from the trail. Ugh. I made my way to the stream and crossed on some beaver work soon finding my way to Nancy Pond Trail with dry feet. Long walk out Nancy Pond Trail from here, again, staggering like a drunk man without my hiking poles ;P Footing on this one, at least up high, is always not quite as nice as I think it’s going to be. More mud on this trail than the others I was on in the morning it seemed. Leaves are now down on the trail obscuring it. Gaia had me at about 11.5mi with 3100ft of gain. It took me 10hrs to complete with some long breaks on the summits.19 more days and 33 more peaks to go…

	Name:	Liam Cooney

	E-Mail:	liamcooney96@gmail.com

	Date Submitted:	2022-10-13

	Link:	https://
		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.