| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Bean Mountain, Kennedy Hill, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Bushwhack, Morgan Road, Ridge Road, logging roads |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Thursday, April 13, 2023 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Parked at the entrance to Pillsbury State Park (Pillsbury SP Rd). One car was there at 1pm, but was in the process of leaving, when I arrived. We did get a chuckle later as both of us returned to the same spot at 3:45pm. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Snow - Spring Snow |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Crossed a few coming down from Kennedy. All easily crossed, or to avoid the prickers, I just walked right down the middle of them a few times. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Aforementioned car owners had a beautiful German Shepherd with them. I sure wished that pup was with me on this whack! |
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 | Bugs: |
Incredibly- none |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Entered the woods just south of west across Rt 31 for Bean. Pleasant grade and dry woods, until scattered snow pack about .5 up. Intermittent drifts of 6” to 2’ still present. Sometimes the snow held my weight, sometimes it didn’t. Grade was never beyond moderate steepness, although Evergreens were a bit tighter as I moved up in elevation.
Arrived at a Wind Turbine north of the true summit and instead of finding Morgan Rd to walk up, I turned hard left and kept whacking. Big mistake. On this route I hit multiple spots with 3-4’ drifts of snow and small wetland areas. Those small wetlands were loaded with evidence of fresh Moose, old Bear, Deer and who knows what else. There was so much fresh Moose scat along my line to the summit, that as I finally approached it, found myself a bit surprised not to see a Moose signing in at the canister.
The canister was easily found, but the contents were waterlogged, due to condensation. Thanks to the warm, dry and windy day, I took a longer lunch break than anticipated and let everything dry out, before signing and tightening up.
Followed Morgan Rd down to the retention pond and started the bushwhack to Kennedy Hill from there. I seem to be pretty good at finding spruce traps and deep snow. Finally though, following my compass and GPS, found the small cairn and canister. For the first time, I found a cairn with at least two different animal scats marking it. With the noise those turbines make, I guess I can’t blame them.
Headed down Kennedy in a southerly direction and quickly found thick Spruce. Worked around it to the east and found some old logging roads to follow. These were heading straight to Rt 31 and I didn’t want to road walk much, so I cut further south, eventually finding a terrific open logging road to follow back to 31, with about a .25 road left.
In hindsight, I would seriously consider doing this route Counter-Clockwise (and sticking with the widest section) all the way up until just south of Kennedy Hill (the logging road is clear on some apps). From there it would be a short whack up to Kennedy and then a road walk to Bean and whack down Bean to the lot.
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 | Name: |
Mark |
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 | E-Mail: |
wapacked@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2023-04-13 |
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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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