| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Lake Francis, Little Diamond Pond, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Minnon Young Trail, Lake Francis Trail, snowmobile corridors, Nilsen's Leg Hiking Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Wednesday, June 28, 2023 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Parked on River Road at end of Minnon Trail, (We had parked at Youngs Store by the kiosk and walked out and back from there earlier). We left car at the boat ramp parking area at Coleman State Park, campground was pretty quiet. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
On snowmobile routes there are nice bridges, our feet were so wet the entire day that I can't recall any smaller brooks they were rock hop-able |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Please post at Young's Store kiosk about the major re-route, the new map is often difficult to follow. We walked past the turn on and to a covered bridge before realizing we missed the turn. There didn't seem any blazes or arrows here and there was no worn foot bed, I guess we were spoiled from the border to Young's Store. The snowmobile trail that is The Lake Francis Trail is currently being improved for the snowmobiles with grading and culvert work, we met an excavator and workmen on trail, this makes for a lot of mud and the tall grass and standing water made for difficult walking. The signs were very good with the arrows but only a handful of blazes getting to Nilsen's Leg. The signpost for Nilsen's Leg is too far off the road and hiding behind tree limbs and was easy to walk right past even while looking for it. A blaze marking the turn ahead or well any blazes on that snowmobile route after the turn at location 3166 would have been comforting. Nilsen's leg is rough with some blow downs that will take some work to remove (we tossed a lot of sticks and limbs off the trail) and the dedication sign at the lookout has fallen off the tree and thankfully there were plenty of blazes. The grass is so tall and no worn foot bed to follow on the remaining snowmobile route to the State Park. We saw nice signs/maps at end of Lake Francis and the next day at Coleman State Park.
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Plenty of water everywhere |
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 | Bugs: |
Mosquitos, so many that we thought we were starring in a horror movie on the last two miles to reach Coleman State Park on Corridor 5. The grass was so wet, absolutely no foot bed to follow, it was wild pushing through the snowmobile trail. Without the head nets we wore we would have lost all our blood. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
We had fun. Reading this report you may think we didn't but we had a good adventure. We are slack packing the Cohos Trail and this was our First of this two day trip (total for day three).
Yes the re-route should not have caught us by surprise since we were in possession of a new 2023 map but we didn't get the map until a few days before our second section hike began and Yes it is on the website. Not making excuses but we didn't figure it out until we had hiked the Minnon Trail when we pulled out the new map. We then realized we had to turn around to move our car from Creampoke Road and get it to Coleman State Park. Fun driving around the North Country! Finally back hiking on trail by half past 11. We walked all the way down River Road to the covered bridge when I figured out we had missed the turn, we didn't see any blazes or signs here. Lots of fly fishermen in the CT River here. Yes all the rain from the previous day/week had every stream running high and lots of standing water, wet feet all day didn't come as a surprise. Recent and current work on the Lake Francis snowmobile trail makes for a lot of mud but we were thankful the excavator had packed down the tall grass which made for much easier hiking. I don't think we saw one blaze during this section. We were joyful when we reached the Cedar Stream gravel Road and saw the cohos trail signs. We pulled out our umbrellas when it started to rain while we hiked down the Deadwater Loop Road. This was quite pleasant. When we turned off of the Deadwater Loop Road onto the Bobcat Trail snowmobile trail (thank you GAIA maps for trail names) at marker location marker 3166, we were back in the high grass but walking was was okay on firmer ground, we did not see any blazes on this section. We walked right past the Nilsen's Leg Trail and over the bridge and went right up the steep hill to a dead end and with the map back out we realized we should not have crossed the bridge over the stream. We went back and hunted and walked past it again and then turned around again and found it--Geez, I admit it looked like it should have been super obvious but it was raining the trees were hanging down and we were walking down a tunnel. A grade steak with the blaze painted on it here would have really helped. Without my GAIA tracking on my cellphone to confirm we were on the right road we might have been more concerned. It Wouldn't be an adventure without getting a misplaced for a small time. It was slow going on the Nilsen's Leg, lot of sticks, water, mud, roots and off and on showers didn't help. We didn't get much of a view from the dedication viewpoint but it was lovely just the same, sign was on ground leaning against a tree. Thankful for the bog bridges that were there. Corridor 5 snowmobile route will always be remembered for its giant swarms of Mosquitoes. No bugs the whole day but here they found us. Without our head nets to protect us we might still be out there. The bugs left us alone as soon as we hit Diamond Pond road. Nearing Little Diamond Pond the sound of Loons singing was delightful and we knew we were nearly done for our day. We were done at 6 pm. 17+ miles. Thank goodness for the fast road walking sections! We had planned to stay at the Hidden Acres campground but the forecast for downpours and thunder convinced us to stay in Colebrook at the Black Bear Inn & Restaurant's River's Edge motel. We slept really well.
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 | Name: |
Nordic_Gal |
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 | E-Mail: |
amybike@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2023-06-30 |
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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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