| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Forist, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Old roads, bushwhack |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, July 22, 2023 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Park at the jct of 2nd Ave and Haskell St on the side of the road. Room for a car or two here and no one should object but I’d be very wary of bringing more than a couple cars here. Roads are all paved. The road shown continuing west toward a small pond around the 1400-1500ft contour line is dirt and can be rough. There’s access from this road as well and I was told there shouldn’t be a problem parking there although note that I think there’s some houses along this dirt road. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Trivial |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
This is not a maintained trail and is not marked at its start or along the way. The route is largely or entirely free of blowdowns though! Expect something in between a maintained trail and all our bushwhacking with some very, VERY wet feet. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Sure |
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 | Bugs: |
They were out but not too bad even at a slow pace. The worst was the no-see-ums on the summit. Given the terrain, this route goes through, it is very prone to ticks. Years ago, I hear ticks didn’t use to exist this far north but now they do although seemingly in a lack of numbers as I was surprised to only find 3-4 on me. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
If someone lost a spark plug near the summit, it’s still there ;P |
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 | Comments: |
A nice little hike with mom and dad while they were visiting to this terrific little cliffy peak that overlooks the city of Berlin :) Indeed, when views from certain points to the north in and around Kilkenny Ridge, Berlin can look like a notch between this and Cates Hill/Mt Jasper. We followed the same route as a friend and I did in October 2020 where you should be able to see a trail report from me.
From the corner of 2nd Ave and Haskell St, we continued on a narrow path in the woods like a continuation of 2nd Ave. This is an old, wet road. It descends slightly due south, then contours SW, then gently rises west and NW roughly paralleling a drainage. The road is grassy, overgrown, and wet at times and crosses a few drainages and intersects some other roads. I believe that roughly due south of the dirt continuation of Haskell St discussed in the parking notes, you’ll come to a very small clearing with an intersection of some other roads. Continue ahead on the main road and I believe it’s shortly thereafter that you get out of the logging regrowth and onto a woods road in more mature forest. Around 1500-1550ft, the old road comes to a jct with another and I believe better defined road. You may be tempted to go uphill to the left but I inspect this takes you toward Jericho. Instead, go right for maybe 300ft and descending slightly, then turn sharply left up a steep gravelly track. This is the steepest pitch of this hike. It can be loose and gravelly when dry. The road soon becomes more gradual as it makes a long approach to the Forist/Jericho col. Then you’ll actually DESCEND slightly along the road as it goes THROUGH the col to a T-jct due west of the true summit of Jericho. Here, turn right and ascend gently to the summit and ledges.
Note that the road down low can be muddy and wet but the roads up high are very soft and have huge pools of standing water in them. Expect to bushwhack around, do some balancing acts, and STILL get wet. I’m impressed my folks pulled through these parts. From the summit ledges, my father and I turned left into the woods to try and locate the true highpoint and register while my mom soaked in the cloudy and partial views we had of surrounding peaks. The highpoint is not more than a few hundred feet from the ledges, if that. I remember the jar being above some blue tarp in the leaves last I was here. I located the tarp but no jar. More curiously, I noted that an obviously higher point in a mossy area was nearby. I do not recall this last I was here…did I miss it?? In any case, we did not find a jar and while I had paper and pen/pencil, I did not have a jar, sorry. Perhaps the next person up can bring one.
We returned the same way but missed the left hand turn back toward the col and instead continued ahead on a soft, wet road with running water before realizing our mistake after about 0.1mi…oops! Gaia had us at 5.5-5.75mi, almost 1000ft of gain. Note that there are other ways to tackle this peak. From Rt 110 via the ATV trails (see my report from Jericho) another point along 110 where I believe there may be more of a footpath but it is steep, and from the end of the dirt road as described in the parking notes above. The cut old road to the right near the end of the road is short but steep (2mi round trip) and there’s also a road to the left that is more gradual; but both are significantly shorter than the route take today. |
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 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
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 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2023-07-24 |
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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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