| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
South Spruce Mountain, Spruce Mountain - East Peak, Savage Mountain, Goback Mountain, Teapot Mountain, NH |
|
 | Trails: |
Logging roads, bushwhack |
|
 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, August 5, 2023 |
|
 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Drove Lamms Trail / Bissel road just shy of the cabins, further than I expected to be able to get up. Parked roadside just below the cabins. Road was in decent shape and just a handful of intentionally raised water bars to navigate. Fine in mid-clearance / AWD |
|
 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail |
|
 | Recommended Equipment: |
|
|
 | Water Crossing Notes: |
|
|
 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
|
|
 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Tucker and Champ had so much fun, though needed some help descending cliff bands off Savage |
|
 | Bugs: |
bunch of skeeters at the start - eased up once above 2000ft or so |
|
 | Lost and Found: |
Found a plastic grocery bag and packed it out while descending off teapot. Amazing how this stuff ends up in the middle of the woods. |
|
|
|
|
 | Comments: |
South Spruce Mountain, Spruce Mountain - East Peak (North Stratford), Savage Mountain, Goback Mountain, Teapot Mountain
Started up following the logging road, shortly crossing an overgrown logging road shown on maps. Took a right at a junction and kept following this road longer than I should have, after it turned due south. Found myself off-course, and tried to slab around to the NE towards Spruce East in fairly thick woods + some fern fields, but ended up just ascending further towards Spruce South. Wasn't initially planning to hit Spruce South, but got close enough I decided to pop up there. From Spruce S, caught some nice herd trails to the the logging road in the col, and additional herd trails to Spruce E. Pretty easy going to Spruce E.
Heading Liam's advice, I didn't go down to the col between Spruce E and Savage, but rather descended west, all the way to the logging road at 2500ft. Followed that road until it turned west, where I began my whack up Savage, following what seems to be the common route. Dense at times, and a gnarly cliffy/boulder section to navigate, but as others have said, nothing horrible. I would do this approach again.
From Savage, headed west towards Goback. OK woods descending to the col, but hit a nasty cliff band that took care to navigate. Had to help the pups here. Ascending up Goback proved to be the worst stretch of the day. Stayed a bit to the east at first but following seemingly open woods cut to the west and hit really dense stuff. Pushed through that to only to find the summit area was even denser. I gave up on finding the high point on Goback due to the density and carried on to Teapot.
Tried to follow the ridge down to the col between Goback and Teapot. Pretty good woods here and some nice herd paths. The col is a massive fern/pricker field, though not too many blowdowns. Pushed my way through this and began ascending Teapot. Came upon a really wide cliff bands here, and followed it east until I found a passable spot. Atop the cliff band, it became really dense again, which I pushed through to a fern/blowdown patch visible on sat imagery. Way easier once I got to this point, and followed herd paths in pretty good woods to the summit.
From Teapot, descended SSW, following the ridge for awhile. The woods seemed more open on the north side of the ridge and I rode that for awhile, but I was trying to hook up with a logging road visible on sat imagery just south of the stream, so cut south towards the stream, eventually crossing it around 2000ft. Tada, found the logging road, which was in surprisingly good shape and easy to follow (albeit super overgrown in places). Regardless, made good time back to the road I started my day on, and felt like a highway compared to some of the stuff today. Took a right at a faint fork as I approached the road I started my day on, around 1525ft, and crossed the stream where maybe there used to be a bridge, before intersecting the initial road, and a quick jaunt back to the car from there. 6hrs in total. |
|
 | Name: |
Big Al Dente |
|
 | E-Mail: |
bigaldentenh@gmail.com |
|
| Date Submitted: |
2023-08-06 |
|
 | 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. |
|
