| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Hitchcock - South Peak, Mt. Hitchcock - Middle Peak, Mt. Hitchcock - North Peak, Mt. Hitchcock - West Peak, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Discovery Trail, FR397, bushwhack |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Monday, August 28, 2023 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Easy parking at discovery trail |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Champ and Tucker had a great day, particularly hanging out on the helipad. Little/no water between crossing the drainage at the end of FR 397 though. |
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 | Bugs: |
None |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
I had already grabbed east Hitchcock on a Hancock day, so today was everything other than East. Felt good about that since East to South sounds like one of the gnarlier stretches. Plan was to follow MapMan's path up to South, then Liam's plan connecting south/middle/north/west, then follow the ridge cutting back towards FR 397 when the ridge starts to turns west around 2900ft.
Started up discovery trail to FR 397. FR 397 is fairly overgrown in places, and took some care to navigate from time to time. Definitely a time saver though. On the way up, I wanted to scout FR 397A as a possible return route, but there was hardly any evidence 397A existed where it was supposed to join FR 397, so I bagged that as a return option. Roughly followed MapMan's acsent track, in steep but good woods. Ridge was lovely and open once up there - made it to summit of South in 2:20. Felt like a cakewalk vs. Lowell/Anderson last week.
South to Middle was pretty straight forward other than a blowdown field that I navigated around to the West. Otherwise tried to follow the ridge. Took about 45 mins from South to Middle.
From Middle followed the ridge to North, which took 60 mins, as it thickened up near the col. Nothing too bad, just not as lovely as the rest of the ridge. Thickened up towards the summit. I had good luck on the descent going 0.1 west from the summit then cutting south - way less dense than my ascent closer to the ridge line. Pretty easy to find the high point, and you don't need to fight through the thicker stuff to the west to get there. We had lunch on the helipad.
North to West was the toughest part of the day for sure, and took 95 mins. I ended up cutting SW earlier than expected and aimed for the little flatish area in the drainage on the topo around 2800ft. Generally slow going in mediocre but not awful. Found at least 3 old skidder roads and followed each for a stretch, but then abandoned them as they ascended more than I would have liked. I generally tried to stay around 2800ft, but found myself getting sucked upwards to avoid the worst of the spruce patches and ended up unexpectedly right in the col, which was surprisingly open. Definitely some tough spots, particularly after the 2800 contour turns SSE. Easy and open from the col to the summit. I think if I were doing this again, I would follow the 2nd skidder road and see where it led - in hopes it got close to the col.
From South, I followed the ridge to about 2900 and cut SSE aiming to cross the drainage just below 2000ft and rejoin FR 397 close to it's end. I was worried about this stretch since I had no beta, but it turned out to be pretty good woods, albeit and expectedly steep in places. Crossed the drainage a little lower than planned, and a quick whack back to FR 397 from there. Made good time back to the Discovery trailhead - 1:20 from South back to the car. I would definitely recommend this route, and from others' reports on South Hithcock, I'm not sure why this isn't a more popular route to get there as it seems to minimize whacking distance.
7 hrs total. |
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 | Name: |
Big Al Dente |
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 | E-Mail: |
bigaldentenh@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2023-08-30 |
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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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