| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
None, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Landing Camp Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, October 1, 2023 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
The small parking area next to the trailhead was unfortunately being used by campers on my arrival so I parked on the side of the road a bit south of the trailhead which was fine given the very low traffic on the road. They were gone when I got back. There were a handful of camping sites being used on the section of road I drove. The road is in good shape for a gravel road. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Significant |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
There's just a few small streams. But beavers have been active and one has several small beaver ponds at the trail crossing which looked daunting. But where there are beaver ponds there are beaver dams, and I used two to get across without getting my boots very wet. The two I used are just a bit upstream from the trail crossing. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
I found the trail to be pretty easy to follow its entire length, but I am familiar with it. I didn't look for any paint blazes as the foot-bed or corridor was mostly obvious, but I know blazes are few. There are some old ribbons up to Camp 5. I took out a blocking multi-stem blowdown part way down to Camp 5 and cleaned up a large gnarly duckunder to make it an easy duckunder. I took out a bunch of smaller blowdowns or trail crossers either with the saw or by wrestling them out. I tossed a lot of small debris. There's still plenty of stepovers, a few straddleovers, and one step up onto and then over that is axe worthy, but nothing unusual if it was a wilderness trail. There were a few significant wet/mud stretches that I don't recall from prior trips which may be my memory but this year the trails in the Kilkenney area and elsewhere have been wet and muddy since mid-June. The York Pond swampy area was awful a few weeks ago. Of course bog bridges would be nice but placing more poles/branches in them would be enough even in this wet year. I did a few. The beaver pond flooding is worse than it was in the past, but those busy workers have done that to other trails. The Three Ponds & Kilback Pond crossings were worse earlier this year. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Good dog trail |
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 | Bugs: |
Very minor face gnats. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
None |
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 | Comments: |
I was looking for a tiny bit of adventure, a lot of solitude and a list hike so Landing Camp was the choice. I didn't expect to spend roughly 2 hours on trail work but having done that I realized how paltry it really was. I should have gone out with the mentality of doing some real work and not planned a second hike. But what it really needed this year was a few bog bridges which is trail crew work. Not all destinations are peaks. Like the Link between Castle and Caps Ridge, the name scares off most hikers except riff raff like me. At least now no one can say the trail hasn't seen any recent trail work even if it probably won't be noticed.
Landing Camp is reportedly yet another trail on the USFS hit list. Humbug. With trail hiking increasing we need more out of the way trails, not fewer. So what if it is a challenge. It's one of the most defining hikes for trail redliners. Landing Camp is the only trail on that long Bog Dam Road loop with all those campsites. After hiking on that awful stretch of Nineteen Mile Brook between Wildcat Ridge and Carter-Dome a couple of days ago, I found Landing Camp way more fun to hike today. Too bad the Cohos trail doesn't need to use it; they know how to fix trails like this up for modest usage. |
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 | Name: |
Zero |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2023-10-01 |
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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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