| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Bog Pond, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Powerline swath, Gordon Pond Trail, buswhack, unknown roads, abandoned Bog Pond Trail, snowmobile trails, Georgiana Falls Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, October 1, 2023 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
We were the second and third cars at the lot for Georgiana Falls Trail at the end of Hanson Farm Rd at 7:45am. Many others but surprisingly lot overflowing given how many we saw on trail at 4pm. Mid-sized dirt lot for maybe a dozen or so cars. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, 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: |
All rock hopable but I didn't recall at least a couple of the crossings on Gordon Pond Trail being rather sketchy (at the top of a falls for example). A bit of a no fall zone and absolutely not a place that I'd want to be in high water or when it's raining! |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Gordon Pond Trail has some fresher blue blaze where it exits the powerline swath but generally is blazed sparsely and with faded blue blaze. Not terribly well trodden but not hard to follow either. Follows a lot of old roads. There's a cluster of relatively small blowdowns about 0.75-1mi after the first major water crossing I believe. Step over the smaller, then duck under the larger. Very shortly thereafter there's a large widow maker/leaner overtop the trail, followed by a small and trivial stepover. Geoegiana Falls Trail is a blazed red path through a bunch of herd paths and was surprisingly difficult to follow. I was constantly taking us off trail. I don't recall any major blowdowns on it. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
I'd be a bit wary of them with the crossings on Gordon Pond Trail with the waterfalls underneath you but beyond that, these seem like good trails for dogs and the bushwhack would be relatively tame for them as well. They'll love the mud! Be careful with them on Georgiana Falls near the cliffs and with all the people around. We saw a few. I'd also be weary of ticks in some places especially along the powerline swath. |
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 | Bugs: |
None but I would be weary of ticks in some places, namely along the powerline swath. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
None |
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 | Comments: |
The No Good, Good for Nuthin, Lazy Slackers were back at it again. This time the crazier of us two had the bright idea to take the Gordon Pond Trail to the abandoned AT at Gordon Pond, follow it through the Wolf-Wolf Cub col, then head toward Bog Pond and the powerline swath and follow Georgiana Falls Trail back down to the car, perhaps running into the abandoned Bog Pond Trail along the way. And roughly, we stuck to the plan and were quite successful! I will note that I only have an insufficient little screenshot of the (1946?) map that the Old Man and the Saw used to plan this out and so I cannot speak to exactly where the Bog Pond Trail and others were and what we may/may not have been following further on in the hike so please take it all with a grain of salt.
Living up to our names, we of course followed the powerline swath to where the trail crosses it a little more than a mile in to cut a tiny bit of distance out. The swath was incredibly muddy and wet at times. The upside was that the views of the foliage from the swath were spectacular. It was then a loooong hike from there to Gordon Pond along the Gordon Pond Trail (GPT). The GPT was not as muddy overall as I thought it was or remembered it to be and was certainly not as bad as the powerline swath. The trail generally ascends at easy grades and with decent footing though there's definitely some steeper and rougher places. In particular, a number of the water crossings, though not high, sat precariously atop drop offs.
A couple hundred feet after crossing the outlet of Gordon Pond Trail, we started our whack NE along the shore of Gordon Pond, passing by an old campsite or two along the way. One cool find I did not see last time I was here was a VERY old fire ring. The woods were occasionally tight here as they can be near a pond and you won't find many signs of the old trail here but it's not too bad and short lived. Just make sure to stay close to the pond and not get pulled up too high. If you hit blowdowns, go down. Shortly after the north end of the pond, look for a place to cross the inlet and an opening on the other side of the inlet. Here you'll find the corridor of the abandoned AT. Very, very muddy for a ways but it gets better toward the col. Not hard to follow for the experienced. I actually caught up to a hunter in here who was very kind. He said you could follow the trail all the way out toward the powerlines more or less. Not sure where exactly it began, but at some point, maybe around the col, very occasional flagging began to appear. There are definitely some spots where the corridor was not obvious, obscured by blowdowns, or obscured by a turn, etc. so the occasional flagging was very helpful. Grades to and from the col were usually pretty gentle or moderate. From the col, the trail headed north to 2600ft, then bore NE for maybe 1/4mi to 2450-2500ft, then contoured all the way out to the powerline swath at 2300ft. We were surprised that the going through here was as dry as it was; then again, we didn't get close to Bog Pond. At some point, along the way here, we hit some snowmobile trail jcts some of which mentioned a Bog Pond Trail though there was no way that what we were on was the old trail the entire time as it got much closer to the pond than we ever were.
We continued straight across the powerline swath to an old road. This eventually turned into the snowmobile trail Gaia shows as dead ending a short ways west of the Bog Eddy. Some cool views along this to Pemigewassett and Franconia Ridge. I trusted Gaia much more than I should have and thought Georgiana Falls Trail ended where it showed it ending above Upper Harvard Falls. We whacked to this point. 0.1mi whack from the snowmobile trail. Steep at times and semi-thick getting down to the drainage. The water crossing was rock hopable but I certainly wouldn't want to be there in high water. We then followed an old road (abandoned Bog Pond Trail) down toward the true trail. The true trail I found rather obnoxious. It's blazed in red but inconsistently and is really just a collection of herd paths. I was constantly getting us off trail. Some very steep pitches and rough footing too. The falls were quite nice. Gaia had us at about 9.25mi, 1700-1750ft of gain, and 8hrs. |
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 | Name: |
Liam Cooney and the Old Man and the Saw |
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 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2023-10-03 |
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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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