| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Clough, NH |
|
 | Trails: |
High Street, Long Pond Road, bushwhack |
|
 | Date of Hike: |
Thursday, December 14, 2023 |
|
 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Parked at Glencliff to be out of the way, could park off High St, next to the gated FR19 entrance. |
|
 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Snow - Unpacked Powder |
|
 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
|
 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Several small streams were encountered on the whack which were easily stepped over, would not recommend crossing Jeffers Brook at the moment, its flowing a nice blue-green haze, just showing how frigid that water is |
|
 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
All good, forest road had a downed birch moved. Fat bike apparently had no trouble cruising the roadway, 1-2" of snow on the road |
|
 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Nope. Don't bring them bushwhacking Clough. |
|
 | Bugs: |
Negative |
|
 | Lost and Found: |
None |
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|
 | Comments: |
Excellent day was had roaming the trailless Mount Clough. Back in 2021 I whacked up the SE ridge for a fairly standard approach, wanting something different and NOT looking to tackle any stream crossings as we enter the third month of shoulder season, I found a narrow window of opportunity to hop on the SW ridge at a point where Jeffers Brook briefly traces the western side of Long Pond Rd. Just beyond FR415, I added snowshoes for honestly just a wider footprint in the forest, to hopefully avoid rolling bare boot ankles on snow-covered logs or other forest debris.
Confirmed my satellite imagery suspicions of the hardwoods nearly pushing to 2,900' on the mountainside. A glorious bushwhack for sure until reaching the conifers nearing the summit - in the form of crazy dense fir waves. Was able to locate a bunch of old skidder roads on the SW ridge while venturing through the hardwoods, these were helpful but really not necessary given the open-air qualities of the lovely forest.
Above 2,900' began the conifer cap of Clough, which I remember well from my 2021 ascent. Much less conifer overall by approaching SW, as I did. A few good lookouts while enroute. Ran right INTO the fir waves while trying to veer eastwardly around the tangles, did not veer hard enough, apparently!
Once I was in for the ride, there was nothing left to do but spin, twist, shove branches behind, more-or-less perform a swim technique to come out the other side, but let me tell you, crap like that will change a person.
On the far side of the fir waves I popped out to glorious boreal glade which I recalled, did a little meandering around various herd paths around the summit before turning down the path which led to the recognized summit. Once again (I think as was the case in 2021) the canister cap would not budge, either WAY over tightened or just frozen shut from ice.
Roamed around the summit paths in beautiful sunshine to warm up some and look for views before boogying back downslope. But, when time came to depart the high point, I made sure to search high and low for a route AROUND the fir waves. Which I found by hanging temporarily northward of my ascending tracks. Through dense pencil spruce, which opened up to better spruce and finally so good I could follow an obvious moose path (slightly dusted hoof prints were 1-2 days old) while hooking back south to meet my ascending tracks.
Totally avoided the mess of fir on the descent, super thrilled for that. Found my tracks to follow out, paused for a spell once I got back to the birch glade and then followed my snowshoe tracks back through the hardwood ridge to FR19. Fantastic day overall, even being stuck in fir boughs, at least I smelled better following the encounter!
For color photography and a more in-depth write up of the excursion, feel free to check out the attached link.
Happy climbing! |
|
 | Name: |
Erik Hamilton |
|
 | E-Mail: |
ehamilton9481@gmail.com |
|
| Date Submitted: |
2023-12-15 |
|
 | Link: |
 https://www.atalkinthewoods.com/trail-reports/mount-clough |
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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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