Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
| Peaks |
Stub Hill, North Stub Hill, NH |
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| Trails: |
Bushwhack |
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| Date of Hike: |
Thursday, October 17, 2024 |
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| Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Access to these northern NH peaks was accomplished by driving on Megalloway Rd off US 3 near the Canadian border. Megalloway is an excellent dirt road, easy for any vehicle to drive. We then turned onto Smith Brook Rd (not signed), another excellent dirt road for any vehicle to travel. Next we turned onto Stub Hill road (not signed) and the route became much more rough. Higher clearance vehicle is highly recommended from this point. The road was snow covered with about 1 to 2 inches of fresh snow. No issue. The crown is quite high in many places causing my SUV to lightly scrape in a few places. There was also quite a few icy puddles that we had to depth test before proceeding. I elected to park the car at an unnamed junction about 2.5 miles from the height of land between Stub and North Sub Hills. The snow over the road was getting too deep for my liking. I think it would be fine for a high clearance vehicle to make it all the way to the height of land with careful driving. No major obstacles on this 2.5 mile stretch. |
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| Surface Conditions: |
Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Wet/Sticky |
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| Recommended Equipment: |
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| Water Crossing Notes: |
No water crossings |
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| Trail Maintenance Notes: |
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| Dog-Related Notes: |
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| Bugs: |
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| Lost and Found: |
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| Comments: |
List: NH Hundred Highest and NH 500 Highest*
Trail: road walk, herd path, and bushwhack
Jar/Canister: yes, both peaks
*There is not an official NH 500 list. I took my list from 48X12.com. I believe that North Stub Hill is probably on NH 200 or 300 Highest Lists as well, but I do not have those and cannot confirm.
We began our quest by hiking Stub Hill first. We easily located the herd path that leads to Stub Hill Pond in the snow. We followed this until we needed to head south towards the peak. The woods were nice through here. Just shy of the summit cone there were numerous large pine trees ensconced in thick snow that we had to push through to get to the summit. It was a very wet endeavor. We located the canister without much issue. There is quite a lovely view of Lake Francis through the trees at the summit. We made very quick work following our foot steps back down to the road.
Back at the road we shot another bearing and headed towards North Stub. The initial woods were open, but very wet with much bog like terrain and the snow. This was short lived as we began climbing very steeply through tighter terrain. It was a bit challenging to stay on bearing as there were pine thickets to avoid. We reached a flat top of sorts, almost a false summit, thinking the woods would turn nice from this point. Ha! Looking north we could clearly see the land continued to climb upwards, right past a wall of conifers. We managed to thread our way in, through and around these tree gatekeepers, snow dumping right down the necks of our rain gear. It took some muscle to push through some of the thickest trees. We reached the hight of land and located the canister without much issue.
As before, we thought heading back would be fast as we could simply follow our foot steps. Ha! The trees were being mischievous, shedding gallons of snow from their weighted branches in the warm sunlight. Our tracks were nearly completely filled in. No matter, our compass bearing took us right back to the start. |
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| Name: |
Remington34 |
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| E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2024-10-20 |
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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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