| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Black Mountain (Benton), NH |
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 | Trails: |
Chippewa Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Friday, June 13, 2025 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Parking for 3-4 cars (maybe 1 or 2 more if carefully coordinated) at trailhead. Unaware of parking restrictions on roadside of Lime Kiln Road. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
All easy rock steps or planks. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Very few blazes on lower half of trail, but path generally well defined. More blazes on upper half, but a couple of turns (both up and down) are easy to miss. Blazes on rocks and ledges are all badly faded and desperately need a refresh. Some are not visible until you are actually standing on them. Some of these sections difficult to navigate as a result. There are at least two trees with blazes laying on trailside with no replacements.
Several steep sections covered in pine needles and slippery on descent.
No blowdowns or deadfall blocking trail.
Muddy sections have ample stepping stones. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Trailside brook in first .5 mile, after that didn't observe any water sources, but I really wasn't looking for any. Exposed ledges on upper half of trail, nothing technical though. |
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 | Bugs: |
A few buzzing and swarming. Skeeters in wet areas (duh). Not bad today, cool and breezy. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
lots of stuff in open box at foot of trailhead sign. |
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 | Comments: |
The major issues I had were all navigational. First problem is the sharp left turn going uphill off the road going right following the first .2. There is a well-defined path turning left, but in about .1+/- it crosses an old overgrown road that descends in both directions and the trail ahead ends. En route is a huge tree blocking trail with a well-developed walk-around, so many people have taken this wrong turn. Go 30 feet past this turn for the actual trail. Tree on left of this path has yellow blaze, but difficult to see and partially obscured. Tree on right side of path has wooden arrow marked "TRAIL", but it is very high up. The second issue is that some turns are easy to miss because there are paths going straight ahead that appear more defined than the trail that turns sharply (some of these alternates go to viewpoints). Third are the ledgey sections near the summit where there are multiple options to get off trail if you guess wrong or don't find the badly faded blazes.
Today the ledges were dry and grippy, but some of these contain bits of quartz, which can be slippery when wet. |
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 | Name: |
SpartyHikerFromME |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2025-06-13 |
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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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