| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Whitcomb Mountain - South Peak, Whitcomb Mountain - Middle Peak, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Bushwhack |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Thursday, June 26, 2025 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
From 110 in Stark, Bell hill Rd -> Paris Rd -> Philips Brook Rd -> Whitcomb Rd -> Parked in a clearing, just before the road turns SSW . All roads were in pretty good shape. Some logging activity on Paris Rd, but nothing problematic. Whitcomb Rd might not be fun in a low-clearance vehicle, and there's a culvert sticking up on Philips Brook Rd, west of Phillips Brook, but could drive around it pretty easily.
Heading north towards Dixville to exit. Followed what Google Maps shows as W Br Rd north, skirting the outlet of Phillips Pond to the east, which was a lousy road, made even worse when I found the bridge across Phillips Br was long gone and blocked by large boulders. Had to retrace my path back to Phillips pond, and go around on E Br Rd. No issues getting from here up to Dixville and seems like this area is well maintained for wind farm maintenance.
Remind me at some point to take a rental car down Devil's Washboard road. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Champ and Tucker still crushing their 500H progress |
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 | Bugs: |
Head net on around 50% of the day |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
3rd hike of the day after Dummer Ponds and Long - East. I was hoping the logging activity would make this easier - quite the opposite. From the get go, the logging areas were very overgrown or slashed. I followed some of the slash SW, and then tried to follow the southern edge of the logging area until I hit unlogged woods. This worked, but wasn't fast or fun. Then I roughly aimed for the col south of Whitcomb Middle. Woods weren't awful, but they were steep and never great. It was a grueling ascent. Woods and grades were better once I hit the ridge and found the summit of Whitcomb M quickly.
I tried to skirt to the west of the subpeak between here and Whitcomb S. This worked pretty well though it was very ferny at times. Took about 60 minutes to get over to Whitcomb S. From here, I considered retracing my steps, but opted to descend ESE in hoped of hooking up with a logging road, then contouring around the eastern subpeak at around 2500, before hooking back up with Whitcomb road and road walking back to the car. I would give this route a C-. The descent was never open and pushed me north into a drainage. The logging road I was looking for was grassy-overgrown, but still useful with a trampled single lane, presumably from firetower traffic. I ducked back into the woods around 2550, and was initially in pleasant hobblebush. Once north of the col, it turned into logged hell, with nipple high prickers and no way out. We fought through it and were relieved to get back to the road, before a quick jaunt back to the car.
3.5hrs total. 1:15 up to Whitcomb M, 1:00 from Middle to South and 1:15 down. This didn't feel like a good route as I was doing it, but in hindsight, I guess the time was pretty good - certainly faster than going at it from the west. If I were doing it again, I would start more WNW and aim for the northern spine of Whitcomb M (maybe even from Devil's Washboard Rd), and hopefully do a car spot where-ever folks park for the East Whitcomb fire tower.
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 | Name: |
Big Al Dente |
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 | E-Mail: |
bigaldentenh@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2025-06-28 |
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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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