| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Shoal Pond Peak, Shoal Pond - South Peak (Twintop), NH |
|
 | Trails: |
East Side Trail, Wilderness Trail, Thoreau Falls Trail, bushwhack |
|
 | Date of Hike: |
Monday, July 21, 2025 |
|
 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
|
|
 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail |
|
 | Recommended Equipment: |
|
|
 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Both cedar brook and east branch of the pemi were rock-hopable, with care. I was glad I had my poles for east branch. |
|
 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
|
|
 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Champ and Tucker had a great day. Champ keeps losing his collar bells on these whacks though. |
|
 | Bugs: |
minimal with the cool temps/good breeze |
|
 | Lost and Found: |
|
|
|
|
|
 | Comments: |
Figured I'd take advantage of the great weather forecast and get one of the longer days out of the way. I initially planned to go from Zealand, but once I realized the 'best' route for Shoal Pond peak was from the height of land on Thoreau Pond Trail, SW of the peak (thanks Michelle!), I pivoted to an approach from Lincoln woods. I figured this way saved me an hour of driving (coming from the south) and ~500ft of elevation gain in exchange for an additional 2 miles of fast/flat approach trail. I also knew that I could make better time on east side & wilderness trails vs the Zealand route.
Trails were as expected getting to the HOL on Thoreau Falls trail. Some blowdowns, but generally clear, dry and fast. Took us a little under 3 hrs to get to cover the 9 miles to the Thoreau Falls Trails HOL SW of Shoal Pond peak where we launched our whack. I was very pleased with this approach - the woods were usually pretty open - a fun whack instead of a brutal one. One nasty spruce area around 2700, but in hindsight I think I could have avoided it by staying a bit further south. The summit ridge had some denser pencil trees that we had to weave through. Broke through the pencils and found the cannister easily which is unusually high up the tree. HOL to summit took us about 70 minutes.
From Shoal Pond Peak, we headed toward Twintop. First. we aimed for the col between the minor subpeak to the south of Shoal. It was a bit tricky to keep a good line but we avoided the temptation to get pulled to far west. Hit the col, then skirted the subpeak to the west. Woods were fine in some places and not great in other - a fair amount of high hobblebush. The ascent up the northern sub-peak of Twintop was real steep, although open. Finally we made it to Twintop proper - about 70 minutes from Shoal Pond Peak. I think I was expecting the ascent up Shoal to be harder than it was and the ridge to be easier than it was.
We descended due west off Twintop, in initially steep, but open woods. Followed some drainages for a bit. Some hobblebush here and there, but overall a good route down. Only took us 25 mins to get back to Thoreau Fall Trail, at which point we started our long walk back out to Lincoln Woods.
Whole day took about 8hrs and I was pretty happy with the decision to approach from Lincoln Woods and the whacking routes we chose.
|
|
 | Name: |
Big Al Dente |
|
 | E-Mail: |
bigaldentenh@gmail.com |
|
| Date Submitted: |
2025-07-22 |
|
 | Link: |
 https:// |
|
|
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. |
|
