| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mudgetts Pond Peak, Thompson Hill, Pollard Hill (Dorchester), Thompson Hill - South Peak (Dorchester), NH |
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 | Trails: |
Bike trails, Snomo trails, buswhack |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, April 12, 2026 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
We spotted a car at the driveable end of Cider Mill Rd and then drove up N Dorchester road, hoping to park at the large biking parking lot just north of Cummings Pond Rd. However N Dorchester Rd had a 'Muddy Road' sign north of Cummings Pond Rd and it seemed like the pike lot was closed for mud season. There were additional 'no parking Nov 1 - Apr 15' roadside signs, including at the turnaround at drivable end of Cummings Pond Rd, so we had to get a bit creative on parking here. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Lot's of wet trails/running water but no meaningful unbridged crossings |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
ha! |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Champ briefly enjoyed the moose bone we found. Tucker was less into it. |
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 | Bugs: |
not yet |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
We intended to take the Quimby Bike trail to the warming hut, but got rerouted due to parking situation onto running-water old snomo trails before we hit the lovely bike trails NE of Mudgets Pond Peak. Followed the trails to the nice and open warming hut NW of the peak then whacked up from there. Found the RHP easily and signed in.
Whacked SW off the peak to the snomo trail traveling between Mudgets Pond Peak and Thompson, which we followed west, passing a non-existent N/S trail shown on some maps until we hit the main N/S snomo corridor. Followed that south until we were close enough to the NW ridge of Thompson to have a decent line up it. Whacked up in decent woods, bunch of moose activity here. Found the RHP and jar (with two punctures to the lid and a damp, but not ruined register).
Again whacked down SW, aiming for the snomo trail between Thompson and S Thompson, which we hit then followed west to rejoin the main corridor, which we followed south until the mapped road going up Pollard from just south of east. Road doesn't really exist but we found helpful traces of it. We entered the woods at the corner of an old stone wall, and followed the wall perpendicular to the snomo trail. We crossed a minor drainage, where the stone wall ended but the traces of the road became more obvious and helpful. Followed this up, then a decent traverse towards the northern end of of the summit plateau but eventually found the RHP and jar.
Followed our tracks back down to the snomo trail, which we followed south then turned east at a junction, which we followed to the HOL just north of Thompson South. We went into the woods from here, in mixed woods, with a lot of mini ponds/bogs to navigate around and eventually got to the RHP on the southern bump. Headed SE off the summit, eventually hitting some mixed old woods roads and finally a great woods road that took us right down to the class 6 rd, a short distince north of the car spot. This road should be easy to find if you're heading up this way.
Took about 4:40 total. 1:10 to Mudgets. Another 1:10 from Mudgets to Thompson. 50 mins from Thompson to Pollard. 1:00 from Pollard to S Thompson and 30 mins from S Thompson back to the car. Probably could have shaved off 20-30 mins of this if the snomo trails weren't not running water / deep mud in many places, but it's April so we got what we paid for.
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 | Name: |
Big Al Dente |
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 | E-Mail: |
bigaldentenh@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2026-04-13 |
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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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