| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Black Mountain, Deboullie Mountain, ME |
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 | Trails: |
Black Mountain Trail, Little Black Ponds Trail, Tower Trail, Gardner Loop Trail, Waterfall Loop Trail (North Fork), Deboullie Loop Trail, Gardner Portage Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, June 21, 2025 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
The directions in the guidebook were accurate and we came in from Portage Lake. While the peaks we did on this day involved WAYYY more driving on dirt roads than I ever did when working on the NH500 Highest up in northern NH, the roads are in MUCH better condition. They are private logging roads that are well taken care of. Expect the main ones to be very wide and, each turn from there generally speaking, the roads will get narrower and narrower. That being said, even by the time we got onto the grassy centerline type of roads, the centerline wasn't really raised and they were in good shape with few exceptions. Low clearance should be okay; just watch out for the potholes and logging trucks (mainly Monday through Thursday and they don't run on weekends). The one possible exception to this is when you actually get into Deboullie; the last 1/2mi or so to Deboullie East is much narrower and has larger potholes. Low clearance may get scraped here. Room for a half-dozen plus cars I think and we were only one of two or three around 8:15am. Similar when I returned 6pm. $18/person for non-ME residents ($13 for residents) for day-use fee to North Maine Woods. $110 for season pass, and $15 on top of day-use fee for camping. Day-use free for those under 18 and over 70 and camping free for those under 18. Note that there is a small section of the roads in that my iPhone GPS got confused on and tried to tell me that we were off the route when we actually were not. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Many of these trails were in much worse shape than I imagined. Tower Trail seemed well travelled enough, Black Mtn Trail EAST of Tower Trail was lightly travelled but was in decent shape, Deboullie Loop east of Tower Trail was okay, but I think most everything else needed significant work. Black Mtn Trail east of Tower Trail: two easy birch stepovers 15min into Black Mtn Trail from Deboullie East, large widowmaker shortly thereafter, bridge over the brook that connects Little Black Ponds and Black Pond had a missing board and several others that looked in rough shape, a few leaners/duck unders most on the larger side 5-10min before reaching Four Ponds Overlook, a couple of small, easy stepovers, and a leaner/widowmaker that's on the smaller side 10-15min before Gardner Rockslide Overlook. Tower Trail: one large duck under or widowmaker depending on how tall you are. Black Mtn Trail west of Tower Trail: nice big swath of blowdowns immediately after the privy that totally obscure the trail and go on for a ways and some are on the larger side, a mid-sized duck under that's been at least partially delimbed 5min later, then a smaller duck under 5min after that followed by a mid-sized easy stepover, several, mostly small stepovers and leaners as the trail contours below the rock slide and you can see Deboullie Pond through the trees, followed by a larger one shortly before reaching the jct with Gardner Loop Trail. Gardner Loop Trail: some blowdowns around Gardner North Campsite and the spur to the cliffs and view but I don't recall specifics, mid-sized delimbed easy stepover on the north side of Gardner before it climbs to the north, mid-sized mossy widowmaker 5min later, cluster of annoying small-mid sized blowdowns 5min after that, then a few different clumps of blowowns by the HOL on the trail by the pond to the north of Gardner Pond that the trail climbs to, then descends, small-mid sized blowdown not yet delimbed just after the bridge over western inlet to Gardner Pond, then a rerouted but still real muddy section of trail that could use some work about 10min after, a couple of delimbed stepovers of various sizes between Gardner Point and the north summit of Gardner, this trail could also use a lot of brushing in places. Waterfall Loop Trail/Gardner Loop Trail (East): mid-sized duck under somewhere around the jct of the north and south fork, followed by a similar one a couple minutes later. Deboullie Loop Trail: one small and one mid-sized not yet delimbed blowdowns together that you've got to clamber over just a tenth or two of a mile east of where the trail departs from Gardner Loop Trail, mid-large widowmaker a couple of mins later, small partially delimbed stepover 5min after, almost immediately followed by two large mostly delimbed duck unders, and a widowmkaer above the trail (this is also 10min before you reach the talus field), large widowmaker at the end of the talus field, followed by two mid-sized stepovers 5-10min after, and one trivial old stepover just before reaching the jct with Black Mtn Trail just for good measure ;P All trails are blazed in blue and, surprinsingly, usually realtively frequently. Some jcts are signed but many are not and, when they're not, some are very easy to miss. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Dogs are allowed but mist be leashed and are not allowed on beaches from April 1st through September 30th. I think that most hiking dogs would be okay with the level of steepness and any minor scrambling involved in this hike. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
This was a more challenging day than I'd anticipated given the condition of the trails. Here's the redlining route starting from the parking area by Deboullie East: Black Mtn Trail - OAB on Little Black Ponds Trail/Spur - Black Mtn Trail - OAB on Tower Trail - Black Mtn Trail - Gardner Loop Trail - Waterfall Loop Trail (North Fork) - Gardner Loop Trail (coinciding with Deboullie Loop Trail between Gardner and Deboullie ponds) - OAB on Gardner Portage Trail - Gardner Loop Trail north to jct with Black Mtn Trail and back to - Deboullie Loop Trail along north side of pond back to car.
Make sure not to miss spur 50ft on right to Black Pond, 500ft spur to Gardner North Campsite, 150ft spur to view of Gardner Pond and cliffs from talus field (WHICH NOW MAKES A LOOP BACK TO GARDNER LOOP TRAIL which I did, then an OAB on missing portion of Gardner Loop Trail), 0.15mi spur to Gardner Point Shelter, and Gardner Portage Trail to Gardner East and Deboullie West, and spur 40ft to pond along Deboullie Loop. Most of these were not signed so it helped to have waypoints that I dropped on Gaia. Most significant things to note are that the Little Black Pond Spur is south of where it's actually shown on Gaia (though I still don't think it's quite a 1/2mi) and is signed, Gardner North Campsite icon is west of where it actually is though it shows the spur trail correctly, Waterfall Loop (North Fork) and especially Gardner Loop Trail just east of here follow a route a bit different than that shown on Gaia, and there's a reroute just west of Gardner Point along Gardner Loop Trail that's easy to miss though the reroute is correctly shown on Gaia. Indeed, there are many turns and jcts easy to miss here as many jcts are not signed. For example, the jct of the Gardner North Campsite Spur, the spur trail (again, NOW LOOP) to the viewpoint, and actual Gardner Loop Trail is very confusing, and mostly unsigned (I think someone carved a tentsite icon into a tree), I continued right onto the spur to Gardner Point without noticing Gardner Loop Trail turning right to ascend Gardner, and on the north summit of Gardner, I continued south a short ways before realizing I'd missed my turn onto the north fork of Waterfall Loop, and there's what I believe is a rerouted section of trail just west of Denny Trail where the trail leaves the road for a footpath to avoid a particularly washed out section of road and this is very easy to miss and the road and rerouted section are so close together that Gaia isn't much help.
The trails were wet in the morning from recent rain, but dried out nicely, and, all in all, I don't think were that muddy. The one major exception that comes to mind is the rerouted section of Gardner Loop Trail south of Gardner Point Lean-To. I hope these trails get some much needed maintenance as this is a scenic area. I think it's used much more for fishing and camping than it is hiking. I saw one large group of young folk from Caribou (I joked that I didn't think the town had a population as big as their group!) on Tower Trail and one other young woman on Gardner Loop. Crocamole was fed up after coming down the west side of Black Mtn Trail and bailed on the rest of the hike and just walked back along the north side of Deboullie Loop. Lastly, I'll just say that while all these peaks are below 2000ft, expect the trails to be steeper and rougher than you anticipate. There are a lot of little rises and falls that are easy to miss on Gaia. Gaia had me at 16.5mi, 3500ft of gain, 9.5hrs. |
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 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2025-07-03 |
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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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