| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
None , NH |
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 | Trails: |
Bolles Trail, Beeline Trail (Paugus Branch), Beeline Cutoff |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Monday, January 20, 2020 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Paugus Rd was plowed to where the guidebook said it would be. I’d bring a shovel. Difficult parking situation. We just parked at the end. If anyone else parked there they’d be blocking us thus forcing others to find an alternative which didn’t feel great. Maybe room at the end of the road?? We did notice what we thought were new tracks up Brook Trail but we didn’t see any cars when we returned around 2:30 or 3pm. I got confused on the mess of roads back there but Chocorua Lake Road was closed near the Paugus Rd side. Nothing indicating this further up the road when we reconnected with it closer to the lake. |
|
 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Snow - Drifts |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Good thing we had some recent snow and cold temps to form snow/ice bridges. The ten small crossings on the northern sign were insignificant as far as I remember. There were maybe three or so that were larger and a bit tricky. The last one near the end of the trail was bridged pretty well so it wasn’t much of an issue. The one right as you turn onto Beeline from Bolles was actually more difficult as it wasn’t bridged the entire way. It was thin in spots as well and part of it collapsed beneath me when on the far side. One friend just didn’t want to deal with that so just continued on Bolles Trail and met up with us at its jct with Beeline Cutoff. My other friend just found another spot to cross nearby and was fine. |
|
 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Bolles Trail is blazed in yellow but inconsistently. It started out with the occasional blaze but the blazing seemed to stop entirely as you approached the height-of-land. It reappeared on the other side. I believe it was consistent from then on although it follows some old roads on the south side so is obvious. The blazes are faded but visible; it wouldn’t hurt to reblaze the trail. No blaze on the short section of Beeline we were on and I don’t believe there was any on the Cutoff either. Surprisingly few blowdowns on this trail! We may have just missed something but when the trail intersects Bickford Trail, it only went in one direction whereas one of us thought Bickford continued on in the other direction. My memory was that they briefly coincide and then Bickford diverges but we never saw it doing so; just the one intersection with it. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Should be a fine trail for dogs but it may have been too cold for them Monday. We had one with us and it needed a coat. |
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 | Bugs: |
None |
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 | Lost and Found: |
None |
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|
 | Comments: |
A nice redline with some fellow red liners of a little over 6mi including the road walk along Paugus Rd. A cold morning to start (around 10F when we started on the Kanc) but things warmed up once at the height of the land and we headed south into the sunshine around noon.
Other than where the trail coincides with Brook Trail or Champney Falls Trail we broke trail the entire way which was tiring but snow depth wasn’t all that significant. You’ll definitely still need snowshoes as things are not packed down and the snow didn’t seem like it would compact well. Generally speaking, we only sank a few inches in snowshoes. Sank a bit deeper as there was more snow near the height-of-land (about 2ft above any base there base there was) but never sank above the knee.
Generally speaking the trail wasn’t too hard to find even while breaking trail with no trench but we did have to peek around a bit at times on the ascent to the height-of-land. The descent from there was more obvious as it followed some roads with the exception of the area around Mudgett Camp as described in the guidebook. After descending from the height-of-land, the grade levels out and there is a shallow stream right where the trail is (look for blazes trees in the stream). We stayed to the right of the stream for a little bit keeping an eye out for the blazes. Eventually there weren’t any more ahead of us so we crossed and found the trail on the other side. No indication of whether we crossed in the correct place though. The guidebook says that (coming from the other direction) a snowmobile trail diverges right in here. When we first lost the trail (we tried going to the right around the stream where the trail was) I noted it off to our left. it was marked with red diamonds. If you can’t find the trail I would just follow that until it meets up with the trail shortly. I also kept these in sight as I looked for yellow blazes and signs of the trail. After crossing the stream and beginning to feel like there was something resembling a trail corridor again, we soon came to a clearing that must have been the old Mudgett Camp. When you come to it, the trail just seems to disappear. TAKE A LEFT! And look for an arrow on a tree. The trail is then obvious and almost immediately crosses a bridge. There’s a more dilapadated arrow to the right in the other direction which would be even easier to miss. You won’t see the arrows unless you know to turn left or look around though. Also, very shortly after the trail diverges from Champney Falls Trail, there was a snowshoe track that crossed the trail. My friends who’d gotten started while I was still gearing up mistakenly followed this track instead of the trail. I don’t think we’ve gotten any snow since Monday so watch out for that. There was also a bareboot track just after descending from the height-of-land (but before the hard to follow part) that crossed the trail. Very odd. Only one spot on the 0.2mi of Beeline we were on that we had to look around a bit for the trail. The Cutoff was fine. Of course if you use this trail before the next snow, you should just be able to follow our tracks which should make for a fairly easy hike. Get it while it’s hot!! |
|
 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
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 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2020-01-21 |
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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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