| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mud Pond, Jeffers Brook Shelter, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Tunnel Brook Trail, Town Line Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, February 2, 2020 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Long Pond Rd is closed for logging so you have to park at a gate 100ft into the road. There was one spot created by former cars parking there and it had already been taken so I parked up the trail sign where there was enough room to pull off. If I had a shovel I could have dug our another spot by the gate probably. The other car’s driver was probably doing Bluberry Mtn as I didn’t see anyone. If the lot was full you could travel a few tenths of a mile up the road and park at the Glencliff Trail instead. The roads in were fine. Didn’t see any other cars there upon my return. Add 0.4mi each way to get to Tunnel Brook Trail. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Ice - Blue, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
There are a number of water crossings on these trails. Most had snow/ice bridges at least partway across but they often looked thin to me. Nevertheless, I made it across fine on all of them on Tunnel Brook Trail. The major one at the end of Town Line Trail I didn’t do because I’d foolishly dropped my snowshoes and pack which had my micro spikes in them and of course the crossings was icy. I might not have done the crossing anyway as the snow/ice bridges weren’t complete and the crossings is wide and somewhat deep. Probably would have had to wade across and get a bit wet. I’d avoid these trails in times of high water. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Tunnel Brook Trail is blazed in yellow. The blazing is very inconsistent. There are two yellow blazes practically tree by tree near the beginning of the trail and then there are very few except for in the areas of reroutes (where the trail corridor is practically nonexistent) and a few old faded blazes on the north side of the beaver ponds. On the north side of the beaver ponds, the trail is occasionally marked with cairns (several smaller ones and one larger one) which eases your mind a bit as the trail isn’t too obvious and there isn’t anything to indicate you’re on the trail other than these occasional cairns. There are also several blowdowns on the trail. Many hadn’t been trimmed and were easiest to just go around. All in all, I’d hope to see some maintenance to remove blowdowns and fresh blazing on this trail soon. See my notes about the hard to follow areas in the comments section. Town Line Trail had one large duck under I can remember. Slightly closer to the Wachipauka Pond side. The trail was blazed in white for the AT but I don’t really recall how well. I do remember seeing that the blazing by the large water crossing near Route 25 was telling you to cross at a few different places based upon the blazing on one side of the crossing vs the other and what blazes the trees were on based upon which direction you were headed. There’s a forest boundary line here and it must be with private property as there was a sign saying “no pedestrians.†It was, of course, in the direction of a bridge. There was a sign to the Jeffers Brook Shelter but none for the spur to the shelter (alhough I still found it) or to the cascades although I did find a path to them but it was after the shelter whereas the guidebook said it should be on the opposite side of it. Nearby the shelter there is a sign that says water with a light blue blaze on it. There is an obvious path to the right that leads to water...there’s also one to the left, blazed in blue) but that is terribly overgrown...weird. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Other than the large and difficult crossing on Townline Trail bear NH25, dogs should be okay on these trails. |
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 | Bugs: |
I spotted a spider when I took a fall on Town Line Trail. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
None |
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 | Comments: |
It’s been awhile since I’ve done a longer, more challenging hike, and I thought this 10+ mile hike with what I anticipated would be extensive trail breaking would fit the bill. Although I also tacked one Town Line Trail to the end of my day making it 13.5mi, it still was fairly easy given how little snow there was. I did use snowshoes essentially the entire hike but the snow depth was often only a couple inches and was often crusty and thus partially supportive.
The day started out cloudy, but I got a little bit of sun as I reached my turn around point at the Benton Trail. Soon after turning around, it clouded up again and snow showers rained down for most of my way back. Towards the end the sun shined through once again and this time the skies even cleared :D It was 28F when I started around 7:45am which was significantly warmer than I thought it would be. 32F upon my return shortly before 4pm. Per usual, I overdressed. I spent most of the day in just a base layer (or fleece once my base layer was soaked with sweat) and my hard shell rain jacket.
As noted above, although none of the crossings were an issue except for the large one on Town Line Trail, while some crossings did seem to have thin bridges, they all held my 200lbs fine. Although the trail isn’t really blazed except in some rerouted areas, it was generally easy to follow except in the areas around the ponds. The first tricky spot is as you move towards the north end of Mud Pond. You start to see lots of storm damage with lots of blowdowns and although there clearly is a trail dead ahead, there is some brush blocking the way and a yellow blaze to your left indicating a rerouted trail. The reroute is very, very short but totally obscure. The basic gist of it is that you circle around to the left to avoid crossing a little inlet and some blowdowns and meet up at the bank on the other side. After the initial blaze, it’s tricky to see how the two points meet up but I could see a blaze on the bank in the distance so I just moved that way. It would honestly just be easier to ignore the longer and seemingly unnecessary reroute and just stick onto the former trail. It is only 75yds or so. I saw some surveyors tape and two rocks stacked so I thought that may have been the direction of the reroute but it didn’t seem trail like over there so I figured that it was perhaps marks the start of a bushwhack up the cliffs of Clough?? Again, you won’t get lost in there. There’a just a little reroute to the left and the original trail goes straight. It’s clear where the two meet up but the reroute itself was totally obscure. If I wasn’t redlining and trying to stick to the trail as closely as I could, I wouldn’t have given it much thought.
Immediately after, it was unclear if the trail bears right along the northern end of the pond or went straight into the woods which looked tight. I eventually noticed a blown down tree with a blaze on it in a large cluster of blowdowns that indicated the trail went straight into the woods. There was a yellow tag on a tree somewhere along in here which I briefly confused for a blaze before realizing the trial clearly did not go that way. The final difficult section wasn’t long after where the trail goes right (indicated by several yellow blazes marking the reroute) but the old trail goes straight and is much more obvious. I continued straight, over the brook without realizing I was off trail, so again it’s not obvious you’re off it until you happen to see a yellow blaze elsewhere. Once I did, I backtracked to find all the yellow blazes back to the point I went off trail. It was probably a tenth of a mile. There weren’t any large blowdowns on the old section of trail so the only reason I can think for the reroute is the large(ish) water crossing which is probably a wade in summer.
From there on the trail wasn’t hard to follow although I was glad to occasionally see cairns to confirm I was going the right way. I eventually reached the road. I should have taken my snowshoes off but left them on until down to the jct with Benton Trail. I saw another man without a pack or anything along here. We waved to each other but he entered the woods before we could talk. I was curious what he was doing out there! The return trip was uneventful other than that I noticed just how many moose prints I went over with my snowshoes on the north end of the trail. I’d still recommend bringing a small set of snowshoes for this trail but after having snowshoes over it twice and given the minimal depth, it wouldn’t be the worst thing to bareboat right now. You’d probably want some sort of mild traction for the water crossings though.
Nearly back at the car, along my road walk, I took a right onto Town Line Trail. There’s an unmarked path that leads right to the shelter before the official shelter spur. It wasn’t hard or find if you were keeping an eye out for it. From the shelter? There’s a short path down to some water (see by trail maintenance notes above for a little oddity here) and to a rather uniquely large and open privy to the right. From here, I took the official path back to the Town Line Trail and continued passing a short spur to the cascades on my left (not sure if this is the one the guidebook mentions as it was on the wrong side of the shelter). Some obnoxious ups and downs here. The blazing was a little confusing near the large crossing. I turned around here as I didn’t have traction for the icy crossing having dropped my pack with my snowshoes and spikes earlier. |
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 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
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 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2020-02-03 |
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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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