 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, February 8, 2020 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
There is hiker parking just after the fork along Canaan Turnpike Rd (sometimes shown as Grafton Turnpike - right fork and lot on left side of headed from Lyme). Room for maybe almost a dozen cars there. Room for a few more at 10:30am. Only 5-6 left when we returned around 2:30pm. Somewhat of a humorous trek in as we came in along Route 4 and then took dirt Grafton Turnpike for about 10mi. A very bumpy, snow covered rd. Slow going those last several miles and I’m not sure if a 2WD car would make it. I’d been there before but came in from 93 so had no idea. We of course opted to go back a different way. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
The only water crossing was of the brook at the “overhanging ledge†as the guidebook describes. It was mostly snow bridged and although we could see an open spot nearby that had deeper water, the spot where we crossed seemed to be pretty shallow anyway. Shouldn’t cause any problems unless water was very high but there is a large step up the ledge that could be difficult for people with bad knees. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
If there were blowdowns I’m not recalling them at the moment. While my parents bemoaned this hard to follow trail and my mother proclaimed that “the AT is the worst blazed trail ever†it really wasn’t bad at all. The blazes were often old but still very visible and the markings were actually quite often. Given that they’re white and it’s trail breaking in winter, it may take something of a trained eye to see them though. There was also a spot maybe between a a half mile and three quarters of a mile in from Dorchester Rd that was obscure and possibly a bit overgrown (it can be hard to to tell in winter if it’s actually overgrown or if the weight of the snow is just pulling the trees into the trail). There were many double blazes on the trail that seemed unnecessary. A couple marked slight turns in the trail but many didn’t seem to mark anything at all...in fact, headed back (westwards) we saw a double blaze shortly before the water crossing and turned uphill rather than continue straight assuming that it marked a turn we missed on the way in but we found this to clearly not be the case. In other words the double blazes sometimes did more to confuse than to help. The trail also crosses a snowmobile trail twice and there aren’t any signs indicating where the trail goes. Both go straight across and do not follow the road at all but the trail was obscured by a blowdown on the far side of the first crossing so we ended up following the road and got off trail. We didn’t find it until it crossed again (no signs but not as hard to see). |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Didn’t see any but saw some prints that came in from the Lambert Ridge side for maybe a half mile or so and then bushwhacked up with their owner. Should be a fine trail for dogs. |
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 | Bugs: |
None |
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 | Lost and Found: |
None |
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