| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Paugus - South Peak, Mt. Paugus, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Brook Trail, Bolles Trail, Old Paugus Trail, Bee Line Trail (Paugus Branch), Lawrence Trail, bushwhack, Cabin Trail, Whitin Brook Trail, Big Rock Cave Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, May 17, 2020 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
The road and parking lot are open. Paugus Rd had one small puddle at the beginning. Otherwise it was dry. It was very bumpy and rotted however and some rocks are beginning to pop up on it. I wouldn’t have wanted to try and drive down it if there were mud. Low clearance vehicles may get scraped slightly. When I arrived at 8:45am there were about a half dozen cars there. Room for maybe twice that. It looked like the lot overflowed slightly as there was a car parked along the road just outside the lot when I left and another on the road where the plowing stops in winter. Maybe a half dozen cars left (including those two) when I left around 7:30pm. I was surprised the lot wasn’t busier honestly. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Wet Trail, Ice - Blue, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Stable), Mud - Significant, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Unstable), Snow - Spring Snow, Snow/Ice - Postholes, Snow/Ice - Small Patches |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
There were several. If you have at least mid-cut waterproof boots then you should be able to get across all of them dry with some finagling. The first major crossing was of Paugus Brook on Bolles Trail 0.2mi from Brook Trail. The stepping stones were wet and one or two may have been slightly submerged but you could still pretty easily rock hop across just getting the bottom of your boots a little wet. There’s some helpful little logs on the south of the crossing to help you get to the stepping stones. Things were wet but didn’t seem slick. I believe there was an unstable rock on the south side we both stepped on once not realizing it moved. So watch for that. The crossing of Whitin Brook where Bickford Trail and Old Paugus Trail coincide involved stepping on submerged rocks but water was low enough that it didn’t go over our boot. If it were much higher it wouldn’t have been so much fun. The crossing of Whitin Brook 0.7mi from the trail’s start is smaller but doesn’t have many rocks to hop on. Someone put down this sort of grate that you could use to walk across which was very helpful. If it wasn’t for that it, we may have had to do a very shallow wade, possibly getting our feet wet. There are two small brook crossings within a quarter mile on either side of the south peak of Paugus: one on Old Paugus Trail and one on Lawrence Trail. They’re small but a bit deep currently likely due to melting snow up there. I think the one on Old Paugus drains a small boggy area not far from the trail (close to the Old Shag Camp). Some other inconsequential crossings further down Lawrence Trail. The crossings of Whitin Brook on Whitin Brook Trail were probably some of the hardest of the day. They usually aren’t deep or dangerous or anything but they just don’t have many rocks to hop on! I remember this when I hiked this trail before as well. I forget which of the three crossings it was, but I opted to cross on logs and rocks maybe a dozen yards upstream rather than wade across as my buddy did (they said it went just above the ankles). The way I went involves scrambling up the bank on the other side but I didn’t find it very difficult and it was clear many have gone that way recently. The other two were a little bit easier. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Bolles Trail, Lawrence Trail, and Big Rock Cave Trail were blazed in blue. Old Paugus Trail were blazed in yellow. I don’t recall the blaze color of Cabin Trail or Whitin Brook Trail. All in all, the trails were blazed but inconsistently so and although they were occasionally blazed decently, more often than not, the blazes were few and far between and mostly faded. Almost the entirety of our hike was in the Sandwich Range Wilderness though so this should be expected. Make sure to note the faded yellow arrow where Old Paugus Trail turns right out of the gully. The only other spot we had trouble finding the trail was the start of Lawrence Trail. If looking away from the trail sign for Old Paugus Trail, with the big boulders marking the beginning of the view spur to tour left, there is a large open area across the way and slightly left. There’s another, thinner opening in the woods, slightly to the left. You want the one on the left. The larger opening on the right is a dead end. It looked like I wasn’t the only one to make that mistake. The sign for the Lawrence Trail is just inside the woods. All trails seemed to have a pretty well established footbed though and were pretty well defined if occasionally narrow. The one exception may be the upper portion of Big Rock Cave Trail but that was actually pretty well blazed. Just a little lore obscure footbed. Someone with experience should have no problem following any of these trails. Those without, may have a little trouble but they really aren’t bad. There were a number of blowdowns of course but nothing crazy. A leaner/widow maker on Bolles Trail within a tenth of a mile of the start of Old Paugus Trail. A very old stepover on Old Paugus Trail not too long before the gully (maybe a quarter mile after the jct with Big Rock Cave Trail). There’s an old duck-under/leaner/widow maker immediately after you make the right turn out of the gully. An extensive blowdown area on Old Paugus not too long after but most things have been cleared from the trail other than some inconsequential step overs. A few old stepovers on the section of Bee Line we did. Several duck under a, learners, and widow makers in the short section of Old Paugus Trail between Bee Line and the first views on it. A small blowdown leaning on a wet ledge scramble that was probably intentionally felled to aid people in getting up the ledge. Pretty useless now though. One very old little step over right at the beginning of the northern section of Big Rock Cave Trail. All this said, there was some evidence of trail maintenance. Some blowdowns had some axe work so they could be stepped through, others seemed to be sawed in half, etc. Of course there are some nasty blowdown sections on the bushwhack to Paugus. I mostly avoided them on my way up but hit one or two on my way down. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
We saw one unleashed but well behaved. I wouldn’t recommend this hike for most hiking dogs due to the steep, rocky fully on Old Paugus Trail and the scrambles around the viewpoints up higher on the trail. Even if your dog can handle that, I don’t know if I’d recommend the bushwhack for any dog at this point given the snow conditions although they were brief. |
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 | Bugs: |
They were out but not too bad. Mostly black flies but a few mosquitos too. I don’t think the black flies were biting yet really but they were swarming and a bit bothersome when stopped below treeline. My partner put on their head net on Bee Line for awhile. None on the summit though and this was mostly without wind. I hardly noticed them on trail but I also put on DEET at the beginning of the hike. Their presence was mostly felt at the car. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
None and not too much trash either which was nice. Saw one rotten banana peel. |
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 | Comments: |
A great hike out with a fellow redlined and friend :) This hike essentially closed out the Chocorua tab for me. I’ll officially finish the tab on the Jim Liberty Sprinf Spur. Might as well redline Liberty Trail again too as I did it years ago before I started redlining. Luckily, my friend needed all these trails too so it worked well!
The route: Brook Trail —> Bolles Trail —> Old Paugus Trail —> out-and-back on Bee Line Trail from Old Paugus to Bee Line Cutoff —> Old Paugus Trail —> view spur on summit ledges —> Lawrence Trail —> bushwhack to Paugus —> Cabin Trail —> Whitin Brook Trail —> Old Paugus Trail (north) —> Big Rock Cave Trail (the northern section headed south) —> Whitin Brook Trail —> Old Paugus Trail —> Bolles Trail —> Brook Trail to car.
Some notes on the above route: I did the bushwhack alone. It may have made more sense to just do an out-and-back on the upper portion of Big Rock Cave Trail I needed but we missed the sign for it as it faces away from you so I just went back up Old Paugus and came down that instead and walked back along Whitin Brook. Same distance. I did this by myself and the bushwhack. We basically stayed together for everything else.
As noted above the water crossings were tricky without getting your feet wet but doable and certainly not dangerous. Many of these water crossings are tricky in this wilderness area just because there aren’t many rocks to step on. The trails also aren’t always very well blazed but are still pretty easy to follow especially if you have some experience. One tricky part is the turn right out of the gully on Old Paugus Trail. Look for a faded yellow arrow on a boulder. If you’ve nearly gotten to the top of the gully and there’s no way out than some sketchy scrambles, then you’ve gone too far. Also, note where Lawrence Trail begins as I mentioned above.
The trails were mostly dry with occasional mud pits, wet spots, and puddles of water. The snow began to appear around a quarter mile from the southern summit of Paugus. At its deepest here, it was maybe 2ft probably closer to 18in and generally less. Although it at times resembled a monorail it wasn’t because it was so much as the fact that people’s postholes makes it look like one. You will posthole. Don’t do this hike if you aren’t prepared for that (mentally or physically with waterproof boots and preferably gaiters). That said the postholing wasn’t that bad as it wasn’t that deep, and you could mostly just step in other peoples. Plus, this section is relatively short. Note that if descending Lawrence Trail, the snow goes on for awhile longer before becoming intermittent. The last snow we saw was on the northern section of the piece of Cabin Trail we were on which is at about 2300ft. So no snow below 2300ft. No consistent snow until I’d say about 2800ft here.
The bushwhack: this was my first time bushwhacking to Paugus. Based upon some research, it seemed like the easiest route would be from the southwest just a tenth or two of a mile past the southern Ledges along Lawrence Trail. This seemed to avoid some of the worst thick parts on the bushwhack and got rid of a little bit of elevation gain. Once on Lawrence Trail seems to be beginning to steadily descend, further curve left, and has thick brush to your right, you’ve gone too far. I began my bushwhack at a point just as the trail began to be descending and where I saw an open spot in the woods. You won’t be able to follow my tracks as there was no snow to the side of the trail at this point (there was snow on it however). There was no snow to start, then it became patchy, and then it became consistent but minimal snow depth. At times, it was avoidable. It was thick and scratchy in there but absolutely doable. I really didn’t find it that bad. I noticed that although I started southwest of the peak, I was really attacking it from the south after a short ways. I imagine this is what most do. I really just avoided the col between the main and south peaks. Some unfortunate, but shallow postholing until I got to within the highest topos line in Gaia. At that point I seemed to come to a relative high point although I was fairly certain it wasn’t the high point. Things were hellish from there on. Much thicker, unavoidable woods, as others have reported, immediately around the high point. Also, the snow depth increased and was constant around here. Small area and it probably only accounted for 10% of my distance but it probably took about 50% of my time due to the conditions. Anyway, I headed through this in search of the high point, following my nose. It wasn’t too hard to find that way ;) The high point was on the east side of this topos line and in the middle of it (north-south wise). The high point is a raised little ridge without snow. The canister was easy to see on it. I planned on following my footsteps (postholes) out but the no snow area here lead me to follow it as long as I could. Bad choice. It didn’t last long. I attempted to get back on my oringinal course, ended up crossing it, and headed in a bit a bit off course. I also hit some very thick areas this way and blowdown areas and deeper snow even outside of the highest topos line. I got back on track at about the mid point and it was easy going from there. The woods naturally lead me back to my starting point :)
Beautiful day with lots of sweating! |
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 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
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 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2020-05-18 |
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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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