| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Cape Horn, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Woods roads, bushwhack |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, June 13, 2020 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
We parked on Lost Nation Rd by the gated access road entering Cape Horn State Forest |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant, Leaves - Significant/Slippery |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
no issues |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Nice hike / bushwhack to this NH 500 Highest peak. From our parking location we started hiking west at moderate grade along the gated woods road that leads into Cape Horn State Forest. The woods road leveled off and as we started dropping in elevation, we followed for a short distance (.35miles from truck) we jumped o an older woods road heading northwest uphill that skirted on side of a 1780-foot bump to the north of us. We followed that for a short distance and jumped on an even older woods road heading north.
The 1780-foot bump was now to our east. These older woods road had lots of blowdown and lots moose activity on it. We stayed on this for a short distance until it turned east. We now continued north bushwhacking the turned west dropping down in nice woods to the col between 1780-foot bump behind us and our destination the summit of Cape Horn. Just before the col we started hitting patches of pickers bushes, then lots of pricker bushes, crossed the power ling and started climbing at moderate grade still in and out of pricker bushes.
Finally, we were able to jump back into some nice open woods and stop the bleeding. We then picked up an overgrown wood’s road heading in our direction and followed that for a bit. Once the road started heading away from the summit we jumped off and started bushwhacking west. All of a sudden we popped out of the woods to a massive solid rock wall of that looked a mile-high stopping us in our tracks. We then headed north dropping down looking for crack in the armor we could get up. We found what looked like an avenue but after giving it a go we figured it would be too tricky getting back down after.
So, we keep moving / dropping north and found an approach we felt comfortably going up and more importantly getting back down. Hand over fist we went, grabbing what we could to scramble up some really steep stuff and soon enough it leveled off as we turned south and continued climbing. Now we’re hiking on top of and just feet away from the edge of the mile-high rock wall we ran into earlier.
Soon enough we hit the recognized high point, sign into the register and drop down to a cliff area just east of the summit with awesome views. On our return trip after very carefully getting back down that ledge scramble we followed some of those older wood’s roads allowing us to skip some of those pricker bushes.
Really nice hike clocking in 5.5 miles of hike / bushwhacking, 1700 feet of elevation gain and between Mary and I we picked up only 24 ticks ïŒ. The 1700 feet of elevation gain is kind of funny see we started at 1400 feet; the summit was 2050 feet. I guess there was so ups and downs along the way. We probably should have saved this for our NH 500 Highest finish.
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 | Name: |
Brian Bond |
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 | E-Mail: |
brianbond@comcast.net |
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| Date Submitted: |
2020-06-14 |
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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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