| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Carlo, Goose Eye Mountain, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Carlo Col Trail, Carlo Col campsite spur, Mahoosuc Trail, Goose Eye Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, June 14, 2020 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Success Pond Rd should really be doable by any car. Low clearance vehicles will need to be extra careful given some rocks that are protruding from the road that could scrap the underbelly of your car but honestly you should be fine. It’s a very bumpy and LONG drive to the trailhead. It took us 40min to get from Hutchins St to the trailhead. It is a wide road and we did see several other cars though, not all hiking. Some cars go WAY to fast on that road. Watch out. Turn right at the trailhead (sign clearly visible on right side of the road) then there’s a grassy spot for a few cars immediately on your left. We were the only ones at 10am and 5:45pm. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
All crossings were easily rock hopped. Water is low right now so it’s a great time to go out and do water crossings that are normally challenging. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Carlo Col Trail was in great shape. Only a couple easy, old stepovers. Signs off/on roads were in tact and perhaps most impressively it was dry and with only a couple spots of very minor mud. It is blazed in blue since its connects with the AT. It seemed the blazing was pretty regular above the campsite (maybe because so many AT hikers travel that portion?) but not as frequent below. No problems following it though. The Mahoosuc Trail was blazed in white as it’s part of the AT. The blazes aren’t terribly frequent as is usually the case on the AT in NH but we had no problem following the trail. The blazes were above tree line as well and there were also some cairns and many bog bridges which made it much easier to follow than south of Mount Success where I was two weeks ago (hardly any markings above treeline). The bog bridges, with a few exceptions, were in tact and doing there job which is again not the case a few miles south on Mount Success. There were obviously more blowdowns on this trail. I don’t recall them all but there was one in particular that was not too far north of the jct with Carlo Col Trail that is impossible to get through and you have to go around it. A herd path is being established. Hopefully that blowdown will get taken care of soon. Goose Eye Trail is blazed in blue (including above tree line). I don’t really recall how well. There was a blowdown area not too far below tree line I think but most of the blowdowns were off trail. There were a number of blowdowns on this trail as I recall but they were mostly easy stepovers. Some were large and down low too. The turn right off the road and onto the footpath at 0.4mi would be very easy to miss if ascending. Also, note that the actual trail deviates from what Gaia shows. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
None seen and this wouldn’t be a doable hike to bring a dog on unless it can somehow scale up iron rungs (vertical) on a rock face. |
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 | Bugs: |
Surprisingly they weren’t bad. Very little until above treeline approaching Goose Eye where they started to get bad and I threw on some bug spray. Perhaps it was too cold for them? |
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 | Lost and Found: |
None |
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 | Comments: |
A good redline with a great friend :) Temperatures were pretty nice, it wasn’t too sunny, almost no wind, and it sprinkled on us occasionally on our way down just to keep us on our toes ;) This is a great loop hike :D
Carlo Col Trail was nice. Dry trail the entire way except a couple spots of minor mud. Easy to moderate grades most of the way. You can tell you’re getting close to the jct when the trail steepens some (never excessively) and tour surrounding get much wilder looking. The spur to the campsite is well signed and obvious. No one at the campsite but it is open. The brook it crosses is getting low.
The Mahoosuc Trail had some wet and muddy spots but on the whole was drier than I thought I’d ever see it 😂 The ascent to Mount Carlo is steep but not too bad. The section of trail between Carlo and Goose Eye isn’t too bad on the whole as far as the Mahoosuc Trail goes except at the ladder and iron rungs. They aren’t there to just assist you; they are there because you NEED them. The rock face isn’t steep, it’s near vertical. I absolutely wouldn’t do this if you have a fear of heights. I wasn’t expecting them to be quite so intense. You can actually spot a white blaze and part of the ladder from the open knoll below the summit which I found very cool.
At the jct of Goose Eye Trail and Mahoosuc Trail we turned left onto Goose Eye Trail and ascended very briefly to the summit. Beautiful views in every direction. Great peak. The descent is very steep and scrambly and a real pain at first but not to long after descending below tree line it becomes quite nice and we enjoyed our walk out :)
No AT hikers were seen and we only ran into two others the entire hike. They were traversing the Mahoosucs over a couple days and caught up to us at the ladder and rungs. We also saw a couple others heading south on the AT from the summit of Goose Eye but they didn’t bag the summit. Possible SOBOs? |
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 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
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 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2020-06-16 |
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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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