| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Melvin Hill, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Unknown road, bushwhack |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Monday, January 3, 2022 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
I pulled off in a large plowed area on the N/E side of 4A shown on CalTopo as a “Wayside Parkâ€. If SNH redlining, note that this is NOT where the orange trail starts…there is another sign for a Wayside Park that I believe was a bit further SE along 4A that must be where it starts. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Ice - Breakable Crust, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
The road goes through a marsh at its start which had flooded the road. The water was frozen on the surface but not thick enough to support my weight most likely so I walked along the edge. A bit of a marshy area if I recall correctly but no real water crossings. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
N/A |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Sure, if you trust them to stay with you bushwhacking. |
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 | Bugs: |
None |
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 | Lost and Found: |
None |
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 | Comments: |
Day 64, Peak 54. 2nd hike of the day after Morgan Pond Mountain across the street. It was a cloudy and windy day with temps in the low teens. Combine that with awful, icy, and crunchy snow conditions and you’ve got yourself a not so nice day 😜
This was harder than it should have been. I became throughly confused at the start of my hike because, Gaia showed a trail starting from this “Wayside Park†shown on CalTopo. There was a road but no trail where Gaia said there was. I realize that Gaia is not always correct but in this case I thought it would be because the SNH guidebook also describes an Orange Trail starting from a Wayside Park here. Unfortunately I forgot to bring said guidebook with me… as described in the parking section above, I think this was a different wayside park. Anyway, after much sleuthing, which included a drive north to see if I could easily park at the jct of Old Grafton Rd and Deep Snow Rd (I could not) to approach the peak from the NW, I finally resigned to attack this peak from the Wayside Park pullout.
I followed the road that evidently leads to the mines, across part of the pond/marshy area, then into the woods. A few jcts where the road split; I just went whichever way seemed to make the most sense. The road became very overgrown and soon disappeared around 1800ft where the real whacking started. The overgrown road seemed to end in a mini-ravine. After climbing up that, I walked through open woods, skirting to the east of the small 1950-1975ft knob about 3/4mi spur of the summit by about 0.1mi. Coincidentally, I followed the line of the “trail that wasn’t there†on Gaia pretty closely until this “trail†split into a loop and I headed straight for the peak in mostly open woods.
At about the 2000ft contour, I hit a minor southern ridge which I followed to the summit. It was narrow most of the time and had some blowdowns so could be a bit of a pain to follow but seemed better than hiking below it on either side for most of the way. After following it a short distance, the woods began to transition to softwoods. I even came to some ledges as I approached the summit area. The summit area is a cool little spot with some views. No trouble finding the jar. I signed in and returned the same way. I
Note that there were no trespassing signs along the road. At first, I thought they marked private property to the left of the road. Then I realized that this couldn’t be the case since this is all well within Gile State Forest. So my best guess is that someone put these signs up to discourage people from going to the mines. At the start of the road by the orange gate at the plowed pullout, there is a sign clearly forbidding mining, so perhaps there’s been problems with that. I didn’t see any mines though I did, on the way down, take a short detour on one of the branching roads to where it looked like there might be a view (there wasn’t). Based on elevation and reports I’ve seen from others, this is as likely around where the mines are.
The hike was roughly 3.5mi with roughly 850ft of gain. I took me 2hr45min to complete. 301 more days and 311 more peaks to go… |
|
 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
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 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2022-01-07 |
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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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