| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Monument 493 Peak (Greeley Brook Peak), NH |
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 | Trails: |
Road walk, herd path, bushwhack, border swath |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, July 10, 2022 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
A very long drive in Indian Stream Rd. Probably doable for low clearance cars if they’re careful though. Overall the road is in very good shape. I turned left onto the road that heads toward the border swaths but NE of the peak and forks partway in. This road is no longer drivable to the fork as a bridge got washed out or removed or whatever at the start of this road. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
No real water crossings per se, just lots of crossings of wet areas ;P |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
The road that forks east of the peak is not a real road, lol. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Sure |
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 | Bugs: |
I think they had gotten quite obnoxious by the time I was headed out. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
None |
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 | Comments: |
Day 252, Peak 247. 3rd hike/2nd peak of the day after Dube Brook Mtn (Mon 496+497) and a little walk to Indian Stream Canyon. This hike was a bit more involved than I’d thought as I don’t think I’d realized that the washed out bridge was right at the start of the road basically (though this makes perfect sense if I looked at a map given that you cross the drainage here).
I walked the road to the fork. As others have said, the left fork of the road that you’d want to take if going to the peak, has been lost to the wilderness. A herd path remains for much of it but it can be hard to follow, goes through wet areas, etc. so can be rather a pain. I pretty much contoured just above the drainage though and stayed very close to where Gaia shows the road the whole way. Ran into some thick woods at times and very wet footing though. When in doubt, stay high. I found myself in a marsh once but once I corrected I was able to stay on a much better line the latest of the way. When I was finally about 1/4mi from the border swath, I foolishly got pulled up hill and off my bearing. You basically stay flat all the way to the swath. I corrected and wound up just east of where the road hit the swath. The swath was less scrambly here than other parts I’ve been on closer to Rt 3 but was still a PITA in that it had its notoriously wet, muddy, marshy footing at times. Easy grade halfway to the peak, then a moderate grade the rest of the way. The jar is on a tree on the U.S. side. True highpoint just opposite. Look for a depression in the ferns for the path to the jar.
I walked back along the swath, dunking my feet in muddy goo a couple of times to the road. I got excited because the road looked very obvious on this side and I thought I might have good walking for a ways but alas this was a road that seemed to just loop back to the swath. The old road just coincidentally starts in the same place. I had awkward walking through some thicker and wetter stuff for a ways 1/4mi of so until I got on a better line and pretty much followed my track back out to the fork in the road. I know others have made this hike shorter by bushwhacking back down to the fork rather than following the old road but this didn’t seem terribly appealing to me given you’d have to cross the drainage/swampy area whereas this way, though longer, and still sometimes wet, the idea was to stay just above it. The other thing to consider would be to take the right fork, which looked more overgrown at this point but still resembled a road, up to the swath. Longer, but perhaps easier. I’d be interested to hear the experience of anyone who tried it this way.
The hike was 5mi with about 450ft of gain, taking me 2.75hrs to complete. 113 more days and 118 more peaks to go… |
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 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
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 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2022-07-12 |
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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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