| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Whitcomb Mountain - South Peak, Whitcomb Mountain - Middle Peak, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Road walk, bushwhack |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Friday, August 19, 2022 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
I parked at the base of the gated road that leaves Nash Stream Rd to the right and heads NE to the west of the peaks. Too bad it’s gated; a mid clearance car could get a decent ways down the road and probably save at least a mile or two of hiking along it. Nash Stream Rd is in its usual condition. Some very bumpy parts but should be easily passable by any car. Low clearance may not to exercise a little caution beyond Trio Ponds Rd where there seemed to be more and larger rocks protruding from the road. On that note, just over 1/2mi south of the road that heads toward the Whitcombs, there was some road work going on where a crane was lifting large rocks out of the road. I couldn’t get by on my way in but they were finishing up and let me by once I finished West Whitcomb. Doesn’t seem like a huge job but looked like they’d be coming back in the coming days so don’t be surprised if access is impeded during this next week. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
I crossed some minor drainages, mostly on my way up south peak I believe. All trivial to cross. That said, it’s good to see some water flowing in the woods again! |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
N/A |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Sure |
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 | Bugs: |
Mosquitos became present especially my walk back out the road around sunset. All in all, not bad though. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
None |
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 | Comments: |
Day 292, Peaks 269 & 270. 2nd hike and 2nd and 3rd peaks of the day after West Whitcomb as an out and back from Little Bog Pond.
I walked almost 2.5mi up the road until I started my whack to south peak at about 1950ft. The road becomes more overgrown as you go on but is never awful. Boring but generally decent walking. Mostly flat or easy grades. Make sure you bear right at about 3/4mi in where the road splits. A small blowdown blocks the road to the left anyway. A mid clearance car could get in a ways on the road but it’s becoming more overgrown without vehicle traffic.
I began whacking SE in decent woods. Found some old skidder roads and some dry washout ditches to follow early on. Before long I came to more hobble bushy and ferny areas. I managed to finagle my way around the hobblebush though, very rarely having to actually go through it. I chose this starting point because there seemed to be a variety of drainages that sort of joined here and I figured I could follow one of them up. I crossed a couple and seemed to be staying on my bearing according to my compass but partway up my GPS revealed that I needed to head more easterly, as I was headed for the minor col SE of the peak. I slabbed up then, resisting the urge to go straight up and heading back toward a minor drainage. Still decent, if not open, woods, and grades were easy-moderate. At 2800ft I began to head just north of east and the grade soon steepened. Woods remained good until shortly before the summit area, then opened back up on the summit plateau which was a nice area.
After looking through the register and signing in, I headed NE off the summit to the col. Weren’t weren’t thick and no blowdowns patches but enough blowdowns to make things a bit tedious especially when combined with all the wet, green moss. Also, no real ridge into the col; just trust your bearing. Made it down quickly enough and climbed about 100ft up from the col to the subpeak before contouring around its west side. Did a bit of up and down here hit seemed to work well enough. Footing wasn’t great but not too bad either. I think I went a little too high; if doing it again I would’ve started contouring a bit lower. I soon enough found myself in the col between the subpeak and Middle Peak and began making my way up Middle peak at a moderate grade in decent woods.
People seem to have good things to say about the woods between these peaks, which, I got the impression or assumed, meant they were very open and easy to maneuver through like those between North and Middle Black Crescent. I didn’t quite find that to be the case. The woods weren’t thick and were what I describe as “decent” but not necessarily easy to move through quickly as there’s a decent number of blowdowns (but no blowdown patches don’t worry!),and wet, slick, mossy footing. That said, this gives the woods a wild and remote feel and they are, especially toward Middle Peak, absolutely beautiful!! Loved heading up Middle Peak and the summit area was a real treat too.
Anyway, it took me 1hr to get between the two peaks. Based upon sign-ins, it takes most people like much longer this reiterating that while the woods are nice enough and definitely very scenic, they aren’t quick to move through either. After signing in, I took a westerly bearing and headed down. Lots of thick ferny areas with the occasional blowdown. At first I tried to stick to these as I tend to like fern whacking the the woods to my right looked a bit thick and blowdowny but the ferns became huge and had other shrubbery in them..it soon became surpringly thick so made my way into the woods which weren’t at all bad like they looked like from a distance. The woods opened up even more as I made my way down which made for a pleasant whack. I wasn’t particular about where I came out on the road so just let them sort of naturally lead me. I found some old skidder roads down low in the woods which I was sometimes able to stay on for a bit. I wound up back on the road just above 2200ft due west of Middle Whitcomb. Long, almost 3mi, walk back out the road.
I did this loop counterclockwise as I started later than I wanted and wanted to be sure I was done bushwhacking before dark. Got back to my car at 8pm. Hike was about 9.5-10mi with 2200ft or more elevation gain. Took me 5hr45min to complete. 73 more days and 95 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: |
2022-08-20 |
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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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