| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Paugus Mountain - Northeast Peak, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Champney Falls Trail, Bolles Trail, bushwhack, herd path |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Thursday, August 25, 2022 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
USFS $5/day fee area. Room for a couple dozen cars probably but Champney Falls is such a popular way up Chocorua that I’m sure it overflows very easily on weekends. Plenty of room when I arrived shortly after 3:30pm and left shortly after 7:30pm though. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
The water crossings were low but the rocks were often quite slick and there weren’t many to step on. Still rock hopable with dry feet though. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Bolles Trail is blazed in yellow. Didn’t seem to be much or any blazing at first then some pretty fresh looking blazed started to appear. One or two were in much needed spots where the trail seems to disappear around water crossings too. One smallish but annoying blowdown along a corridor of hobblebush that obliterates the trail. No herd path around yet but I went around it to the left right above the brook which felt slightly precarious. The trail could use some brushing in this spot and possibly some others as well. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
The may struggle in the crazy blowdown section mentioned below just as us humans do! Also, the scrambling involved getting up from the trail to the ridge may be difficult for some. Bolles Trail by itself would seem like a fine summertime hike for dogs though :) |
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 | Bugs: |
Not many |
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 | Lost and Found: |
None |
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 | Comments: |
Day 298, Peak 276. 3rd hike and 2nd peak (that counts) of the day after Signal Ridge Parking Lot Peak and a fun whack up a NW facing slide north of Mt Whiteface about 4.25-4.5mi up Downes Brook Trail.
I walked about 2mi up Downes Brook Trail with 1000ft of gain to the HOL. Nice to revisit this trail as when ijredlined it years ago with friends it was winter! Now I know what it’s like in summer…nothing to write home about!! Shortly before the HOL I noticed some bouldery/cliffy spots next to the trail I wasn’t sure I’d be getting up. Luckily, if you go to the true HOL they subside a bit and it’s possible to get up albeit very steeply. Once up this little scramble, I had good walking west along this eastern ridge for quite a ways. Easy grades too. Then, when this ridge sort of merged with the more southerly ridge which makes the sort of elbow shape of the peak on maps, the woods became very thick, nasty, and blowdown ridden. Looked as if I could see some light to my left so I tried to move that way. It was hard to move in that direction and had a little success but it was pretty hard to move anywhere here. I started to seem to get out of this blowdown ridden ridge after a while but as I neared the summit I got into sprice again which also had some blowdowns. This was just SW of the peak where a locally highpoint seemed to be. CalTopo told me where I should have been but getting in between these two spots was not fun.
When I finally pushed through to the highpoint where I found the register I was treated to a nice little partial ledge with a partial view if that’s a thing ;) The loose paper in the register will test both your patience and your fine motor skills ;) I should start bringing a stapler with me. I noted a herd path taking me NE along the ridge. I followed it and was treated to a view of Chocroua and the Sisters. This would be a neat spot to camp! Though there was some ledge interspersed I thought I could probably get down from here as I certainly didn’t want to go back the way I came through the blowdowns and thick stuff even though it was relatively short. I’d be on the wrong side of the drainage here though so I made my way back to the highpoint along the herd path. From here, I noted the herd path seemed to continue and slab down just below the ridge. This sort of short cut was excellent as it took you around the thick spruce and back on the proper side of the NE flowing drainage.
Here’s where I made my mistake. I should have gently slabbed or contoured down from here. I think I still would’ve avoided or stayed just below the blowdown ridden ridge but still would’ve been able to more or less follow my same route out. Instead, I in a sense overreacted, really not wanting to be anywhere near that ridge and whacked more or less straight down along the drainage briefly. I came to my senses around 2500ft and realized I should be contouring back to my ascent line but as I tried to do so I hit a bunch of hobblebush and some thicker stuff so I just tried to make my way back to the trail as reasonably as possible. I had to go through a lot of thick hobblebush and it lasted a LOOONG time. Sort of impressive on the hobblebushes part, haha. I think this may have been because I was just below a NE ridge. It’s happened before where, at low elevation, I’ll be in hobblebush just below a ridge but the ridge itself is fine.
I finally made it back over the ridge and down to the trail at about 2100ft. This was 0.2mi below the HOL where I’d started my whack. From the ridge down to the trail was very steep with some cliff bands nearby but I think the worst of it was in between where I’d started and stopped my whack in the “in-between” 0.2mi. The hike was about 5.5mi with 1500ft of gain. It took me 3hr45min to compete. |
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 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
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 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2022-08-26 |
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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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