| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Millen Hill, Mt. Dartmouth, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Bushwhack, herd path |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, October 16, 2022 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
We parked at the Caps Ridge trailhead. Just past 6:30am there were hardly any cars there and probably room for a couple dozen with a couple small pullouts nearby along the road. When we returned at 10:45am, the lot was mostly full.
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Nothing of any significance |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
N/A |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Seems like a reasonable whack for dogs who are used to such things. I just might be careful of the blowdowns we encountered by the road. |
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 | Bugs: |
None |
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 | Lost and Found: |
None |
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 | Comments: |
Day 350, Peaks 335 & 336. First hike of the day. Glad to have the company of my friend Kyle for these :)
We crossed the road and immediately ended the woods on the north side of the HOL. We encountered a blowdowns area here. Certainly not the worst I’ve seen as it was quite negotiable but it was slow and arduous. We came out just north of this by a couple hundred feet on our way out and were fine so that would be my recommendation. I also wonder what the woods are like from the forget side of the HOL. The blowdown areas wasn’t all that long though and the woods soon improved. The woods were okay the rest of the way from here to the summit except for one short sprucey patch we went through. We started off due west into the woods? Then curved SW most of the way, then nearly due south the final approach to the highpoint. I suppose this sort of mimicks others recommendation of sticking to the 3100ft contour then heading due south to the peak. Not hard to find the canister.
After signing in we headed on a pretty direct line to the col. Sure enough, we hit thick woods so we bore right and headed due north along the edge of the thickness to a few hundred feet north of the col to where the woods seemed more reasonable. From here, we began gently slabbing to the NW. We slabbed more aggressively the further we went along until we finally went right up to the ridge, hitting it at about 0.4mi from the eastern false summit of Dartmouth. We followed the ridge in decent woods made better by herd paths up to this false summit. At the base of the false summit and about 1/4mi away from it, we found a small, blue stake in the ground. There were others we found not too far away. Seemed unlikely that it was marking a boundary. My other guess was that it could be marking where the Cöhos Trail might go through here but I’ve heard that plan won’t happen so…unless someone put them there then didn’t remove them, I don’t know. If anyone knows, I’m very curious. There’s some restricted views to be had around this false summit. Only other view we had today was on our way up Millen (which was actually a much better view toward Jefferson and Washington). We followed her paths over it and down to the little sag between it and the true summit where there were a lot of blowdowns. Pretty easy to navigate through though. We quickly arrived at the true summit. No trouble finding the canister though it didn’t seem to be at the highpoint. We walked to a little mound nearby.
We returned to the false summit, then decided to try something different on the way down. I took a direct bearing to the car and we gently slabbed down the entire way. While we got back to the car quickly, not sure if this saves any time given the good walking and herd paths up on the ridge. Things were relatively sidehilly at first and the woods maybe a tad thick but not too bad. The grade lessened and the woods were open the whole way back to the car. The footing wasn’t always great but what do you expect on the side of the mountain? Some boot sucking mud and wetness below the Millen/Dartmouth col as we crossed the drainage. We had to climb slightly back up to hit the road near the HOL. We popped out shortly below where we entered the woods.
Gaia had us at 4.25mi with about 1000ft of gain. It took us a little over 3.5hrs to complete. 15 more days and 29 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: |
2022-10-19 |
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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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