| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
East Royce, Haystack Notch, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Burnt Mill Brook Trail, Royce Trail, East Royce Trail, ME 113, Haystack Notch Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Wednesday, June 14, 2023 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Good sized lot at Burnt Mill Brook and base of Royces. Both related roads in excellent shape, I recently got trail tires so they handled the gravel on Wild River Rd. well at a decent clip, but a smaller car would be fine just going slower.
Merrill Road, which is not recognized on apple maps as a thing, wasn't that bad. I could see how it would be bad after heavy rain though, this one seemed less friendly to low clearance vehicles. I put tyler road in my GPS then just took it up the forest road from there. Very narrow road. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Significant |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Nothing to report on Burnt Mill Brook. A few step overs and rock hops.
One above a waterfall on lower Royce Trail, I went straight through it since it seemed safer than rock hopping the angled rocks.
6-7 big crossings on Haystack, 1+2 (starting from 113) are rock hoppable for skilled crossers, 3 was fine, 4-6/7 were get deep in there situations. Current was super strong but the rocks were not slick so I felt comfortable with it. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Burnt mill brook- marked well, could use some tidying for drainages. A couple of blowdowns that were hard to go under due to branches and too high to go over
Royce and East Royce Trails- lots of standing water
Haystack Notch- up until height of land was grand. coming down from there lots of very muddy sections with bog bridges reclaimed by the earth. The areas outside of the wilderness zone were really well blazed though! We didn't have much trouble with trail finding going west-east |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
I have never been itchier in my entire life. I was wearing 100% deet (that's how bad it was) and still walked out of there with 20-30 bites. Ryan found 1 tick. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Wrote up a pretty detailed report on the route, particularly the changes along the trail through Haystack Notch. The first part of the day was friendly to most hikers, yet Haystack Notch packed an element of adventure that not every hiker will like. We liked it all though, Haystack was not nearly as messy as I thought- still no match for some of those trails deep in the dry. Your feet will be gross, you'll get bit by a lot of bugs, but you might hear a great horned owl like we did. Worth it ! |
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 | Name: |
wheresizzy |
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 | E-Mail: |
isabella.risitano@me.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2023-06-16 |
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 | Link: |
 https://https://www.wheresizzy.com/post/burnt-mill-brook-royces-haystack-notch-6-14-23 |
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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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