| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Tumble Dick Mountain, Sugar Hill, Van Dyck Mountain, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Cohos Trail, Snowmobile/ATV trails, bushwhack, |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Friday, September 12, 2025 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
We spotted a car just north of Lost Nation Rd, on the west side of Diamond Pond Rd, right next to a farmstand. Talked to the proprietor of the farmstand and he said it was OK to park there, on what seemed like his land. His farmstand accepts venmo, so I made sure to buy some veggies and thank him for the parking spot.
In hindsight, Lost Nation Rd is not-gated, driveable and not posted to the point where Frank Keazer Rd branches off to the SE.
Our other car we took to the boat launch on little diamond pond. Plenty of parking there and no signage indicating any payment was required. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
hardly any water seen all day |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Champ and Tucker wished there were a few more rodents to chase today |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
We set out from coleman state park to traverse these three, north to south. Straight forward following the Cohos trail to the junction/obvious launch point for Tumbledick. Bushwhack was a bit annoying - hobblebush and it took us awhile to find the cannister on a relatively flat summit (I think we missed it on the 1st/most obvious bump at it was facing the wrong direction for us.
We whacked back to the col between Tumbledick and Sugar Hill, coming out on the Cohos trail, a bit SE of the junction, and followed the Cohos trail a short ways back to the junction, where we followed Corridor 18 for a short period then staying right on Primary 127. These were single lane, overgrown in places, but still very useful and we made good time to the summit(ish) of Sugar Hill. Finding the cannister at Sugar Hill proved to be harder than climbing the peak, and after 20 mins or so, we did find it. Caltopo is very wrong, and the cannister is in the eastern half of the highest contour.
I hadn't seen reports of anyone trying to connect Sugar Hill to Van Dyck, so thus began the uncharted part of the day. Shortly after the summit of sugar hill, we hit a junction with a legitimate ATV trail with active use. We followed this left, descending pretty much due south from Sugar Hill. As we approached the drainage between Sugar Hill and Van Dyck, we stayed right at one junction, where the right path was signed 'no atvs'. We followed this a short way before a sharp right turn on an old road that goes west and ultimately goes around Van Dyck to the north. We followed the old road to about 2500 ft, before it became more harmful than helpful due to branchy blowdowns at which point we started our whack up Van Dyck, though decent woods that were hobblebushy at times. Pretty quick ascent and found the orange jar easily on an open-woods summit.
From Van Dyck, we whacked WSW towards the continuation of our woods road we abandoned previously. We narrowly avoided a really steep gully that goes SSW, by sticking on a more westerly heading. Woods here were good, other that the steep gully. We hit the old road and followed it south to the intersection with Lost Nation "Road", fighting through some branchy blowdowns at times. We made the sharp right continuing Old Nation "Road" and followed that for awhile. In places it's a good cruising road, but the area around the horsehoe at 1950ft or so is a disaster of impassible young growth branchy blowdowns. There was also a gnarly wash out where the culvert was still in place but the rest of the road was very gone. I suspect this area got destroyed in last year's storm. This stretch felt miserable, but it was as much that I had mentally switched to cruising mode and wasn't expecting more nasty whacking. If we had hopped into the woods and stayed there for .2 miles, I think we would have been better off.
Ultimately we reach the point where Lost Nation turns west, and we followed it, on a generally better road. The woods south of this stretch of Lost Nation Road were well posted, but we saw no evidence that the road itself, or anything we walked on today was posted, despite Remington's prior post. We followed Lost Nation Rd to the point where Frank Keazer Rd branches SE, at which point it turns into a road again. If ascending this way, it would be easy to miss the overgrown Lost Nation Rd, but the obvious turn in the road should be a good queue.
Overall this took us about 4 hrs, 1hr of which was descending from Van Dyck, and sure feels like the right way to grab these three if you have a car spot. If you're doing an out and back of van dyck, don't expect pleasant road walking and find a way to avoid the horsehoe! |
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 | Name: |
Big Al Dente |
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 | E-Mail: |
bigaldentenh@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2025-09-12 |
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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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