| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Black Mountain - Northeast Peak, Black Mountain - Northwest Peak, Black Mountain, Greenough Pond Peak, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Bushwhack, logging roads |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Monday, October 27, 2025 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Parked at the clearing just before the out bridge on Larrys Brk Rd. Relatively good roads to get there. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Only substantial crossing was where the bridge is out on Larrys Brk Rd. Easily rock hopped just upstream of the bridge site. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Champ and Tucker thought we'd see some Black labs today. They were disappointed. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Did a counter-clockwise loop. The road Carl mentioned was easy to find and to follow from the parking area. Followed it nearly to Greenough Pond peak and good woods to the summit. From here, we headed just north of west to avoid losing extra elevation in the drainage between the peaks. Some thicker stuff descending but not too hard to avoid it. Passed through the col and started ascending Black's NE ridge, switching between logged stuff and woods. The logged areas were generally useful, but that's due to all the leaves falling already this year - would be rougher in spring/summer. As we got higher, the logged areas became more open and consistent and we stuck to the clearcuts as much as we could. Found the summit of black without much trouble.
From Black, we headed almost due north, trying to avoid the minor bump to the NW. The woods in here were thick spruce, and they had been in a cloud all day so were dripping with water beads. Made it through this to the col between the bump and followed it down to about 2650 then did some serious sidehilling around the bump until we hit another clearcut on the NW spine of the bump which we happily followed all the way to the col before Black NW.
Going up Black NW was the other rough spot. We tried contouring west around 2550 for a bit and had some OK lanes for contouring, but the ascent remained steep/thick/blowdowny. Eventually we found a route up that wasn't miserable. The ridge itself wasn't as bad as the slope up. Took a bit to find the cannister, which Liam's comment helped a ton (a bit NE of where you initially expect it, in a thick but not blow-downy area). If I were doing this again, I would go NE from the col until I reached the eastern ridge, then ascend from there.
From here we followed the eastern ridge, which opened up nicely, then turned into more clearcut. But again, the clearcuts were useful without the foliage. Followed the herd paths in the logging roads to close to the col, then back into the woods and up Black NE. From the summit of Black NE, we descended due east in some really steep but not cliffy. Followed this to a clearcut that we generally followed SE until it junctioned with the road. Quick jaunt back to the car from here.
30 mins to Greenough, 70 mins from Greenough to Black, 1:20 from Black to Black NW, 60 from Black NW to Black NE and 30 mins from Black NE back to the car for 4:30 total. |
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 | Name: |
Big Al Dente |
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 | E-Mail: |
bigaldentenh@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2025-10-29 |
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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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