| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mowglis Mountain, Catalouchee Mountain - North Peak, Catalouchee Mountain, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Mowglis Trail, Bushwhack, Snomo trails, |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, May 17, 2026 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Spotted a car at the driveable end of Springs Rd (off of Jeruselem Rd), where there is a nice secluded space to park a couple cars. Some 'smile your on camera' signs but not other problematic signage. Then drove over to New Colony Rd, where we were comfortably able to drive to a clearing with space for a couple cards at 2000ft in mid-clearance. This clearing is also the junction with a trail heading north that I had considered using for this loop if I didn't have a car spot. Beyond this clearing, the road is steep and very rutted - maybe a 4x4 could get up to the junction with Mowglis trail, but definitely not in mid-clearance. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
lovely snomo bridge on between the Catalouchees |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Champ and Tucker would like bug nets too please |
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 | Bugs: |
lot's of black flies. Head nets for the first time this year. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
I debated the routing on this one for awhile. I was tempted to do almost a straight line from Mowglis to Cat N, but was not looking forward to the steep whack up Cat N from the SE. There's also an old road/trail shown on some maps following the drainage to the south of Cat N which, which seemed potentially helpful, but I saw no trace of it on satellite imagery and didn't want rely on it with no intel.
So we opted to take the trails to Mowglis, then backtrack to just east of the State Forest border, then we whacked NW to the continuation of New Colony Rd road in decent woods. Goal here was to avoid climbing back of the steep bump to the SE of the col in the heat. We ended up finding some useful woods roads, including one that took us steeply up to the continuation of New Colony Rd, and then we followed that west back to the col. From the col, we noted a couch, then ascended Cat, aiming between the two summit bumps until it got less steep/cliffy and we curved to the western bump. Woods were thick as first then opened up. Found the jar a bit NW of where caltopo would suggest.
From here, we debated following the ridge to Cat N vs. heading to the snomo trail to the west. The woods were thicker up here, so we opted to head to the snomo trail, mostly following the minor ridge just west of north, and just west of the baker river south branch drainage. We found the snomo trail, which was wet/soft in places, but not overgrown, with a recently maintained bridge and followed this north until we were due west of Cat N. I was nervous about all the old logging around here, but there's a great old road that heads from the snomo trail into the col WSW of the peak, which we found eventually. (I wonder if this road would meet up with the marked road south of the peak?) Easy hike up from the col to the summit, signed in and followed our tracks back to the snomo trail.
Followed the snomo trail SW from here, past a couple massive/recent clear cuts not visible on my most recent satellite imagery, to a junction with a road heading north towards Derby Pond and clearly marked private heading that way, but making me think one might be able to drive to this point/park there. The road improved and seemed drivable here - perhaps from Tug Mt Rd? And the snomo trail heading east had a 'no highway vehicles' sign too. I'm guessing the improved roads were for the clearcuts and are not yet shown on sat.
From this junction, we followed the road west briefly until it turned south and began to descend at which point we jumped into the woods heading west into the col, then up and over the notable ridge to the west. Woods were mixed here, crossing a number of unhelpful old roads, but overall fine and no trace of any problematic signage indicating we shouldn't be there. Once on top of the ridge, we took a pretty straight line down to Springs Rd in perfect open woods with no low-growth, albeit with awkward topography as all the ridges/drainages were pushing us a but further north than ideal. Eventually found the old continuation of Springs Rd and followed that out to the car spot.
5.5 hrs total. 70 mins to Mowglis, 50 mins back to col/end of New Colony Rd, 20 mins up Cat, 30 mins down to the snomo trail, 30 mins from joining the snomo trail to the summit of Cat N, 50 mins to the jct with the road heading to Derby Ponds, 40 mins from here to the top of the ridge, then 30 mins down to Springs Rd.
Given how easy the ascent of Cat N was from the west, I'm glad we didn't try straight lining from Mowglis to Cat N.
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 | Name: |
Big Al Dente |
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 | E-Mail: |
bigaldentenh@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2026-05-18 |
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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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