| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Cambridge Black Mountain - Southeast Peak, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Bushwhack |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, July 5, 2026 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Accessed from the west (Dummer/Milan) via Blake/Bog Brook.
Black JACK/W Black Cambridge Mountain Rd was blocked by Orange Cones/Highway Drum at the camp at the junction with Bog Brook Rd. It's possible this was done by the residents at the camp (several cars there) just to block ATVs from passing their camp for the holiday weekend, particularly given Teal Goat's successful report (h/t for the super helpful info!) from fairly recently. But after hitting this dead end, and with Carl's report fresh in my mind, we headed back to Black STRAP rd entering from the west. Followed this all the way to the washout, which is just east of the northernmost point of the road, SW of Cambridge Black. We 9 point turned and parked on the north side of the road, leaving space for a vehicle to pass.
The washout currently has the old metal culvert blocking the road and a new plastic culvert in place, but the new culvert needs to be recovered with gravel to make it passable again - anyways seems like there's some chance the repairs to this section get completed sometime soon.
Black STRAP is a stressful 5-10mph drive, but very doable in mid clearance, just not one you'll want to do a 2nd time. Other roads are 20mph+.
Wouldn't be crazy to try and access this from the east and road walk to Little Cambridge from the washout. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Champ had a valiant return from the injured list and very much appreciated the hiking time w/o his cone of shame. |
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 | Bugs: |
Not bad in the morning but worsened as it got closer to noon |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
We road walked over the washout and then ascended the logging road diverging to the NE at 1560ft. Followed the helpful road through two landings, but made a mistake after the second landing where we ended up going too far north and diverging from the better defined old road heading NE (visible from sat). We ended up in mediocre woods, heading up the minor SSW ridge. It got a little better when we reaches the plateau around 2600, but still some thick/blow down stuff to navigate, particularly on the southern knob. More open on the summit proper then we took a better route down, crossing over the knob heading SSE and hitting that better defined road around 2400 and good woods above it. This road was overgrown in a few places, but generally very helpful and we followed it all the way to the 2nd landing, then retraced our steps back to the car.
90 mins up, 50 mins down. Would have been quicker if I ascended via my descent route, and not an awful route if you have to drive Black STRAP anyways. |
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 | Name: |
Big Al Dente |
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 | E-Mail: |
bigaldentenh@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2026-07-06 |
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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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