| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Henry Hill (Berlin/Success), NH |
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 | Trails: |
Logging road, skidder road, bushwhack |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Wednesday, November 10, 2021 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
I parked at the start of the logging road. Others have said that this is exactly 2mi beyond the trailhead for Success Trail from the Berlin side. I think it's almost roughly 7mi in from Hutchins St in Berlin. Though I was able to get off the road plenty far enough in my opinion, I did note that the start of the logging road was wet/soft thus I was careful not to pull too far onto it. Success Pond Rd is in much better shape than it was last year! It has been regraded such that there are WAY less rocks protruding up from the ground than last year, particularly near the start of the road with the steep hill. There are still a bunch of potholes making for a very bumpy ride at times but nothing that even a sedan shouldn't be able to handle in my opinion. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant, Leaves - Significant/Slippery |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
None |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
N/A |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
None seen but I thought I may have heard one at one point. I got scared as I was concerned it was a hunting dog about to attack me but upon further reflection, I think it may have been a moose or some other animal (more on that below...). I'd be careful with dogs in there in the summer because it's so overgrown and I imagine that there's a lot of ticks. |
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 | Bugs: |
There's still flying insects around this time of year but they aren't the bothersome type. I'd be worried about ticks on the logging road in summer when it's more overgrown. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
Well, it finally happened; I lost my car keys while hiking. My best guess is that they're around the summit area. If anyone is up there and happens to find them, I'd love to have themback |
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 | Comments: |
Day 10, Peak 12. 355 more days and 353 more peaks to go. I started in rain pants and a rain jacket since it rained overnight and in the morning (1/3-1/2in). Though I took the raincoat off about halfway to my jumping off point on the logging road, the precipitation pants stayed on me the entire time. This seemed to work well with the wet brush, though the sun came out throughout the hike and began to dry things off. My upper half stayed mostly dry even without a rain jacket. It was 43F when I started just shy of 11am.
I started up the logging road and after about 5min I hadn't come to the fork so I checked Gaia and sure enough I'd missed it; it's basically right at the start. I turned around, and once my car was in sight, I saw the very overgrown and narrow road to my left and headed up. Though overgrown and narrow/tight at the start, it got better and was never a real pain. I ascended at flat-easy grades for about 1mi to where I saw the old skidder road up a bit of a bank that people use to ascend toward the summit. This was around 1750ft. I followed that for about 1/3mi at a moderate grade to the summit area where it slowly became more overgrown and fizzled out. Until this point it was also overgrown as it's an old road but was descent walking. Once it faded out, I whacked toward the summit which was a very short distance away.
There are two clearings around the summit area, maybe 50-75yds apart. One is where the jar is and has views north. The other is just southwest of it and also has some views though not as nice. The latter would appear to be higher. This does not quite match what others have found; they described the highpoint as being the spot with the better view but without a jar and described it as a ledge whereas I found neither spot to be a ledge but just a clearing and found the one without the jar and with a lesser view to be slightly higher. I thought that I perhaps missed this ledge with a great view but it seemed quite apparent to me that the mountain dropped off in all directions from where I was. Furthermore, the clearing further north with the jar and the view seemed to match the view description of others reports. Maybe the jar was moved?? There was a note that 2 jars were condensed into one but that was back in 2016... hmm...
I returned the same way I came up plus a long road walk until someone picked me up to go fetch my extra set of keys. Also, I heard some odd noises at several points during this hike a distance away. It did not sound like people so I guess it had to be an animal though it didn't sound like any I know. Perhaps two mating moose?! I heard it at several points during the hike and it always sounded the same. |
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 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
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 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2021-11-11 |
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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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