| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Diamond Ridge (Pittsburgh) , NH |
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 | Trails: |
Road walk, bushwhack |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Wednesday, June 29, 2022 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
From Stub Hill, we drove back along Stub Hill Rd to what Gaia calls Water Falls Brook Rd which ascends toward Diamond Ridge. I only found one report on here that tackled Diamond Ridge this way and they said the road was an issue. This piqued my curiousity though given the view shown on Gaia and it looked to be much easier than approaching from Magalloway Rd several hundred feet lower. Luckily I had a friend that just drove this road and thought I could make it to where the road forks. Up we went and while the road was rough, it was doable with mid-clearance (9in). Kind of surprised my car got scraped on Stub Hill but not here. There’s a culvert part way up (probably the one zporter mentioned) that was rough but not quite as bad as the one on Stub Hill Rd. Not about to be stopped by a culvert I shouldn’t have been stopped by twice in a day, I carefully made my way over it. A-okay! At the fork in the road, we went left to get closer to the peak. I got a short ways in and didn’t like how rutted the road was and some of the larger rocks poking up so I backed up. A soft, muddy spot too. Again, in retrospect I probably could’ve made it though. AWD/4WD will help on this road but FWD and mid-clearance did okay to get to the fork. Also, FYI that the loop with the viewpoint shown on Gaia should only be attempted by HIGH-clearance vehicles with 4WD. Some may still not make it. It was ROUGH. We walked it afterward. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail |
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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: |
Sure |
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 | Bugs: |
Yeah they were bad at the summit |
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 | Lost and Found: |
None |
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 | Comments: |
Day 241, Peak 234. 2nd hike and 3rd peak of the day after the two Stub Hills. We walked the road to the minor col between the summit of Diamond Ridge and a minor NW subpeak. Shortly before the road ends we headed into the woods where there was some wet footing. I tried to avoid the wetness which seemed to be leading to a road and found myself in scrappy woods instead. I should’ve stuck to the wet road. We followed a bearing SE to the peak and followed the ridge up passing through some thick woods, open areas, wet areas, and the very old “skidder roads in the softwoods” which I always find interesting. Not a very pleasant walk some of the time but nothing too bad. The one larger wet area was surprisingly not as wet as it looked and was very doable to walk through in current dry conditions. I probably could’ve found better woods somewhere but at least I followed my bearing this time. Grades were practically flat most of the way until the last 0.2mi or so to the summit where we ascended moderately and found a herd path as we got closer. The woods were also more pleasant (but ferny) in this last section toward the peak. I wondered if the herd path was from people coming up from Magalloway Rd but it didn’t seem to make much sense directionally unless they swung west to avoid cliffs or a steep area.
We signed in and returned the same way but I was smarter and followed the wet road out at the very end this time ;) About 2.5mi with around 300ft of gain, taking just under 1.5hrs. 124 more days and 131 more peaks to go… |
|
 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
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 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2022-07-01 |
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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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