| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Signal Mountain (Errol), NH |
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 | Trails: |
ATV Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, September 12, 2026 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
From just south of the wayside on rt 16, we followed the ATV trail northwest, through an open gate, up a short hill to a spot with a blue picnic table where the primary ATV trail continued north east. The trail/rd we wanted continued northwest from here and was signed 'no ATVs'. While this road was very grassy, I saw no reason a high clearance vehicle couldn't drive it to the landing at 1550ft, though we didn't attempt it with my Rav4. |
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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 really tried to climb the fire tower when I went up. I think he was triggered by the wind measurement device on it. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
The north/west approaches didn't sound fun with the logging, so we opted to explore the south/east approach via the ATV trail. Road was arguably drivable up to 1550 then it became more of an overgrown ATV trail. Trail was easy to follow and had clearly seen some ATV traffic, compressing the growth a bit. At times it was annoyingly overgrown with awkward rutted footing, but most of the time it was ankle height grass and good footing and we made good time. Felt similar to some of the more overgrown trails in the whites. The fork around 1950 heading to Signal Pond looked very overgrown - would not recommend heading that way. Above 2200 was more slabby/eroded but less overgrown.
The summit infrastructure is clearly functional/maintained, with lot's of functioning electronics. The tower is pretty sketchy - with a bunch of missing wooden steps that clearly broke, leading to some big gaps in the staircase and the reasonable fear than all the other steps are close to snapping. Didn't spend long on top of the tower as I wanted to get off of it quickly. But sure seems like this route will continue to be cleared of major blowdowns and have the growth compressed as they maintain this infrastructure. Jar was closer to the electrical building than the tower.
Took us 1:20 up and 50 mins down. With the shorter drivetime, I was pretty happy with this route.
One more left...
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 | Name: |
Big Al Dente |
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 | E-Mail: |
bigaldentenh@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2026-09-13 |
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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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