Duck Pond Mtn near Nancy Pond

[Oncoman]

Bushwhacked up this pk last wk. Found white wooden sign on summit nailed to tree but no canister. Does one exit? Also found old trail near summit with yellow blazed trees. Does anyone know something about an ancient trail there or is this an illegally marked trail?

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

Also found old trail near summit with yellow blazed trees. Does anyone know something about an ancient trail there or is this an illegally marked trail?

A Google search for "Duck Pond" on the Lost Trails site finds no matches, so I suspect that there was no official trail.

 

[NH_Mtn_Hiker]

I checked several AMC and Topo maps from late 1800's to current and found no trails on Duck Pond Mtn.

 

[Frodo]

That is likely part of an illegal trail built by a land owner off of Rt 302, who spent 8 years hacking out a trail to Mt Lowell. She was busted a few years ago and fined several thousand dollars. Several of us from this site actually met her 2 years ago while on the way down the NPT.

And if you think Lorena Bobbit was brave, this woman actually cut off her own finger due to arthritis...

 

[forestgnome]

Town talk has it that there's an older local ladie who made the trail long before the "official" trails came to be.

 

[dr_wu002]

Check this out though: http://www.whitemountainlosttrails.com/ViewTrail1.aspx?id=206
I bet that trail up Duck Pond Mountain uses parts of the old Nancy Pond Trail. It's hard to tell but does the old map show a logging road going to Duck Pond?

-Dr. Wu

 

[Amicus]

Pierre,

Duck Pond was one of my first bushwhacks, in '90 as I recall, with two older ralatives who were working on the NE3K list. Their 'whacking MO was to locate the nearest point to the summit on a trail and, as long as there were no obvious cliffs on the topo, take a bearing and head straight up. They disdained herd paths and we certainly saw none on that hike, let alone lost trails or old logging roads. My recollection is that we left Nancy Pond Tr. from a point NNE of the summit, well east of Nancy Pond.

That was by far the most difficult 'whack I've done to date (which is not a huge number but some), as the quarter-mile or so below the summit was an unavoidable (unless we retraced our steps, which would have been unthinkable) lattice of giant white pine carcasses - virgin forest, it was reported - said to have been toppled in the Hurricane of '38. We seemed to be 10 feet off the ground in places and my legs were shredded (last time I wore shorts on a 'whack, or practically any hike).

The top was a little better and we found a glass mason jar (this was the pre-canister era) with about six signatures going back a decade or so - all of whom my father-in-law recognized from seeing the same names on other peaks and doing hikes with many of them, such as Ann Gwynn, Gene Daniell, Dennis Crispo, Joe Comuzzi and Tim Kennedy (this was also before the nickname era).

Your route was more from the west (not that I'm planning a return soon)?

Mike

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

The top was a little better and we found a glass mason jar (this was the pre-canister era) with about six signatures going back a decade or so - all of whom my father-in-law recognized from seeing the same names on other peaks and doing hikes with many of them, such as Ann Gwynn, Gene Daniell, Dennis Crispo, Joe Comuzzi and Tim Kennedy (this was also before the nickname era).

All well known names! But last weekend I was doing a Map and Compass course with Joe Comuzzi, and he told me that he needed Duck Pond Mtn. Somehow I doubt that he bagged the peak and forgot all about it; from all that I have heard about it it seems unforgettable for those who survive it

 

[Amicus]

All well known names! But last weekend I was doing a Map and Compass course with Joe Comuzzi, and he told me that he needed Duck Pond Mtn.

I wasn't listing the specific names we saw in the Duck Pond mason jar, which I certainly don't remember after 16 years, but names mentioned by my father-in-law in a letter I just happened to receive from him reminiscing about his NE 'whacking days in general and the names he most saw/people he hiked with. Glad to hear Mr. Comuzzi is going strong. Dennis Crispo posts here occasionally, I've seen. My father-in-law, John Young of Peabody, Mass. (then) had to hang up his hiking boots some years ago.

 

[John H Swanson]

When I did the peak on 8/4/96 with Larry Garland et al, we climbed it from the Nancy Pand trail and it was THICK. After much whacking we got to the summit. We had one of those, "I ain't going back the same way" experiences. Then we descended more towards the east. On the way down we found the freshly cut trail that appeared to go E-W. (I don't have my notes so I'm going by a fading memory) We were headed east, but out of curiosity decided to follow it west first to see where it went. Amny 4" blowdown were saw cut. We followed it to its end and it appeared to be headed towards Lowell. Then on the return we saw that the trail went over a small false summit of Duck Pond mountain where there was a sign and yellow blazes that headed back east towards the trailhead. If this is the summit you found then you might want to know that you didn't get the actual summit. The initial part of the trail near the NPT was intentionally obscured. The trail is probably still there.

The trail builder was later caught as Frodo mentions.

 

[Oncoman]

Thanks Mike for sharing those good times of your youth, but it couldn't have been all that bad since you're still at it.

John, your info was greatly appreciated. Somehow I suspected that I was on a false peak but had to turn back in order not to be caught by darkness before returning to Nancy Pond trail. Plan to go back either in Oct. or Nov. What was distance between true & false pk? Was there more than 1 false pk? Summit seemed relatively flat to me.

Mohamed, if Joe is looking for a partner for Duck Pond Mtn bwk let me know or ask him to get in touch with me.

Pierre

 

[Jazzbo]

White Face Brook Trail

I like Dr Wu's map from Lost Trails as it confirms something interesting I'd heard before. I hiked Mt Nancy this summer with Bill Bowden who told me Duck Pond Mt was extremely thick when he tried it from NPT and would not care to try it again. He was carrying some topo map pages of the area and directed my attention to the logging road that goes north from Carrigain Notch Trail up White Face Brook that he said was easy to follow and takes you right up to highlands between Anderson and Lowell. He told me Anderson is relatively easy to bag from this approach. I suggested Lowell might also be easy to hit to but he hadn't tried it that way but thought that might be true. I've also heard about someone who's blazed some bootleg trails in this area.

 

[John H Swanson]

John, your info was greatly appreciated. Somehow I suspected that I was on a false peak but had to turn back in order not to be caught by darkness before returning to Nancy Pond trail. Plan to go back either in Oct. or Nov. What was distance between true & false pk? Was there more than 1 false pk? Summit seemed relatively flat to me.
Pierre

The topo shows two false peaks. You can see their distance by checking to topo. And if you don't have it, then you can go to TOPOZONE. But I'll save you the trip. The one to the SE (3286T) is about 0.35 mi away and a lower one (3240+) to the E is about 0.5 mi away. I can't be sure of which one had the sign and trail without checking my notes. I'm about 10,000 mile away from them now.

Either way, if I was headed up there again I would not be looking to access it from Nancy pond but rather from the east. Either by finding the old trail by slabbing the 1800 ft contour from the N side on Halfway brook going north till I found it OR by Heading south just after the top of the cascades climb.

Concerning the SW approach up the logging raods east of Lowell. I think I remember those roads as having some blowdown after one winter storm. Was it the ice storm a few years back? Also in general S, SE and SW facing slopes tend to be pretty scrappy. Of course if some one has bagged it that way and can provide real data, I might consider.... even then the cut trail was rather sweet.

Of course we could argue about the purity of bagging a 3 with an illegal trail. Or the LNT ethics of using an illegal trail... but that's another story.

JHS

 

[RoySwkr]

She also cut a trail on the E side of the Saco that we found

I know some people who climbed DP ~1970 and said it was virgin spruce and easy going, but by 10 years later the little ones were growing up underneath. Sooner or later the cycle will repeat.

 

[Amicus]

My Duck Pond Mt. 'Whack - 6/8/91

Thanks Mike for sharing those good times of your youth, but it couldn't have been all that bad since you're still at it.
Pierre

Actually, I was a youth of 41 (but over 20 years younger than my two companions), so should at least have known enough not to wear shorts.

My father-in-law took notes of every hike and has sent me his for this one, which took place on June 8, 1991, a clear day and fine for hiking. According to his altimeter, we left Nancy Pond Trail at 3,100 feet, which would mean our elevation gain was about 250 feet. That doesn't sound very impressive.

We followed a single bearing of 140 degrees, Magnetic, straight to the summit sign and jar. That was his preferred 'whacking M.O. in my experience - take a single bearing and follow it to the top, disregarding as blithely as you can whatever inconveniences materialize between start and summit.

He thinks the summit jar was of the smaller, peanut butter variety, as the more substantial mason jars were at that time reserved for loftier peaks. While he recalls that there were few signatures, going back many years, he didn't note whose they were.

Don't bother inviting me to join you for your return visit. I'm busy that day, whenever it is.

Regards, Mike

 

[audrey]

According to his altimeter, we left Nancy Pond Trail at 3,100 feet, which would mean our elevation gain was about 250 feet. That doesn't sound very impressive.

Only 250 feet? It seemed like much more. Pat and I climbed it in August 1995, also directly from NPT and found the yellow-blazed trail but were bummed that it was going the wrong way.

My recollection is that we were standing in a flat sea of green and spied the canister far away, high up (luckily) on a tree. After thrashing back down, we met a USFS biologist who had staked out a piece of ground and set some harmless traps for some purpose I've forgotten. She said when she heard us coming she didn't know what would emerge. She was also doing research on northern bog lemmings.

 

[Amicus]

After thrashing back down, we met a USFS biologist . . . .
She said when she heard us coming she didn't know what would emerge. She was . . . doing research on northern bog lemmings.

Seems an appropriate species, somehow. While I swore "never again" for this summit at the time, that was over 15 years ago and one of my first real bushwhacks. I am a little curious to go back and see how highly my memories may be colored (or how much easier a different route might be). I'd probably want to combine it with Lowell or maybe Anderson.

 

[bill bowden]

Duck Pond Mountain memories

If my fading memory is still accurate, we followed the hose (water line) that crosses Nancy Pond Trail and ran into the now notorious yellow-blazed trail which gradually climbed by the lower of the two summits (causing a substantial delay while we looked for a register) and then seemed to wander aimlessly on the side of the mountain. (Hence Audrey's comment) In a particularly scrubby section we moved uphill and were rewarded by both a summit sign and a register/peanut butter jar containing signatures of the usual suspects.

The route across from Little Norcross Pond to the bowl surrounded by Anderson, Lowell and Duck Pond Mountain was memorably bad and not to be repeated.

As a warning to all: The slides on Lowell are very loose and prone to rockfall. I very nearly led friends and companions into disaster by attempting that route and regret my choiuce of route to this day.

Jazbo's reference to the logging road crossing the signal Ridge Trail is substantially correct. The disused road continues well into the bowl between the three mountain and provides some sort of access to each, rather food to Lowell and Anderson while I cannot comment on Duck Pond except to note it is from a different direction and might thereforebe more acceptable.

I have heard of but not found myself a route to Anderson via the granite dam at Norcross Pond leading to a logging road high on Anderson. Any comment from experienced colleagues.

 

[Jazzbo]

Logging road up Anderson

I have heard of but not found myself a route to Anderson via the granite dam at Norcross Pond leading to a logging road high on Anderson. Any comment from experienced colleagues.

Last summer when we hiked Mt Nancy I stopped along the slide on Nancy so I could view slopes of Anderson. I observed the standard tell tale indentation in forest canopy indicating 2-3 haul roads slabbing the north face of Anderson. They don't go directly to summit. At best you might whack up slope until you reach one and follow it up at an angle good part of the way up and then walk up the spine of the ridge rest of way?

 

[RoySwkr]

I once climbed Anderson & Lowell as a loop from Nancy Pond Trail, then later the same week climbed them as a loop with Vose Spur from Sawyer River Road. I don't think of either side as being easier, both ways were less thick than Vose Spur.