East Branch / Slippery Brook Roads ?

[JustJoe]

The WMNF roads page list these as reconstruction beginning 2014, not to be opened until 2015. Does anyone know where they may be at with this at this time?

Thanks

 

[bcborder]

Saw this post from neclimbs.com dated jun 11, http://www.neclimbs.com/index.php?PageName=report

Fragment:

Valley Cycling Notes:
My friend Mike Levine and I rode Town Hall Road on Wednesday. This is one of our regular rides that we do occasionally. It’s a great way to get ~16 miles of riding on mostly logging roads. Mountain Pond has been a popular destination up there for family hikes for many years, however, part of the road was washed out by Hurricane Irene, and the road has been gated for the past few years. It’s also part of a major snowmobile corridor that can take you over to Chatham. I’ve also ridden that whole loop on my bike several times and it’s a great ride.

As usual we drove up the road to the gated parking area and started from there. Then we started up the road which is a gradual uphill all the way to where the road ends at the river just beyond the Mt Eastman Trail. On the way we noticed that the washout has been repaired along with several small eroded places, plus several trees that were blocking the road have been removed! At the top, the river was low enough that Mike tiptoed over to the other side & confirmed there is single track continuing up the old road. That seemed interesting, but we saved that adventure for another day. On the way back downhill, just past the snowmobile trail that goes down to Chatham, I spotted an old logging road on the left. It looked rideable so we followed it for about 1/2 mile until it turned to high grass and kind of swampy. It was originally a pretty wide logging road at one time, cut into the side of the hill. Again very interesting and likely worth another explore later in the fall or early winter when things have dried out.

Mike had to go back, but I took a right on the road near Mountain Pond to go uphill to where the bridge had been washed out by Irene. We had seen some workers’ cars go by while we were riding uphill earlier, so I’d heard from my friend Phil O that there was work going on up there. Turns out that there was a pretty good sized crew up there working to replace the bridge. They already had a temporary bridge in place so I continued up another mile or so. I went past a swamp/pond on the left, a marked hiking trail that goes to Black Mountain Road and then continued downhill to where the road stops at the East Branch of the Saco. It intersects with the East Branch Trail, which apparently parallels the river in both directions. I want to get back there this summer & ride that trail, maybe all the way up to Perkins Notch if possible, it looks like quite a nice wide trail.

 

[Snowflea]

Just spoke with someone at the Saco Ranger District who reported "Hopefully by the end of the summer Slippery Brook Road will be reopened, but they are still working on it."

When I was finishing up redlining last fall, I walked the road in order to get the southern end of SBT and Mtn Pond Loop. Made for a long but enjoyable day.

 

[JustJoe]

Thanks for the updates. I'm looking for shorter reasonable hikes for the weekend while I'm still rehabbing a broken ankle. Spotted the Mountain Pond loop but don't feel like doing the road walk to get there. But I've never hiked in from that side before Irene so have no idea where the gate is in relation to the Mountain Pond Tr. What is that mileage, out of curiosity?

 

[Snowflea]

All the way to Eastman Mtn and back, plus Mtn Pond Loop was about 20 miles.

See http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthre...untain-Pond-Loop-10-30-14&p=417326#post417326

FYI Mtn Pond Loop is pretty rocky and rough, not as easy as a quick glance at the map would suggest.

 

[JustJoe]

All the way to Eastman Mtn and back, plus Mtn Pond Loop was about 20 miles.

See http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthre...untain-Pond-Loop-10-30-14&p=417326#post417326

FYI Mtn Pond Loop is pretty rocky and rough, not as easy as a quick glance at the map would suggest.

Thanks for the info on the trail. Might not be a good idea. But I was wondering how far it is to Mountain Pond Tr. from where Slippery Brook Rd. is gated. 2-3 miles?

 

[KRobi]

Appears via GPS to be about 3.3 miles. Second Sue's assessment of the trail. This wet it would be nasty. Even with "dry" weather the south side was nasty.

 

[JustJoe]

Thanks again for the info. The WMG did give me a rough idea on the distance but not a real sense of the trail. I wouldn't take a chance on that kind footing.

 

[Jazzbo]

Thanks again for the info. The WMG did give me a rough idea on the distance but not a real sense of the trail. I wouldn't take a chance on that kind footing.

Current Gate is just bit south of Burnt Knoll Brook. My GPS track indicates it is 2.9 miles and 600' elevation gain to junction with Mt Pond trail head. I hiked Eastman from there, but did by combo of bike and hike and whack. I walked my bike some sections of 600' climb. It was fun cruise back to gate though.

I'm happy to get an update on these roads. I too would like to come back to area to explore roads by bike.

Good luck in your recovery!

 

[Amicus]

Slippery Brook Road/FR 17 is finally open again, four years after Irene. Of the four miles of the Slippery Brook Trail south of its junction with the Eastman Mtn. and Baldface Knob Trails, the first 2.2 are woods roads used by snowmobiles and can be quickly traversed. The 1.8 mile "trail" section below that junction is hard to follow in some sections, with much overgrowth and blowdowns and probably little use since Irene until now (but I was not the only hiker using it today, so traffic may mitigate difficulties). There are no blazes on a trail where they would be useful.

This also reopens the parking lot for Mountain Pond and its lean-to, and the excellent loop around the Pond.

 

[DougBates]

Slippery Brook Trail from Slippery Brook Rd.

I hiked Slippery Brook from Slippery Brook Rd. yesterday. The hard-to-follow sections Amicus wrote about have been cleared up. I found the trail easy to follow, even though there are no blazes and the trail was covered in freshly fallen leaves. It's an easy way to get to Baldface, and saves a lot of driving time from North Conway.

 

[TJsName]

Slippery Brook Road/FR 17 is finally open again, four years after Irene. Of the four miles of the Slippery Brook Trail south of its junction with the Eastman Mtn. and Baldface Knob Trails, the first 2.2 are woods roads used by snowmobiles and can be quickly traversed. The 1.8 mile "trail" section below that junction is hard to follow in some sections, with much overgrowth and blowdowns and probably little use since Irene until now (but I was not the only hiker using it today, so traffic may mitigate difficulties). There are no blazes on a trail where they would be useful.

This also reopens the parking lot for Mountain Pond and its lean-to, and the excellent loop around the Pond.

I visited Mountain Pond a couple weeks ago for an overnight - it is in great shape and has had some recent work done to refurbish some of the walls and planks. There was a friendly ranger working on it, stuffing oakum into the gaps.

 

[NHClimber]

Just to clarify, FR17 picks up after the end of Town Hall Road? So that gate at the Town Hall lot is now open?

 

[DougBates]

Just to clarify, FR17 picks up after the end of Town Hall Road? So that gate at the Town Hall lot is now open?

Yes. Keep driving past Town Hall. You'll come to a fork in the road where there's a small sign pointing towards Mountain Pond. Take that way. Keep going to where there's a closed gate and a trailhead sign for Slippery Brook. If your destination is Mountain Pond, look for the sign part way.

 

[NHClimber]

Thx. I've been up there both on snowmachine and on foot. Haven't done the pond loop yet but plan to.