Mt. Clough...what's the deal.

[Steve-o]

Every time I stand on top of Mt. Moosilauke, I look over at Mt. Clough and go
Hmmm.
Does anyone have any useful information to attaining this peak?
I'm thinking of the bushwack off of the tunnel brook trail from the Sanatorium.

Thanks, Steve-o

 

[Barbarossa]

I tried from the north from Tunnel Brook road. The woods were mostly open, lots of moose poop, but I couldn't tell you where the cannister is.

Have fun!

 

[F-Face]

This thread has some reasonable info:

http://www.vftt.org/forums/showthread.php?t=4114

 

[Nate]

Is bushwhacking from the Tunnel Brook Trail more common than coming up from the point on North and South Road that's closest to the summit?

Also, in light of the thread that F-Face notes, is there still a canister on Jeffers Mountain?

 

[dms]

I did Clough from North/South Road and found it to be steep, but straight forward. There is a register, or used to be, on both summits.

 

[F-Face]

Well, we managed to do Clough (Cluff? - that is how Hough in the ADK's is pronounced, so we'll go with that). we went up via tunnel brook trail, cut into the woods around 2100' then right up the ridge. When it first got steep, it was pretty mouth - the rocks, thick scrub, then cleared up. 1-4' of snow, depending on where you walked. From the summit, we went north for about 1/3mi thought some scrub that was totally mouth, then headed down nearly due west using Sugarloaf Mtn as our guide. Man, there was more moose **** that I have EVER seen - I mean it was EVERYWHERE..Here's a sample yes, of course we found THE JAR! Check it out: Jar 1 and of course Jar 2

One of those pics is me and the other Stev-o.

 

[post'r boy]

looks like the register the "human moose" A.K.A. the "missin' link" A.K.A. "M.J." put in there is still holding up!

 

[F-Face]

BTW: high on the "remoteness" scale. Only 7 documented visitors in all of 2005.

 

[Dennis C.]

We visited Clough this winter and found the register that's in the F-Face photos. I've climbed this peak from (3) different approaches. Even though there's no "easy way" (without encountering some steep or scrappy zones), I liked this one the best:

Mt. Clough : NH 100 Highest Bushwhack with ROUTE DETAILS

 

[bill bowden]

Mount Clough

To probably misquote an old friend I offer this bit of epic poetry:

Clough can be tough
If you don't want to bleed,
This advice you will heed:

Actually there's a reasonably nice route to the summit of Clough from Tunnel Brook road up on to a N_S ridge covered with broadleaf trees. At the height of land onthe ridge, take a left and follow thrugh a somewhat open spruce forest to the canister.

On the return, avoid the temptation to head for what looks like a nice trail of hardwood high on the mountain, there are about a million dead spruce trees scattered under them.

 

[Nate]

I finally visited Clough last weekend, heading up from North-South Road. The entire 'whack is a little over a mile long, and the first half of it climbs through open woods. This got my hopes up that the entire way would be like a bushwhack in Vermont. However, for the second half, the spruce trees and blowdowns moved in to hinder my progress. Once on the summit ridge, I was dismayed to learn that I had 0.36 miles to go, across some wet, boggish areas and more thickness. But, as I drew closer to the summit, the herd paths increased, and the top itself is open enough that the true summit is obvious. What threw me off was that the canister wasn't there. Further searching uncovered an unlidded, empty jar under a blown down, and even more searching produced the remants of the register, the bits blown to the edge of the neighboring clearing. There was so little left that the only identifiable feature was the greatly faded SpongeBob sticker.

Since I was out of replacement jars at that point in the weekend, I ended up placing the remnants back in the jar (along with some blank pages and a writing utensil), then placed the whole thing in a large ziplock bag. Since I also had a plastic CVS bag on me, I used it to wrap the parcel to further protect it from the elements. I left it resting on its side on a horizontal blowdown in the summit clearing, held in place by a small blow down lying on top of the first. The gaudy plastic should make the thing obvious.

For my descent, I followed the herd paths back north along the ridge, then when the wet spots kicked in, I turned west and headed back down to the road. I don't think the going was any better on this pass, but at least with gravity's help I was able to bomb down through, and at long last I reached the open woods again. Since it was so late in the afternoon by the time I returned to the car, unfortunately Jeffers would have to wait for another day.

Afterword: On the way into work this morning I had a Bea Paisley moment, and realized I should have written this in the Clough register:

There once was a mount called Clough,
Whose lower slopes weren't so rough.
But then halfway up,
The spruce thickened up,
And now that I've summited I've had enough.

 

[Steve-o]

Cluff!
Nate,
Good job on picking up pieces, and establishing a temporary jar.

I did a backpack with F-Face 0n May 3-5 2007. in this area.
We decided to do Jeffers, just because it was on some stupid list.

We departed from: Long pond rd. ( formerly known as North & South Rd.)
We parked at the glencliff trailhead, .2 miles away.
I noticed some broken glass at the gate on long pond rd.So I decieded to play it safe.

We hiked up Long Pond rd.
Extensive blowdown.
(Might be cleaned up by now.)

Set up camp on the west side of Long Pond, and bushwacked up to the "hog's back".Excellent view. From here traveled north to Sugarloaf. Also
Excellent views!
Then back to Jeffers ( bad views )
Stay east looking for the jar.

Hit Blueberry mtn, on the way out. ( some views from south facing ledges)
Also some blowdown to negotiate.
All in all, Great place to be if you don't like people, and enjoy wildlife.

 

[albee]

...I was dismayed to learn that I had 0.36 miles to go...

Aw, man... you're using GPS now, too?? Doesn't anyone trust their map and compass anymore?

 

[Dr. Dasypodidae]

Aw, man... you're using GPS now, too?? Doesn't anyone trust their map and compass anymore?

I agree; I think that using a GPS on bushwhack peak bagging is akin to "cheating." Fine for "geo-caching," but map and compass only for me in peak bagging.

 

[albee]

I got up Clough today myself. Found the register right where you had left it, Nate. Nice work picking up all those bits of paper. I had a tough time finding it at first, circling around on all those moose herdpaths looking for the bump that was slightly higher than the rest of the ridge. Finally spotted the high point, and there was your CVS bag wedged between 2 trees. Unfortunately, I didn't bring cannister repair stuff with me, so I signed in and left it where it was.

I think I took the same route that Nate did. Parked at a gated forest road at the height of land on Long Pond Rd. (North and South Rd) Headed up through fern and hobblebush for the first 400 vertical feet. Met a cow moose just hanging out munching leaves. Made good progress after this, but it got a lot thicker up high. Finally found the ridge and passed over the swampy section Nate mentioned. From there it was nice herd paths to the summit area. Made it car to jar in 1:17. On the way down I skirted the swamp to the west but ended up drifting down a lot sooner than I should have and it was much thicker and slower through there. Took me 1:30 to make it back to the car. I might have done better if I had taken my map and compass out of my pack, but it looked pretty straightforward so I just navigated by sight. Man, my legs are shredded tonight!

Happy 'whackin!