slowandsteady
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Mt. Shaw and Black Snout via Mt. Shaw, Black Snout & Cutoff Trails 52WAV42/52
Date of Hike: Monday, July 6, 2009
Trail Conditions: Mostly dry - a few wet and muddy spots but passable with care. One big old blowdown.
Special Equipment Required: Poles to keep balance on wet cobbles & bug dope if you use it (we didn't but wished we did). Sunscreen for the top (yes!)
Comments:
Another 52WAV: trail is beautiful and very well maintained and another case where for the most part water bars have worked well for dealing with the recent rains, although there were sections with mud that required rock hopping but no deep mud holes. Looks like it will be fine when/if it drys out. The Mt. Shaw Trail has a wide variety of scenery, including a series of waterfalls near the beginning and a variety of forest conditions. A little difficult to distinguish the trail from logging roads at first - we followed the brook until we found red blazes. After the last brook crossing it gets rather steep and after about 20 minutes you pop out onto the Black Snout, a gently sloping grassy wood road with great signage by the Lakes Region Conservation Trust (sweet!). A great way to hike the last 0.9 mile to the top. Met a camp group backpacking the Ossipees - very friendly and enthusiastic bunch - hope they got to their campsite before the rain.
It was pretty buggy - mosquitoes, black flies and dog ticks - so plan accordingly.
We saw one snake (ID'd as a brown snake) on the grassy path.
Your Name: slowandsteady and co
Date of Hike: Monday, July 6, 2009
Trail Conditions: Mostly dry - a few wet and muddy spots but passable with care. One big old blowdown.
Special Equipment Required: Poles to keep balance on wet cobbles & bug dope if you use it (we didn't but wished we did). Sunscreen for the top (yes!)
Comments:
Another 52WAV: trail is beautiful and very well maintained and another case where for the most part water bars have worked well for dealing with the recent rains, although there were sections with mud that required rock hopping but no deep mud holes. Looks like it will be fine when/if it drys out. The Mt. Shaw Trail has a wide variety of scenery, including a series of waterfalls near the beginning and a variety of forest conditions. A little difficult to distinguish the trail from logging roads at first - we followed the brook until we found red blazes. After the last brook crossing it gets rather steep and after about 20 minutes you pop out onto the Black Snout, a gently sloping grassy wood road with great signage by the Lakes Region Conservation Trust (sweet!). A great way to hike the last 0.9 mile to the top. Met a camp group backpacking the Ossipees - very friendly and enthusiastic bunch - hope they got to their campsite before the rain.
It was pretty buggy - mosquitoes, black flies and dog ticks - so plan accordingly.
We saw one snake (ID'd as a brown snake) on the grassy path.
Your Name: slowandsteady and co
