RoySwkr
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Funny to return from this hike to muddy trail discussion.
The shortest route up Oversett was a bushwhack from main road but decided to try trail from pond shown on DeLorme but not USGS. A local said not to drive to pond with car as he knocked off muffler last time he tried, so parked 100 yds up Overset Pond Road at sign for Overset Parking (note local spelling different from USGS).
There was a steel gate a couple hundred yards further, closed but not locked. Approaching the pond, the woods road makes a Y but there was a sign for Overset Trail straight ahead. This was a new trail created by clearing a narrow footway of leaves and pine needles with a mattock, there are no blazes (to be added later?) so might be hard to follow with significant snow cover. Nearing a swamp at the end of the pond, the trail splits with the L branch running near the pond shore. Along the pond it was up-and-down sidehill with footway narrow for snowshoeing. There were some nice rough log and split log bridges and one stone waterbar, but I think most of the trail will be muddy in spring and erode quickly where it ascends. After awhile, a dozen canoes stored in the woods indicated that the road was nearby. At a tiny landing spot, there was a trail register which said the trail was built by the landowner and the signs had been put up only a week earlier.
At the end of the lake, the trail is flatter for awhile then begins to ascend the ridge passing several clifftop viewpoints over the lake. There are some short switchbacks and one stone staircase chinked with small rocks, but some of the steeper places just have steps cut into the dirt which may not last long (maybe also to be upgraded later?). The actual summit is an easy bushwhack maybe .1 mi from the highpoint of the trail. The trail then descends to close the loop. It probably took twice as long to hike the trail as to do the shorter bushwhack, but it was a fascinating experience.
Ordinary hikers should probably avoid this in spring and visit it before the erosion takes hold, trail construction experts can then return in a few years to see if their fears were justified.
The shortest route up Oversett was a bushwhack from main road but decided to try trail from pond shown on DeLorme but not USGS. A local said not to drive to pond with car as he knocked off muffler last time he tried, so parked 100 yds up Overset Pond Road at sign for Overset Parking (note local spelling different from USGS).
There was a steel gate a couple hundred yards further, closed but not locked. Approaching the pond, the woods road makes a Y but there was a sign for Overset Trail straight ahead. This was a new trail created by clearing a narrow footway of leaves and pine needles with a mattock, there are no blazes (to be added later?) so might be hard to follow with significant snow cover. Nearing a swamp at the end of the pond, the trail splits with the L branch running near the pond shore. Along the pond it was up-and-down sidehill with footway narrow for snowshoeing. There were some nice rough log and split log bridges and one stone waterbar, but I think most of the trail will be muddy in spring and erode quickly where it ascends. After awhile, a dozen canoes stored in the woods indicated that the road was nearby. At a tiny landing spot, there was a trail register which said the trail was built by the landowner and the signs had been put up only a week earlier.
At the end of the lake, the trail is flatter for awhile then begins to ascend the ridge passing several clifftop viewpoints over the lake. There are some short switchbacks and one stone staircase chinked with small rocks, but some of the steeper places just have steps cut into the dirt which may not last long (maybe also to be upgraded later?). The actual summit is an easy bushwhack maybe .1 mi from the highpoint of the trail. The trail then descends to close the loop. It probably took twice as long to hike the trail as to do the shorter bushwhack, but it was a fascinating experience.
Ordinary hikers should probably avoid this in spring and visit it before the erosion takes hold, trail construction experts can then return in a few years to see if their fears were justified.
