bryan
New member
date: 6/21/13
trails: logging roads, bushwack
conditions: drove in from rt 3 in stratford via bog road, bordeau road, cloutier road and back onto bog road. google maps sort of has it right, but seems to neglect a whole section of road between cloutier and the upper part of bog road. this piece of road which turns off cloutier to the left is gated (green gate on log posts), but not locked with no prohibitions posted and reconnects you with bog road a bit before the pond. roads are in good shape though the last section of bog road has some large dips that need to be taken slowly in a passenger car. once at the pond i went left past a number of camps and parked in a grassy area to the left just before a rough spot (great view of sugarloaf from this point). the residents of the camps didn't seem to mind me coming through and were all friendly as i drove by. from the car i walked up what is shown on some maps as pond road which almost immediately branched left and uphill over a washed out dirt track. the road had generally good walking and i stayed left at the next two branches aiming to reach a prominent (on satellite maps) clearing below the savage/spruce col. a couple tenths short of this point i encountered a barrage of no atv/snowmobile signs with wires strung across the road at a property boundary. this wouldn't generally dissuade me, but there were a few no trespassing signs as well all linked to a timber company out of virginia. i made the call to continue up (you will have to decide for yourself), but left the road early and began bushwacking up towards the col. woods were scrappy and i ended up climbing onto the south ridge of savage a bit early. woods got thicker until i climbed over the crest to the west side where they relented a bit before the climbing became steep. there were a couple small cliffs to negotiate then one that forced me to slab well to the west to get around it. this was somewhat fortuitous as the west running ridgeline i got up on had much better going up the the summit plateau which had decent open spruce to weave through up to the highpoint. descending i dropped elevation to the west and slabbed back over to pick up the col. from there to east spruce the woods were scrappy, but never bad with some blowdown and a number of false bumps before the highpoint. in a sag on the way over i noted an old road leading back towards the road i hiked up from the pond on so after reaching the summit i doubled back and picked it up for the descent eventually branching off onto other overgrown roads which dropped me in the clearing i had initially intended on hiking up to. the views from this point up to savage were phenomenal. i followed the road down through the signed area and retraced my steps back to the car. black flies were mild, but other larger flies were a nuisance when stopped.
equipment: nothing in particular.
comments: a beautiful day. stratford bog pond has to be one on the nicest spots i've been to with fantastic views to the surrounding mountains (sugarloaf, west peak, stratford notch peak, east savage, savage) and a strong feeling of isolation. the views from the road up savage were great too in particular from that upper clearing. definitely got worked on the ascent of savage with woods more like the pemi than what i had encountered up north to this point. some nice woods walking to east spruce and loads of moose sign on the overgrown roads descending back to pond road. if only the drive up were a bit shorter......great to be out.
bryan
[email protected]
trails: logging roads, bushwack
conditions: drove in from rt 3 in stratford via bog road, bordeau road, cloutier road and back onto bog road. google maps sort of has it right, but seems to neglect a whole section of road between cloutier and the upper part of bog road. this piece of road which turns off cloutier to the left is gated (green gate on log posts), but not locked with no prohibitions posted and reconnects you with bog road a bit before the pond. roads are in good shape though the last section of bog road has some large dips that need to be taken slowly in a passenger car. once at the pond i went left past a number of camps and parked in a grassy area to the left just before a rough spot (great view of sugarloaf from this point). the residents of the camps didn't seem to mind me coming through and were all friendly as i drove by. from the car i walked up what is shown on some maps as pond road which almost immediately branched left and uphill over a washed out dirt track. the road had generally good walking and i stayed left at the next two branches aiming to reach a prominent (on satellite maps) clearing below the savage/spruce col. a couple tenths short of this point i encountered a barrage of no atv/snowmobile signs with wires strung across the road at a property boundary. this wouldn't generally dissuade me, but there were a few no trespassing signs as well all linked to a timber company out of virginia. i made the call to continue up (you will have to decide for yourself), but left the road early and began bushwacking up towards the col. woods were scrappy and i ended up climbing onto the south ridge of savage a bit early. woods got thicker until i climbed over the crest to the west side where they relented a bit before the climbing became steep. there were a couple small cliffs to negotiate then one that forced me to slab well to the west to get around it. this was somewhat fortuitous as the west running ridgeline i got up on had much better going up the the summit plateau which had decent open spruce to weave through up to the highpoint. descending i dropped elevation to the west and slabbed back over to pick up the col. from there to east spruce the woods were scrappy, but never bad with some blowdown and a number of false bumps before the highpoint. in a sag on the way over i noted an old road leading back towards the road i hiked up from the pond on so after reaching the summit i doubled back and picked it up for the descent eventually branching off onto other overgrown roads which dropped me in the clearing i had initially intended on hiking up to. the views from this point up to savage were phenomenal. i followed the road down through the signed area and retraced my steps back to the car. black flies were mild, but other larger flies were a nuisance when stopped.
equipment: nothing in particular.
comments: a beautiful day. stratford bog pond has to be one on the nicest spots i've been to with fantastic views to the surrounding mountains (sugarloaf, west peak, stratford notch peak, east savage, savage) and a strong feeling of isolation. the views from the road up savage were great too in particular from that upper clearing. definitely got worked on the ascent of savage with woods more like the pemi than what i had encountered up north to this point. some nice woods walking to east spruce and loads of moose sign on the overgrown roads descending back to pond road. if only the drive up were a bit shorter......great to be out.
bryan
[email protected]
