Success Pond Road Status 2024

[DayTrip]

It looks like the most recent "official thread" for Success Pond Road info was from 2022 and there are many, many other threads so I figured I would just start a 2024 post. Admins feel free to move it into another more relevant thread if I missed it. I see on TrailsNH that the road is supposed to have been opened on May 7th but really didn't see any details. I may have a chance to hike up there this coming week so I had a few questions beyond the obvious:

1) The obvious, of course, is what kind of shape the road is in. Was there any storm damage preventing use, limiting how it can be driven, etc? I drive a CrossTrek so I'm usually OK on most forest roads unless they are really jacked up. I have never been on this road/in this area. Considering the wide spread damage this year I figured it would be worth asking before heading up there.
2) I'm considering three options: Success Trail, Carlo Notch Trail or the Notch Trail. It sounds like the Success Trail is by far the most popular and also the closest to Berlin (and would make the most sense for my plans). Are there pros and cons to choosing one of these versus the other?
3) The lots all sound small for these trails. Is it popular enough that securing a parking spot would be an issue? I'd probably be arriving in the area around lunch time for a multi-day hike, which is much later than I normally arrive for day hikes.
4) It sounds like the best parking for the Success Trail is down the actual "trail" from the road in a field area?? And there is mention of a sign with an arrow that apparently has not been there every year to indicate where to drive up? Description for this sounded a little confusing. Curious how easy it is to locate this road/trail and no when "I'm there".

Any info on the current status of the area would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

 

[peakbagger]

Keith the AMC trails supervisor for this area usually posts when Success Pond road is open and any notes on condition. The trailhead lots are rarely crowded enough not to find parking. Most avoid this area until mid June as bugs can be fierce.

 

[sierra]

It looks like the most recent "official thread" for Success Pond Road info was from 2022 and there are many, many other threads so I figured I would just start a 2024 post. Admins feel free to move it into another more relevant thread if I missed it. I see on TrailsNH that the road is supposed to have been opened on May 7th but really didn't see any details. I may have a chance to hike up there this coming week so I had a few questions beyond the obvious:

1) The obvious, of course, is what kind of shape the road is in. Was there any storm damage preventing use, limiting how it can be driven, etc? I drive a CrossTrek so I'm usually OK on most forest roads unless they are really jacked up. I have never been on this road/in this area. Considering the wide spread damage this year I figured it would be worth asking before heading up there.
2) I'm considering three options: Success Trail, Carlo Notch Trail or the Notch Trail. It sounds like the Success Trail is by far the most popular and also the closest to Berlin (and would make the most sense for my plans). Are there pros and cons to choosing one of these versus the other?
3) The lots all sound small for these trails. Is it popular enough that securing a parking spot would be an issue? I'd probably be arriving in the area around lunch time for a multi-day hike, which is much later than I normally arrive for day hikes.
4) It sounds like the best parking for the Success Trail is down the actual "trail" from the road in a field area?? And there is mention of a sign with an arrow that apparently has not been there every year to indicate where to drive up? Description for this sounded a little confusing. Curious how easy it is to locate this road/trail and no when "I'm there".

Any info on the current status of the area would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Me and my dog will be up there sometime this week. WE climb Success via the Mt success trail, think I'm going to the plane crash site this time, I never have. The road itself is typically a great road, they grade it and although I never go further than the Success trail, it's been good to that point in my experience. There is a recent report on Alltrails that mentions snow present at the bog bridge section on the Success trail, which is notoriously wet, but the trail seems to improve after that. No mention of the road in that post, which I take as a good sign.

 

[JToll]

I was last on Success Pond Road in 2022. As I recall Succees Pond and Carlo Col Trails have road side parking. The Notch Trail has parking at a lot up a side road, Shelter Brook Rd. You did not ask, but Speck Pond Trail also had roadside parking, but there was a post that said the road was blocked about 1 mile from the trailhead.

 

[JoshandBaron]

Early in the season it's great but gets beat to **** and becomes a tedious drive dodging potholes by mid summer.

 

[peakbagger]

The first mile or so used to get beat up by traffic going to the ATV parking, usually it was less beat up past that.

 

[DayTrip]

Thanks all for the info. If the weather and my schedule hold up I think I'm going to take a ride up there.

 

[Ken MacGray]

Parking for Success Trail is roadside and the trail now starts at Success Pond Rd. (trail sign). You can no longer drive down the secondary road to the field; it was washed out during the 2017 Halloween storm and was subsequently closed.

 

[peakbagger]

One thing to keep in mind is that for most it takes longer from where it leaves the paved road to trailhead than most people plan for.

That and bugs in that area are an issue well after they are an issue elsewhere. At least finding the end of the road is a lot easier that it was historically. Older versions of the AMC guide included warnings on the difficulty of finding it as it tended to move or be obscured by mill operations.

 

[JoshandBaron]

The first mile or so used to get beat up by traffic going to the ATV parking, usually it was less beat up past that.

I do a couple trips back there and around Dummer every year just cruising the roads and fishing the brooks. We avoid SPR like the plague and will use Slippery Hill or Blake to access the area.

 

[JoshandBaron]

Parking for Success Trail is roadside and the trail now starts at Success Pond Rd. (trail sign). You can no longer drive down the secondary road to the field; it was washed out during the 2017 Halloween storm and was subsequently closed.

Forest service plans to remove the culverts in October. No mention of replacement. I wonder if they plan to reopen it after or just abandon it.

 

[peakbagger]

I wonder why the FS is doing work there? Its all private land except the AT corridor.

 

[JoshandBaron]

I wonder why the FS is doing work there? Its all private land except the AT corridor.

https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/whitemountain/?project=65961

Not a lot of info, but the claimed goal is to restore natural water flow.

 

[DayTrip]

Parking for Success Trail is roadside and the trail now starts at Success Pond Rd. (trail sign). You can no longer drive down the secondary road to the field; it was washed out during the 2017 Halloween storm and was subsequently closed.

Thanks for that clarification.

 

[DayTrip]

I do a couple trips back there and around Dummer every year just cruising the roads and fishing the brooks. We avoid SPR like the plague and will use Slippery Hill or Blake to access the area.

You avoid the area because the road sucks? Logging operations? I don't see Slippery Hill or Blake on the maps. Are those roads? Trails? It looks like Success Pond Road is pretty much the only way in there.
I was actually looking at options off Rte 2 opposite Rattle River but parking sounded very limited and some areas did not allow overnight parking according to the WMG so I scrapped that idea. Not really any convenient access points for that range.

 

[Grey J]

I'm sure you know not to miss The Outlook which is a really nice viewpoint. I saw very few hikers when I did this peak about 5 years ago. Ironically, I met a solo hiker (with his dog) on The Outlook who said he does this hike every year and that his father had been a member of the search party that went looking for the crash site.

 

[DayTrip]

I'm sure you know not to miss The Outlook which is a really nice viewpoint. I saw very few hikers when I did this peak about 5 years ago. Ironically, I met a solo hiker (with his dog) on The Outlook who said he does this hike every year and that his father had been a member of the search party that went looking for the crash site.

Thanks. I have heard good things about that outlook so I'll definitely make that spur trail a mandatory stop.

 

[JoshandBaron]

You avoid the area because the road sucks? Logging operations? I don't see Slippery Hill or Blake on the maps. Are those roads? Trails? It looks like Success Pond Road is pretty much the only way in there.
I was actually looking at options off Rte 2 opposite Rattle River but parking sounded very limited and some areas did not allow overnight parking according to the WMG so I scrapped that idea. Not really any convenient access points for that range.

Sorry. Not at all helpful for your hiking question except to say SPR can be a garbage drive if you catch it at the wrong time. There's no real alternative for accessing the Mahoosucs from the north. The road network back there is pretty extensive, though.

 

[JustJoe]

I've gone as far as the Notch Trail from the Berlin side of SPR. Have driven it in a a couple different vehicle types, from spring to fall. I have never had an issue really. But, you have to take this one slow, particularly if you have a low clearance vehicle. The biggest issue from my experience, is the random protruding rocks. Some can be pretty tall. I've parked at 4 trailheads there with no problem. Success, Carlo, Goose Eye, and Notch.

 

[peakbagger]

Hopefully the NH side of the road is in for better days after a decade of neglect by JR Dillon, the logging liquidator that gave the entire area a "crewcut". After doing several "greenmail" deals, they have been selling(or have sold) the cut over lands in multiple thousand acre blocks to anyone willing to take on the long term rehab of the forest. To date, Bayroot (shill for the Yale retirement fund) has bought a couple of the parcels on the NH side as they already owned a much of the land on the Maine side. Dillon was just regrading the road base to get a few more years off of it and really was not adding any gravel. This lead to large rocks protruding from the road bed and far worse, culverts with their top sections ripped off leaving "road alligators" that could rip a tire apart in a second. The current owners seem to be spending a bit more time and money to maintain the main road for the long term. Unlike other Bayroot owned areas where the road can be gated, the Success Pond Association has long term rights to use these roads to access their camps on owned lots on the pond. NH is not under the Atlantic Salmon restrictions for culvert upgrades which has been an ever growing issue for keeping logging roads open in Maine so my guess is the road will remain open to the Notch Trail from the NH side. The original Success Pond road on the Maine side was closed for a couple of years a couple of times due to a major washout but another road from the Maine side effectively took its place.

There have been intermittent vandalism issues on the road over the years I have lived in the area but probably less than major lots in the WMNF.

I guess Keith must be out of the area as he usually pops up with the latest info.