Success Pond Road - Status update

[Rudolph]

Can anyone advise on the current status of Success Pond Road and the access to its length from Berlin? How far can one drive a car? Is the Speck Pond Trail accessable from Berlin?

Thanks and hike safe.

 

[rocket21]

I can't permalink to it, but if you go to NewEnglandTrailConditions.com, on the lower left corner under Search, select Trail and search for Speck Pond. There are a few reports from the past month or two.

 

[peakbagger]

There is an active colony of seasonal camps owned primarily by Berlin residents, the road is generally kept open until after hunting season (or first snow). Reportedly the approach from the RT 26 side is more problematical.

If you have not driven the road, its quite rough on the Berlin end. It is passable by most vehicles but generally 20 MPH is advisable so it takes a lot longer than you would expect to get to the trailheads. Watch out for culverts with their tops torn out, they will eat a tire quickly.

 

[madmattd]

I drove my low-clearance front-wheel drive station wagon from Berlin to the Speck Pond TH (and the Notch TH along the way) back in June. Nicked the belly pan a few times on some rocks (not badly mind you, but I have a heavy-duty aluminum pan). So it is possible. Best advice: take it slow. Some holes and lots of random rocks sticking up here and there to dodge around. Took me about 1hr each way for the 12 or so miles. 20mph was only possible in a few short stretches. IQuest was with me in his truck (as we car-spotted at the Notch TH), and he only had to dodge a small handful of rocks, but he reported he didn't really want to go much faster due to the washboarding.

There is a small ditch, possibly from an old missing culvert, right before you get to the grass field by the Speck Pond TH. I couldn't avoid scraping the belly pan on it, you could park off the road before it and walk the insanely short distance to the TH if you didn't want to play with it. All other culverts at the time were buried sufficiently to not worry about.

 

[Lefty E]

The ditch near the Speck Pond trailhead has been repaired...but as above posters have noted, conditions are rough so allow extra time....

 

[Michelle]

I hiked Speck Pond trail on 8/8/13 and drove really sloooooooooooow, it took me 35 minutes to drive the 12+ miles the trailhead (driving a smaller Subaru with lower clearance) I was being passed by everyone on the way out and didn't really care............so, that's your MAX time to get there!! Road was fine, I was just being cautious!! Have fun, it's a beautiful trail!

 

[peakbagger]

By the way, the locals who use the road tend to figure if they go fast enough they will miss the low spots . I have routinely been overtaken by pickup trucks going double my speed and their theory is that the entire road width is theirs to use as they please.

 

[NHClimber]

And note that Success Pond Rd. turns into York Pond Rd. on the ME side and is closed (due to wash out I believe). You can still get through to Rt. 26 if you take North Rd. We drove through a few weeks back (saw moose cow and calf btw) coming back from Grafton Notch.