Cape Horn, N.H. from the south

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srhigham

Member
Joined
Jan 8, 2015
Messages
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Location
Essex Co., Mass.
In June, 2018, in extreme heat, I attempted to reach the ridgeline of Cape Horn from the woods road off Lost Nation Rd. I failed (exhaustion). Since I really wanted to reach the southern half of the ridge, I tried again in September from the south, from the snowmobile trail on Page Hill Road. There is room for one car at the trailhead (such that you don't block the gate.) The trail is quite wide ( a road really). There was a (road-kill?) moose dumped in the field at the beginning...quite grotesque and smelly. The road is fairly level. A few hundred feet past Dean Brook, I turned east and began a pleasant bushwhack. I aimed for the extreme southern foot of the ridge. I avoided a hill that was in the way and ended up just above the terminal southernmost cliffs that curl around from the eastern side. There was a bit of ledge scrambling to reach the ridge top. I anticipated more of a bare ridgetop experience but there are luxurious woods up there. The trip northward to the presumed southern "summit" was uneventful. There are several lookouts above the eastern cliffs. Those cliffs extend for several miles uninterrupted. If this was in Europe, the ridge would have been used as a fortification for thousands of years!

I recommend this southern approach over the Lost Nation/eastern approach. If you aim right, you are parallel to the contours for most of the way and the cliffs present far less of a problem.
 
Funny I did it with a group from Lost Nation via the woods road last spring and had no issues. It made for nice loop as the recent logging road tied back into the road we walking in on
 
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