Stony Brook Trail River Crossings

[DayTrip]

With the high winds in the forecast and the swollen rivers it appears hiking options for Saturday might be pretty limited. Not much of anything in the way of Trip Reports on NETC for the past few days to gauge conditions unless some people post later today. My original hope was to do Adams or Jefferson but that looks out with the winds. I've had Moriah via the Stony Brook route on the radar this Winter but have never done the trail before so I am wondering about the river crossings. Are any of these crossings significant enough that current conditions (which are rapidly receding) will present a problem? I've also noticed that a lot of people reference parking at a cul de sac further up the road. Is this just to shorten the hike or does it bypass trouble crossings? On CalTopo it looks like a dirt road connecting to the trail does skip some crossings.

Any thoughts on the crossings for this route would be appreciated. Back up hikes I was considering are Galehead, Garfield or even Carrigain. I built a pulk I wanted to try out for the road walks/lower elevations but it sounds like the roads don't even have snow on them anymore (and these hikes also have crossings to consider) so these hikes have less attraction. I'll likely do Moriah anyway but if anyone has recent data or thoughts it would be helpful.

 

[peakbagger]

The crossing of Stony Brook can be intense if there is rain and run off, but given the cold temps today the melt should have slowed down. I would use the Peabody River Stream Flow gauge
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nh/nwis/uv?site_no=01054114 as Stony Brook feeds into it . If you don't mind some off trail navigation you can probably pick up the old alignment of the trail which skips the crossing. I helped one of the local scouts relocate the trail about 20 years ago. It was on private property and the development owner did not want a trailhead in the development so it was relocated onto forest service land at the beginning of the road. If you look at Google Earth and a USGS map side by side you can see that the road that google map calls "Imp trail" (I am not sure if that is the actual name or an artifact) is the old trail alignment. I have not taken this route but when hiking the new trail you cross the river, go up on the south banking and very quickly turn left onto an old logging road. Frequently there are tracks heading straight west down the old alignment and I know that other hikers use the route. It does skip a nice stretch of Stony Brook but definitely skips the crossing.

I would expect when looking for this trail, drive up Stony Brook Road then left onto Mt Carter Road and take the first left onto the dead end road and then head up to the cul de sac, look for a continuation of the old logging road in the woods which should closely parallel the brook. If you like this area the development owner has it for sale

Note there are couple of smaller crossings of tributaries up higher that may be icy but are quite high up without a lot of watershed.

FYI the Moriah approach from Stony Brook from the south can be windy and is exposed. I believe the valley funnels the wind up it and concentrates it. The Carter Moriah approach is longer and the false summits are annoying but it has better cover (although the open ledges above Mt Surprise can be breezy and some so the ledges that the trail goes up after Mt Surprise can be difficult if icy(I would use crampons instead of microspikes)

 

[DayTrip]

The crossing of Stony Brook can be intense if there is rain and run off, but given the cold temps today the melt should have slowed down. I would use the Peabody River Stream Flow gauge
http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nh/nwis/uv?site_no=01054114 as Stony Brook feeds into it . If you don't mind some off trail navigation you can probably pick up the old alignment of the trail which skips the crossing. I helped one of the local scouts relocate the trail about 20 years ago. It was on private property and the development owner did not want a trailhead in the development so it was relocated onto forest service land at the beginning of the road. If you look at Google Earth and a USGS map side by side you can see that the road that google map calls "Imp trail" (I am not sure if that is the actual name or an artifact) is the old trail alignment. I have not taken this route but when hiking the new trail you cross the river, go up on the south banking and very quickly turn left onto an old logging road. Frequently there are tracks heading straight west down the old alignment and I know that other hikers use the route. It does skip a nice stretch of Stony Brook but definitely skips the crossing.

I would expect when looking for this trail, drive up Stony Brook Road then left onto Mt Carter Road and take the first left onto the dead end road and then head up to the cul de sac, look for a continuation of the old logging road in the woods which should closely parallel the brook. If you like this area the development owner has it for sale

Note there are couple of smaller crossings of tributaries up higher that may be icy but are quite high up without a lot of watershed.

FYI the Moriah approach from Stony Brook from the south can be windy and is exposed. I believe the valley funnels the wind up it and concentrates it. The Carter Moriah approach is longer and the false summits are annoying but it has better cover (although the open ledges above Mt Surprise can be breezy and some so the ledges that the trail goes up after Mt Surprise can be difficult if icy(I would use crampons instead of microspikes)

Thanks. I did reference the Peabody gauge earlier (I have a drainage basin list of the whole state I got on Wikipedia that I reference for rivers) and it was high but receding.

Regarding the trail, when you say "exposed" we're talking outlooks and low trees, not totally above treeline (other than the summit of course) yes? Guide makes it sound like there are selective clearings here and there, which will be fine. I picked this route thinking I could get a taste of the weather without being in the full brunt of it like one of the Northern Presidentials and it will finish up my 48 w4k list for the Carter/Wildcat area, which I have hit the past three weeks and completed except for Moriah. The mild Winter has led to very favorable driving conditions from CT this year so I have been hitting areas that are the furthest from my house.

Wasn't a huge fan of the Carter-Moriah approach when I did in Summer with the exception of the nice area with all the ledges and views (Mt Surprise was it?). Don't like the wacky parking situation either on that street. Looking forward to trying it from the other side. I've had several people on Facebook say they prefer Stony Brook and views are better so I need to do a first hand comparison for myself. I would expect and hope the crossings will be reasonable by tomorrow.

 

[peakbagger]

Its open ledge sections some of them 40 or 50 feet then back in the spruce/fir then it heads back into fir to head over to the summit.

 

[DayTrip]

I did yesterday. The first crossing was a bit tricky but if I had gone further upstream there may have been better options. Rocks were submerged in a few spots and had a lot of ice but it wasn't stable. I stood on one rock under about 2 inches of water and the ice slowly compacted into slush and I was 6-7" under before I stepped off. Coming back levels were lower and it was much easier. It was also DEAD CALM for almost the entire hike, including the summit. I caught some 5-8 mph breezes at the first ledges leaving Stony Brook/Carter Moriah trail junction. Other than that nothing. Was a ton of ice though. Didn't see any people until I was half way back down. Wound up being a pretty good day although in the back of my mind I was kicking myself for not hitting Jefferson or Adams. Probably would have been great conditions.

 

[jniehof]

I was kicking myself for not hitting Jefferson or Adams. Probably would have been great conditions.

It was breezy but not bad, probably 20 gusting 30 much of the day. We had a few staggers but no wind-induced falls. By the time we came off Adams it was obvious the wind was coming up quickly enough to rule out Madison.

IMO the weather in the Whites is sufficiently unpredictable that going up into a marginal forecast is perfectly justifiable if one can honestly say they're okay with turning around, maybe even very early in the day, without achieving any sort of goal other than a couple of hours outside. Those who are highly motivated to knock something off may do better making an earlier switch to plan B.

 

[peakbagger]

I held off from hiking high summit yesterday due to a near identical forecast two weeks ago when I tried the Lincoln Lafayette route. I missed out but looks like I have another similar forecast from next weekend.

So did you notice the obvious old route after the final crossing?

 

[DayTrip]

I held off from hiking high summit yesterday due to a near identical forecast two weeks ago when I tried the Lincoln Lafayette route. I missed out but looks like I have another similar forecast from next weekend.

So did you notice the obvious old route after the final crossing?

By "final crossing" do you mean on the way out (i.e. the first crossing)? Not sure. There were two obvious road grades on either side of river with a freshly blazed section that dropped down the bank off one road, crossed the river and went up and joined another road. The sharp turn after that crossing has an arrow sign for the turn and there was a clear road grade, somewhat growing in, that headed in general direction of housing development. Is this what you are calling the old route? I almost went that way coming down just out of curiosity but stuck with the official trail. I was in "get back to car mode" at that point though so I really wasn't looking around for alternate routes.

 

[DayTrip]

It was breezy but not bad, probably 20 gusting 30 much of the day. We had a few staggers but no wind-induced falls. By the time we came off Adams it was obvious the wind was coming up quickly enough to rule out Madison.

IMO the weather in the Whites is sufficiently unpredictable that going up into a marginal forecast is perfectly justifiable if one can honestly say they're okay with turning around, maybe even very early in the day, without achieving any sort of goal other than a couple of hours outside. Those who are highly motivated to knock something off may do better making an earlier switch to plan B.

Yah, I was looking at the MWOBS graphs and the wind looked pretty reasonable until late afternoon where it really started ramping up. Save them for another day. I pretty much worked over the whole Moriah/Carters/Wildcats ranges the past few weeks so I'm ready for another area. These trail heads are a long ride from my house.

 

[peakbagger]

If you were headed down, you would be on the south side of Stony Brook, if you go straight instead of taking a right down the banking and then across the brook, you would end up in the development.

 

[DayTrip]

If you were headed down, you would be on the south side of Stony Brook, if you go straight instead of taking a right down the banking and then across the brook, you would end up in the development.

Correct. That is where the arrow is on the tree directing you toward the river.