bryan
New member
date: 12/3/13
trails: chesley road, devils den road, woods road, old logging road, bushwhack
conditions: i parked at the end of merrymeeting lake road in new durham where north shore road goes right and the dirt chesley road goes left (with a driveway in between). plenty of room for a number of cars. chesley road is signed for snowmobile/atv use and has a gate that is currently open. i walked up the good dirt road that given recent warm temps and rain was a bit muddy for just under a mile to its junction with devils den road which forks right. there are snowmobile related signs here the one pointing to caverly being the one you want to follow. devils den road climbs over a northern shoulder of molly and then drops significantly down to a beaver pond. it then climbs again and at the top of that climb a woods road leaves to the left (north). a short ways in there is a red sign declaring foot traffic only. this road leads to the cliffy summit knob of devils den. how you get up it is up to you. i went up a prominent crack and then wound around up to the summit ledges which had good views south and north. wrapping around to the west will provide the easiest ascent. from the summit i wanted to go looking for the actual "devils den" the location of which i did not know so i dropped off the top of the mountain and wrapped around to the east under the impressive cliffs. footing was slick with wet leaves over semi frozen ground. i was also wary of ice fall off the cliffs as there was a lot of ice on the ground that had clearly come from above. i continued around to the east side of the peak and climbed up some rock fall and found the den, an interesting and surprisingly large cave. with headlamp i went in to where there is a theoretical exit up a wooden ladder that has seen better days. i passed on it and back tracked out then bushwhacked back up to the woods road. i went back down devils den road to the beaver pond then up the next hill to where an old road took off to the left (south) behind some large rocks. one rock was painted as "private road", but also had one of numerous signs in the area allowing for foot traffic. this road headed in the right direction for mt. molly so i followed it. footing was sloppy and semi frozen in places with a bit of ice. to my surprise the road wound its way up all the way to the summit. great views to the south and west from the cliff top on the south side of the mountain. i then bushwhacked directly down to chesley road through nice open woods with some continued views along the way.
equipment: blaze orange.
comments: nice day for a couple more semi local peaks. devils den is talked about in the amc southern nh trail guide and had things cleared off earlier would have had a good view towards the whites, but clouds held to the north. it also looks to be very popular with rock climbers given the amount of fixed protection all over the cliffs. the "devils den" itself was pretty cool and i could only imagine the number of beers and joints consumed inside its cold walls over the years. molly was a nice surprise with really fantastic views over merrymeeting lake to the south and west to caverly, copple crown and the moose mountains. great to be out.
bryan
[email protected]
trails: chesley road, devils den road, woods road, old logging road, bushwhack
conditions: i parked at the end of merrymeeting lake road in new durham where north shore road goes right and the dirt chesley road goes left (with a driveway in between). plenty of room for a number of cars. chesley road is signed for snowmobile/atv use and has a gate that is currently open. i walked up the good dirt road that given recent warm temps and rain was a bit muddy for just under a mile to its junction with devils den road which forks right. there are snowmobile related signs here the one pointing to caverly being the one you want to follow. devils den road climbs over a northern shoulder of molly and then drops significantly down to a beaver pond. it then climbs again and at the top of that climb a woods road leaves to the left (north). a short ways in there is a red sign declaring foot traffic only. this road leads to the cliffy summit knob of devils den. how you get up it is up to you. i went up a prominent crack and then wound around up to the summit ledges which had good views south and north. wrapping around to the west will provide the easiest ascent. from the summit i wanted to go looking for the actual "devils den" the location of which i did not know so i dropped off the top of the mountain and wrapped around to the east under the impressive cliffs. footing was slick with wet leaves over semi frozen ground. i was also wary of ice fall off the cliffs as there was a lot of ice on the ground that had clearly come from above. i continued around to the east side of the peak and climbed up some rock fall and found the den, an interesting and surprisingly large cave. with headlamp i went in to where there is a theoretical exit up a wooden ladder that has seen better days. i passed on it and back tracked out then bushwhacked back up to the woods road. i went back down devils den road to the beaver pond then up the next hill to where an old road took off to the left (south) behind some large rocks. one rock was painted as "private road", but also had one of numerous signs in the area allowing for foot traffic. this road headed in the right direction for mt. molly so i followed it. footing was sloppy and semi frozen in places with a bit of ice. to my surprise the road wound its way up all the way to the summit. great views to the south and west from the cliff top on the south side of the mountain. i then bushwhacked directly down to chesley road through nice open woods with some continued views along the way.
equipment: blaze orange.
comments: nice day for a couple more semi local peaks. devils den is talked about in the amc southern nh trail guide and had things cleared off earlier would have had a good view towards the whites, but clouds held to the north. it also looks to be very popular with rock climbers given the amount of fixed protection all over the cliffs. the "devils den" itself was pretty cool and i could only imagine the number of beers and joints consumed inside its cold walls over the years. molly was a nice surprise with really fantastic views over merrymeeting lake to the south and west to caverly, copple crown and the moose mountains. great to be out.
bryan
[email protected]
