albee
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I just wanted to report that I did some bushwhacking to the three NHHH peaks of the Pilot Range this past Saturday.
While researching a route to take, I noticed that the USGS quad maps show an old logging road that approaches the summit of middle Pilot Ridge from the southwest. It looks like it peters out about 300' below the summit. From there you could turn southeast and head for East Pilot Ridge (now called Mount Mary) and you could follow the ridge northwest to Middle Pilot and eventually to Mount Hutchins. This looked like the most straightforward route, so I printed out my maps and set off to find the village of Lost Nation, NH.
It wasn't too hard to follow Route 3 into Lancaster, but from there I was left to guess at which road would lead out to the foothills of the Pilot Range. I don't own a NH Gazetteer yet, so I was pleasantly surprised when the first road I followed took me quite far in the right direction. Unfortunately, I missed a turn onto Grange Road, and went a few miles too far in the direction of Bethlehem. I corrected myself, and it was easy enough to find the road on my topo map that lead to my old logging road "trailhead". At the end of this road, I came to a house with No Trespassing signs prominently posted. I could see the logging road at the far end of the driveway, but I knew it wouldn't be right to just blatantly ignore the signs. Underneath the No Trespassing sign was a small addendum that said "If you walk on this property without permission you are trespassing." That made it simple - I would have to go to the house and ask permission!
I parked at a small worn area about 50 yards before the house, and gave a wave to a man working in the barn out behind the house. He waved back, so I grabbed my map and walked up to meet him. We exchanged greetings as he eyed me suspiciously. I politely asked if I could walk across his land so I could climb the mountains behind his house. I showed him the road on the map, and after he got my assurances that I wasn't a hunter, he gave me a smile and a few tips on navigating the route and readily agreed to allow me on my way. Whew!
The logging road was a wonderful route up to the ridge, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that a rudimentary trail had been cut all the way to Mount Mary. The 100 acre plot surrounding the summit area is private property owned by a man named Bruce Sloat, and he has renamed the peak from East Pilot Ridge to Mount Mary in honor his deceased mother-in-law, Mary Edgerton. Bruce used to work for the AMC, and he is reportedly happy to allow hikers access to his property. They have built a cabin up near the summit, and there is a very limited view to the south from their "front porch". Bruce's wife Mary even maintains the summit register, and they hike up there quite a few times every year. Unfortunately, this trail and the summit had no views to speak of, so I wouldn't recommend this hike to anyone that isn't bagging NHHH peaks.
I retraced my steps to the height-of-land near Middle Pilot Ridge Peak, and bushwhacked up to the summit canister. It was a small jar with no lid and 2 wet ziplock bags stuffed inside. I replaced the canister with a larger glass jar with a lid, and a new notebook and pencil in a new ziplock bag. From there, I took a compass bearing on West Pilot Ridge Peak, a nearby bump that doesn't count because it only has a 140' col. The woods here didn't provide much resistance as I navigated directly to the col and up to the peak in under 20 minutes. There were some funny entries in the register here from characters such as Stinkyfeet: "Made it from the last summit in 14 minutes!" The next entry said "New record - made it in 13 minutes!" Another person wrote "What's with all this speed-hiking?!" And finally, someone wrote "Made it in 6 days, 4 hours, and 29 minutes - new record for slowest hike!" Bushwhackers are some twisted individuals, I tell ya!
From there, the woods were still easy to navigate, and I even picked up some herd paths that took me down to the next col. This is where the going got tough. I tried to follow the crest of the ridge all the way to the peak, but all moose herd paths kept leading away to the east side of the ridge. I resolved to doggedly follow my compass bearing, which kept me fighting and pushing my way through thick sections. Interestingly, I came across 4 pieces of blue surveyors tape (which I removed) in the span of 1/2 a mile... even though there was no herd path, I was still taking the same approximate route as someone before me. I continued along the ridge until I came to one final steep section and then there was the summit area - an hour and 35 minutes after I left West Pilot Ridge. I had to hunt around for the canister, and I finally found it in good condition with a register full of entries from a number of familiar faces - Onestep, Spongebob, Mark R, Neighbor, MJ, Keith D., etc... many people had commented on how thick it was, and I smiled and thought, "Yep, we all must have followed the same route!" There was a ledge nearby with an impressive view to the east and northeast of the northern woods.
After signing in, I wasn't looking forward to 2 hours of fighting through thick stuff back to the trail, but I knew I had to do it. Getting back down is always the hardest part to navigate. I dropped off the summit on a faint herd path, and decided to explore the eastern side of the ridge that all those herd paths kept leading to. As long as I didn't drop too far off the ridge, I wouldn't miss the col before going back over to Middle Pilot Ridge and down to my logging road. This proved to be the best decision I could have made, as the woods were far more open and easy to navigate. I made quick time back to the col, and after 55 minutes I was back at the West Pilot Ridge canister. From there I dropped down to the next col and skirted Middle Pilot Ridge to the south and soon picked up the trail. I ran most of the way down the old logging road and was back at the trailhead about 6.5 hours after I started my hike.
I stopped in to see the landowner again, and we had a long pleasant chat about my trip. He was happy to have someone to talk about the land that he obviously cares so much about. He even introduced me to his wife and 2 young children... they were such a friendly family! Before I left, I asked him if he would mind me telling others about this route. He said he obviously didn't want hordes of people knocking on his door and asking to use the land, but he wouldn't mind if a few peakbaggers stopped by now and then. He said as long as people were respectful and asked permission before using his property then he wouldn't have any problems at all. His name is Joe and his wife is Melissa... please stop in and say hi to them for me if you ever decide to bag these peaks. Thanks!
While researching a route to take, I noticed that the USGS quad maps show an old logging road that approaches the summit of middle Pilot Ridge from the southwest. It looks like it peters out about 300' below the summit. From there you could turn southeast and head for East Pilot Ridge (now called Mount Mary) and you could follow the ridge northwest to Middle Pilot and eventually to Mount Hutchins. This looked like the most straightforward route, so I printed out my maps and set off to find the village of Lost Nation, NH.
It wasn't too hard to follow Route 3 into Lancaster, but from there I was left to guess at which road would lead out to the foothills of the Pilot Range. I don't own a NH Gazetteer yet, so I was pleasantly surprised when the first road I followed took me quite far in the right direction. Unfortunately, I missed a turn onto Grange Road, and went a few miles too far in the direction of Bethlehem. I corrected myself, and it was easy enough to find the road on my topo map that lead to my old logging road "trailhead". At the end of this road, I came to a house with No Trespassing signs prominently posted. I could see the logging road at the far end of the driveway, but I knew it wouldn't be right to just blatantly ignore the signs. Underneath the No Trespassing sign was a small addendum that said "If you walk on this property without permission you are trespassing." That made it simple - I would have to go to the house and ask permission!
I parked at a small worn area about 50 yards before the house, and gave a wave to a man working in the barn out behind the house. He waved back, so I grabbed my map and walked up to meet him. We exchanged greetings as he eyed me suspiciously. I politely asked if I could walk across his land so I could climb the mountains behind his house. I showed him the road on the map, and after he got my assurances that I wasn't a hunter, he gave me a smile and a few tips on navigating the route and readily agreed to allow me on my way. Whew!
The logging road was a wonderful route up to the ridge, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that a rudimentary trail had been cut all the way to Mount Mary. The 100 acre plot surrounding the summit area is private property owned by a man named Bruce Sloat, and he has renamed the peak from East Pilot Ridge to Mount Mary in honor his deceased mother-in-law, Mary Edgerton. Bruce used to work for the AMC, and he is reportedly happy to allow hikers access to his property. They have built a cabin up near the summit, and there is a very limited view to the south from their "front porch". Bruce's wife Mary even maintains the summit register, and they hike up there quite a few times every year. Unfortunately, this trail and the summit had no views to speak of, so I wouldn't recommend this hike to anyone that isn't bagging NHHH peaks.
I retraced my steps to the height-of-land near Middle Pilot Ridge Peak, and bushwhacked up to the summit canister. It was a small jar with no lid and 2 wet ziplock bags stuffed inside. I replaced the canister with a larger glass jar with a lid, and a new notebook and pencil in a new ziplock bag. From there, I took a compass bearing on West Pilot Ridge Peak, a nearby bump that doesn't count because it only has a 140' col. The woods here didn't provide much resistance as I navigated directly to the col and up to the peak in under 20 minutes. There were some funny entries in the register here from characters such as Stinkyfeet: "Made it from the last summit in 14 minutes!" The next entry said "New record - made it in 13 minutes!" Another person wrote "What's with all this speed-hiking?!" And finally, someone wrote "Made it in 6 days, 4 hours, and 29 minutes - new record for slowest hike!" Bushwhackers are some twisted individuals, I tell ya!
From there, the woods were still easy to navigate, and I even picked up some herd paths that took me down to the next col. This is where the going got tough. I tried to follow the crest of the ridge all the way to the peak, but all moose herd paths kept leading away to the east side of the ridge. I resolved to doggedly follow my compass bearing, which kept me fighting and pushing my way through thick sections. Interestingly, I came across 4 pieces of blue surveyors tape (which I removed) in the span of 1/2 a mile... even though there was no herd path, I was still taking the same approximate route as someone before me. I continued along the ridge until I came to one final steep section and then there was the summit area - an hour and 35 minutes after I left West Pilot Ridge. I had to hunt around for the canister, and I finally found it in good condition with a register full of entries from a number of familiar faces - Onestep, Spongebob, Mark R, Neighbor, MJ, Keith D., etc... many people had commented on how thick it was, and I smiled and thought, "Yep, we all must have followed the same route!" There was a ledge nearby with an impressive view to the east and northeast of the northern woods.
After signing in, I wasn't looking forward to 2 hours of fighting through thick stuff back to the trail, but I knew I had to do it. Getting back down is always the hardest part to navigate. I dropped off the summit on a faint herd path, and decided to explore the eastern side of the ridge that all those herd paths kept leading to. As long as I didn't drop too far off the ridge, I wouldn't miss the col before going back over to Middle Pilot Ridge and down to my logging road. This proved to be the best decision I could have made, as the woods were far more open and easy to navigate. I made quick time back to the col, and after 55 minutes I was back at the West Pilot Ridge canister. From there I dropped down to the next col and skirted Middle Pilot Ridge to the south and soon picked up the trail. I ran most of the way down the old logging road and was back at the trailhead about 6.5 hours after I started my hike.
I stopped in to see the landowner again, and we had a long pleasant chat about my trip. He was happy to have someone to talk about the land that he obviously cares so much about. He even introduced me to his wife and 2 young children... they were such a friendly family! Before I left, I asked him if he would mind me telling others about this route. He said he obviously didn't want hordes of people knocking on his door and asking to use the land, but he wouldn't mind if a few peakbaggers stopped by now and then. He said as long as people were respectful and asked permission before using his property then he wouldn't have any problems at all. His name is Joe and his wife is Melissa... please stop in and say hi to them for me if you ever decide to bag these peaks. Thanks!
Have fun up there this weekend!
