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  1. #21

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    On comparisons to the Long Trail: I agree in terms of having better luck with a hammock. Otherwise, I find them quite different (based on LT X 4 and CT X 2). Being much earlier in it's development, there are many more road walks on the CT and much more use of rather unmaintained snowmobile and cross country ski trails. The last time I hiked the LT, it was during record rains and it still wasn't as wet as the Cohos was both times I hiked it (some of this is about the weather both times, but it is also a function of the current nature of the CT). The LT is also easier to follow - major disruptions are blazed and marked more quickly. For example, it took me a while to work my way through some major timber harvesting around the Tumbledick trail (south of Coleman Park) - where the landscape was torn up in seemingly random fashion and the blazed trees were all downed.

    While the LT is a trail that follows mountain ridges, the CT only does this in places. In other areas it is a lowland trail following lakes and water flow (a little like the Northville Placid Trail).

  2. #22

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    Thanks for the input. Can you elaborate on the tent vs hammock situation. I'm torn between my two rigs. What is camping like along the ct? Did you spend alot of nights in your tent/hammock or did you utilize the shelters and/or accommodations like campground cabins. Why do you recommend a hammock over a tent? Also, have any ideas for can't miss attractions or camp spots? Any specific gear you found useful in particular to the trail. Leaving in three weeks and can't wait.

  3. #23

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    Quote Originally Posted by fastfoxengineering View Post
    Thanks for the input. Can you elaborate on the tent vs hammock situation. I'm torn between my two rigs. What is camping like along the ct? Did you spend alot of nights in your tent/hammock or did you utilize the shelters and/or accommodations like campground cabins. Why do you recommend a hammock over a tent? Also, have any ideas for can't miss attractions or camp spots? Any specific gear you found useful in particular to the trail. Leaving in three weeks and can't wait.
    I used a tent 9 nights and stayed in Cabot Cabin, Panorama Shelter and the Mountain Bungalow the other 3 nights. I spent much more time looking for a reasonable spot to place my tent this time, than I did looking for a spot 7 years ago when I had my hammock. When I went looking for a spot for my tent, I saw great hammock spots before I saw a tent spot - uneven ground, trails on slopes, rocks and roots and fallen trees were common issues. Mountain Bungalow - near Pittsburg in the north was not being actively monitored, but a door was open to let myself in. The space is on the second floor - there is no longer running water there, but there is a garden hose under the steps to the house.

    The Connecticut Lakes are beautiful. Some of the road walkis, especially the gravel roads are beautiful - some, like the 5 miles or so south of Lake Francis become very tedious (but there are plenty of places to get down to the lake and take a break and to swim if the weather is right). Lot's of the detours are worthwhile - Table Rock is only a few yards off the trail and is stunning. South Pond Recreation area is a great place to take a break and take a swim (and if it's raining - the changing room will be unused and is a good place to air out gear, let your tent or rain tarp dry a bit if needed and organize your things). The views from North Percy are great.

    Not far south of Coleman State Park - there had been a great deal of timber harvesting in fairly random patterns that left the earth torn up and took out blazed trees. In two areas, I found it hard to find where the trail came out. At the first spot, just south of Tumbledick Trail, sticking fairly straight and level with a slight right tending bias got me to the start of Tumbledick Trail. At the major interuption along Tumbledick - I didn't see where to pick up the trail, so I hiked to the east of the area where the trail might be and then bushwhacked west to regain the trail (this was a low risk strategy since if I missed the trail, I would wind up on Diamond Pond Road which was on the trail). I lost a lot of time in this section.

    In the south, I did not take the high peaks option and hiked into the Dry River wilderness on the original Cohos route. I've been along the Presidential Ridge numerous times and hadn't been down to the Dry River Wilderness since before it was closed due to hurricane damage. The trail to, along and up from the Dry River Wilderness remains a mess - erosion, blow downs are all over the place and it's a lot of work - you'll save time and hassle if you take the high peaks route. The Dry River route is isolated - I saw no one along the route and has it's charms. There are established camp sites on either side of the River (right on the river on the north side, not far along the trail on the south - with a tributary to Dry River being the water source) - so if you camp down there, I'd suggest crossing before setting up camp if the crossing is good and there is any question of rain overnight. Bushwhacking to find a safe crossing is a hassle - there are no established herd paths to alternate crossing points.

    One piece of great I found helpul: a pair of sandals (or crocs) which I felt comfortable hiking in. Given areas of the trail that can stay wet long after the rain, I liked the opportunity to hike in sandals and let my feet air and dry a bit (especially on road walks).

  4. #24

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    A quick comment on how wet the trail may be, unlike the rest of NH, NW Coos country is not in a drought pattern and is actually close to normal rain fall. Therefore it may not be as dry as some would think based on how dry it is down in southern NH.

    The other thing to factor is in about three weeks, Sept 23rd and 24th is huge ATV event in Northern NH. The focus point is Berlin but the entire ride the wilds ATV system that runs in the same area as the Cohos trail will be swamped with folks. This is national event with potential 5 to 8 thousand ATVs in the area. Not an issue if you are out in the woods in the WMNF (south of RT 110) but a problem if you need any services that weekend.

  5. #25

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    Another thing to keep in mind - the data books are helpful, but they are far less precise than the AT or LT data books. Some gravel roads and logging roads seemed significantly longer than posted in the book. The most glaring thing I saw was the data for the Hardscrabble and Deadwater region (at least in the Northbound book) - the summary says the sections is 18.5 miles, but if you add up the distances for the individual sections you get about 13 miles (14 if you add the 1 mile side trip).

  6. #26

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    That's a lot of great information, thank you for taking the time to write that up.

    I'll be considering taking my hammock for this trip more so than my tent now. All the blow downs and wetness you speak of make me want to stay high and dry hanging. I enjoy my hammock in those conditions cause it's just easier to keep a cleaner camp. Was going to tarp it. Now I'm playing with my dutchware...I think my hammock is mad at me for sleeping on the ground lately.

    Camp shoes. I'll find something to take along. I found camp shoes very helpful on the Long Trail and picked some up in town about a quarter the way through my thru hike. I typically don't pack camp shoes and started to see the need not to carry them while hiking with trail runners. But if the CT is as wet, muddy, and gross trail as you say...camp shoes are a major plus for the end of the day.

    I took some notes on the all the places you mentioned in my thru hikers data book. Thanks

    I start hiking NOBO on Sept 23rd so I don't think I'll have any problems with the ATV party.

    Just curious, what was your daily mileage? How many days to complete? Are you a strong hiker? I can routinely put in 12-15 miles days here in the rugged whites while out backpacking. I'm thinking it's going to take me 10-12 days. This trail is hard to plan for logistically. Planning a resupply drop is tough as I'm not sure where or when I'll be at a certain destination.

    Thanks again for your input,
    Fastfox

  7. #27

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    Of course it may dry out for you, but for me both times doing the CT water/moisture was more of an issue than it was for any of the 4 times I did the LT (even once during record water levels in 2013).

    I was on the trail for 10 full days + 2 partial. I started about 4pm on the 11th of August, going in far enough to set up a tent. I finished the morning of the 22nd. I took a litle over 1/2 of the suggested detours. I slowed a bit for the last two days since I wanted to stay at the Mountain Bungalow and wanted to have a full day to hitch hike back to my car from the Canadian Border. I didn't resupply between Jefferson and Young's store in Pittsburg, though I got some calories (soda and a snack) at Coleman State Park. I think they might be willing to hold a package at Coleman.

    I'm not particularly fast as a backpacker. For reference, my fastest LT E2E was 17 days. My slowest was 22.

  8. #28

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    Finished a nobo thru hike of the cohos in these past two weeks.. crawford to canada. hiked for 12 days and had a hell of a time. fall foliage was at it's best and only rained for 6 hours out of the whole trip. got a little chilly at times but was a damn good hike.

    more to come

  9. #29
    AT 2012
    Join Date
    09-11-2006
    Location
    Wallingford, CT
    Age
    72
    Posts
    1,747

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    Wow. Glad you had a great time.
    Lazarus

  10. #30
    Registered User
    Join Date
    04-15-2011
    Location
    Lowell, MA
    Posts
    1,319

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    Excellent. Looking forward to hearing more about it.

  11. #31

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    Already finished a work week since my thru hike, here's what I could throw together in the little spare time I have at the moment..

    ALOT more to come lol

    https://youtu.be/RD2KP1TmzyU

    I will be putting together my itinerary and notes together.. i took alot in my Cohos trail guide book.. the map and guidebook were sufficient and navigating the trail was not difficult, but there is misinformation and discrepancies in both... I thought they were pretty good for a first edition and a small operation putting it together.

  12. #32

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    Here's another one ... unedited footage of table rock. man that view was sweet

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEiy...ature=youtu.be

  13. #33

  14. #34

  15. #35

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    Anyone continue north of the Border extending the hike to Megantic on the Sentier Frontaliers trails?

  16. #36

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    Working on alot more videos. I have tons of footage from this trip. Unfortunately my editing skills aren't the best. Dogwood. All I can say is the northern section of this trail. Especially the last 25 miles is remote. Not travelled alot. I doubt many people hike up there. Last hiker we saw was after Cabot mountain. After that we only saw a few hunters in the woods all the way to Canada.

    Sent from my Moto G (4) using Tapatalk

  17. #37
    Registered User
    Join Date
    11-10-2014
    Location
    derry, nh
    Age
    74
    Posts
    83

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    Here's a great video of the train in winter. It's a bit long but I found it pretty entertaining and informative.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47YwNozdnFk

  18. #38
    Registered User
    Join Date
    10-08-2013
    Location
    nashua, New Hampshire
    Posts
    160

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    I just finished hiking the trail and just wanted to drop off some more recent pics/video.

    https://photos.google.com/share/AF1Q...1SNzRVR2txQU93

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOCt...ature=youtu.be

    I purchased the northbound guidebook, the data book, AND the fold out map. I used the map the most, used the guidebook sparingly, and the data book with mileage very infrequently. I thought the trail was overall well blazed and easy to navigate minus a few exceptions. I had trouble in a few logging areas finding the blazes and at the point of intersections quite often. For the most part you can use the blazes but the guidebook is helpful when questioning yourself. I do have to say though that I thought the guidebook confused me more often than it helped me due to the way it was written.

    Let me know if anyone has any questions !

  19. #39

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    Thanks for the pics eblanche. They provide a nice review of the CT.

  20. #40
    AT 2012
    Join Date
    09-11-2006
    Location
    Wallingford, CT
    Age
    72
    Posts
    1,747

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    how stupid is it to hike the Cohos Trail the first week of June? I am trying to figure out the best place to hike for four days or so without becoming bug food. The AT in NJ, The Catskills, THE GRAFTON LOOP, The Adirondacks, The Whites, the Cohos trail are all candidates. If I did more of the Cohos Trail, it would be either starting just north of the Omni Mt Washington hotel and heading north or at the Canadian Border and heading south... The Adirondacks would be a High Peak trip. advice and chuckles welcome.
    Last edited by 1azarus; 04-16-2018 at 12:12.
    Lazarus

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