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Sly Pond/Little Moose Mountain

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  • Sly Pond/Little Moose Mountain

    Has anyone done the hike to Sly Pond in recent years? I found a nearly 10-year old trip report that makes it sound like the trail is virtually un-maintained. Just wondering if this is still the case- this hike is on my radar for the upcoming warmer months.

  • #2
    Did you ever end up making this trip to Sly Pond?

    I've been looking at it on the map for some time now and am planning to head up and see it for myself sometime this summer. A quick search of the forum and your thread and the older one you referenced were the only bits of info I found.

    I've yet to decide if I'm going to take the trail (if there is still a followable trail to take) or if I'm just going to bushwhack my way up Little Moose Mnt. from Moose River Plains road to the north. I've spent time exploring that general area while hunting, but have yet to make it as far as the pond.

    I was just curious if you ever went and if so what the condition of the trail was.
    Last edited by IndLk_Brett; 01-12-2017, 08:55 PM.

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    • #3
      No, I'd hoped to last summer but for a variety of reasons (mostly having to devote time towards finishing my Master's Thesis) I never made it out there.

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      • #4
        I made an attempt at Sly Pond this past August (2017) and found the trail to be completely unmaintained, particularly beyond the Beaver dam complex. I was unable to reach Sly Pond.

        At about 6.2 miles there are signs of heavy beaver activity, the woods are open and there are lots of stumps and trees down and here the trail dips down and disappears into a large beaver pond. I crossed the pond on the largest beaver dam, about 6 or 7 feet at its highest point. More dams are visible below, it is a huge complex, there must be a whole colony of beaver here, they’ve terraced up the side of the mountain. I had much difficulty finding the trail on the other side but after casting around for about half an hour, I picked it up again bearing off to the right from the end of the dam behind a screen of hemlocks.

        After just two markers, the trail dipped back down again into another beaver pond. I circled around to the left and found what appeared to be the road continuing but could find no markers. After casting about extensively I found some orange flagging leading steeply up the hill on what probably was the road but now so heavily overgrown that it quickly became a bushwhack.

        After spending over an hour hunting for the trail and not finding any markers, I elected to have lunch overlooking the beaver pond and then turned back at 12:30 PM, reaching the trailhead at about 3:00 PM. This trail is reportedly going to be used as a section of the future North Country Trail extending east to connect to the Otter Brook Trail. It will require a lot of clearing and rerouting around the beaver ponds. I will give it another try once I hear that some maintenance has been done.

        Leaving the trailhead, I startled a large Black Bear on the side of the road just a couple of minutes to the west, probably the one that had recently been visiting some of the campsites in the area. He quickly disappeared into the underbrush.

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        • #5
          cjandrie, thank you for the report. Since that approach is in such bad shape, what's the current preferred route to ascend Little Moose Mountain? Walk in along the Otter Brook Road/Trail and then ascend from the south?
          Exploring the US one mountain at a time.

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          • #6
            It has been many years since I visited Sly Pond, the log bridge was still over the moose river, the trail was an old logging road, and even though grown in, it should still be possible to locate it . There was and old 30’s or 40’s vintage sedan somewhere along the trail, or perhaps on a spur road. Anyway, while hunting there I happened on to this old car.
            Back then I did not encounter any beaver activity, but apparently that has changed.

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