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Thread: Sawyer Pond, NH

  1. #1
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    Sawyer Pond, NH

    I went to Sawyer Pond for an overnight last week up in the White Mountains National Forest in New Hampshire. The area was beautiful and very hammock friendly - crystal clear pond, great tasting cold water, 6 unattended sites that include platforms and fire rings as well as a relatively new shelter right at water's edge. The six campsites are each about 30 yards off the water's edge, each with a small pond access area. There's a single composting privy and that's about it.

    I went up with my HH Expedition UL, an OES Deluxe SpinnUL tarp, a MacEntyre IX UQ and Arrowhead Equipment Owyhee TQ. Temperatures were 75 during the day, 55 at night.

    The parking area is 22 miles from the intersection of Rt93 and the Kangamangus Highway just south of the Franconia area in New Hampshire. You'll need a White Mountains overnight parking permit...that would be $3 to the iron ranger in the parking area or $20 for a 1 year use pass.

    There are two primary trail entries to get to Sawyer...one off the Kangamangus that results in a 4.5 mile hike to the pond through the forest with about a 1,500 foot total elevation gain. At my leisurely (and post sprained ankle) pace, that took about 2:15. You have to cross the Swift River about 50 yards from the parking lot...the river is usually fine to cross in the summer (about calf deep) but I've heard it can be a bear in the Spring. There is a second route to Sawyer from the north at Rt 302 that only takes 45 minutes so I'm told, mostly used by people coming to visit the pond for dailight hours.

    After the Swift River crossing the trail is fairly uneventful - it's fairly level for the first hour, most of the climb is in the second hour. Firewood is scarce at the campground due to fairly high use on the weekends, so I recommend two things: go on a weekday, at least up until September, and start collecting firewood in the last 20 minutes of the hike up so you have something to burn that night if you intend to have a fire. A small saw would be helpful for sure, I use a 15" Sawvivor.

    The night I was there was a couple in the shelter and me over at site #6. Almost perfect silence except for the coyote calls in the middle of the night and the sound of loon calls in the morning. I set up at site #6 which is a great hammock setup - there are two trees on either side of a small tent platform ... just enough spacing to hang. Site #3 also had some good tree spacing for hanging in the formal site area, though you could probably hang at the edges of almost any of the sites.

    Hike up, setup and sit by the lake for a nice dinner - you can wade out into the lake to cool your feet off and collect some water to filter. The main view from the sites and lake's edge includes Owl's Eye, a granite outcropping from the site of one of the hills that partially enclose the lake. The sun rises just between Owl's Eye and the next hill which makes for a spectacular sunrise.

    I liked the lake so much that I plan to make this a yearly hike in late Summer...who knows...I might even try a winter hike if I get myself a full UQ.

    A few equipment comments - The MacEntyre IX UQ: This is a second generation MacEntyre creation and, man have things progressed. I really liked the original IX UQ...but this new version really works much better. First of all, the two layers of IX are stitched all around on this new model, which provides additional still air gap and more warmth and comfort. Second, the UQ is now marked for top / bottom and in / out which really helps for setup. I added a couple of tabs that match up to the tie-out points on my HH and a short piece of shockcord keeps the IX UQ well positioned under the HH.

    Second, the KAK Owyhee is really nice...it's light, very packable and provides good warmth, though it was overkill for the temps on this particular trip.

    Finally, a big shout out to Shug - I used to be a groundsleeper, and never really considered that there was ANY option to tossing and turning all night. Shug's videos helped me understand all the bits and pieces of getting equipped and gave me a comfort level (pun intended) with hammocking.

    Parking lot at 43.99953/-71.35458
    http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...UTF8&z=12&om=1

    Pond's edge at 44.04906/-71.38055
    http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=e...UTF8&z=12&om=1

    John
    Attached Images Attached Images

  2. #2
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    Thanks for the Great Report

    jlara,

    Appreciate the trip report.

    The second to last tent site at 13 Falls was a very hammock friendly spot too [packed earth with two 6"+dia trees about 13' apart]. I hiked in from Linclon Woods and dayhiked Garfield the second day from 13 Falls.

    Late last December I attempted to hike into Sawyer Pond Shelter from the Kanc and lost the trail...It got dark and started to snow so I made camp off the trail and hiked out in the morning.

    I had crossed the forest service road on the far side of Birch Hill and soon came to a small stream to the right of the trail. With the snow and leave cover, I couldn't find the trail, it looked like it might have taken a left, away from the stream, but there were a significant number of blowdowns in that direction and, being solo, I wasn't comfortable with venturing too far from my last "good location".

    If the trail goes past those trees I imagined you would remember going past them even it they were removed this summer; there were about 6 or 7 BIG trees.

    Thanks,
    tjm

    PS This shelter is extremely crowded on most summer weekend nights because it is a very easy hike from Sawyer River Road.

  3. #3
    Senior Member Veto 65's Avatar
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    That is a nice secluded spot. There is alot of great places to see in New England. Thank you for sharing your trip.
    I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority. - E. B. White (1899 - 1985)

  4. #4
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    Lost in same spot

    Hi tjm,

    How funny - I lost the trail in exactly the same spot during this hike...right at the stream crossing that goes off to the right. In fact the trail DOES go off to the left from there, but there are still downed trees that confused me. Luckily I had a copy of Backcountry Navigator on my Android phone and I had downloaded local maps. I needed to backtrack to get a GPS signal, but I could clearly see how the trail headed left...and after some poking around I found the trail again.

    John

    Quote Originally Posted by tjm View Post
    jlara,

    Appreciate the trip report.

    The second to last tent site at 13 Falls was a very hammock friendly spot too [packed earth with two 6"+dia trees about 13' apart]. I hiked in from Linclon Woods and dayhiked Garfield the second day from 13 Falls.

    Late last December I attempted to hike into Sawyer Pond Shelter from the Kanc and lost the trail...It got dark and started to snow so I made camp off the trail and hiked out in the morning.

    I had crossed the forest service road on the far side of Birch Hill and soon came to a small stream to the right of the trail. With the snow and leave cover, I couldn't find the trail, it looked like it might have taken a left, away from the stream, but there were a significant number of blowdowns in that direction and, being solo, I wasn't comfortable with venturing too far from my last "good location".

    If the trail goes past those trees I imagined you would remember going past them even it they were removed this summer; there were about 6 or 7 BIG trees.

    Thanks,
    tjm

    PS This shelter is extremely crowded on most summer weekend nights because it is a very easy hike from Sawyer River Road.

  5. #5
    Senior Member Poppabear's Avatar
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    Thanks for the nice report and great pictures.
    Terry

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    Quote Originally Posted by jlara View Post
    Second, the KAK Owyhee is really nice...it's light, very packable and provides good warmth, though it was overkill for the temps on this particular trip.
    Glad you liked it Keep in mind for warm weather you can open the foot box cord up some to a lot to vent as you might need. You would be surprised how much that makes a difference.

    Great photos by the way, looks like a great area to hike.
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  7. #7
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    Sounds like it was a great trip and a beautiful location. I wonder just how crowded it would be over Labor Day weekend?
    Not all who wander are lost - sometimes we're just looking.

  8. #8
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    Nice trip report. I gotta get out soon
    Peace Dutch
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  9. #9
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    Thanks for the tip Paul - I think I was too woozy to think of opening up the footbox.

    John

    Quote Originally Posted by pgibson View Post
    Glad you liked it Keep in mind for warm weather you can open the foot box cord up some to a lot to vent as you might need. You would be surprised how much that makes a difference.

    Great photos by the way, looks like a great area to hike.

  10. #10
    Senior Member MAD777's Avatar
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    Great pictures jlara!

    I was hanging in the Sandwich Range south of the Kancamagus last week. The streams are very easy to cross now due to the dry weather lately.

    Ish: Unfortunately, the Whites are very crowded on holiday weekends. For that matter, I tend to avoid hiking on weekends period, especially during the summer and fall in the Whites.

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