Mount Clough

Tunnel Brook Trail & A Bushwhack

PHOTO: Adam crossing an old beaver dam to begin our bushwhack up to Mount Clough’s slides and then to the summit of Mount Clough. The Tunnel Brook Trail runs between Glencliff and Benton through the notch between Mount Clough and Mount Moosilauke. It is a pleasant walk, under three miles, to reach the beaver ponds above Mud Pond where the views of Mount Clough’s slides are the best.

by Amy Patenaude
Outdoor/Ski Writer

We changed our plans at the last minute because we both felt like going someplace where it was highly unlikely we’d run into anyone. Adam is checking off peaks on the New Hampshire Highest Hundred list. I am often game to visit these peaks again especially when I can take a new-to-me route to the summit and it’s fun to look for treasure.
Believe it or not Mount Moosilauke has a quiet side and its closest neighbor to the west is Mount Clough, elevation 3561 feet (ranked 96th on the NHHH list). The Tunnel Brook Trail stretches between Glencliff and Benton and through “the tunnel”–the deep narrow notch between Moosilauke and Clough.
We began our hike at the south trailhead located about a half mile up Long Pond Road from High Street in Glencliff. No other cars were parked there. Since it has been so dry we knew the water crossings would be easy rock hops. The first mile is pleasant; the trail follows an old road and crosses Jeffers Brook, with its beautiful cascades. Then there are a couple more brook crossings before passing by a dam and a small pond that is the Glencliff Home’s water supply.

From here the trail feels more like an old path than a road from long ago. As we hiked Adam and I were chatting away and when I learned he had never hiked this trail before I insisted that we go all the way to the narrow notch. There we would be able to see Mount Clough’s impressive slides and maybe we could bushwack up to them.
Soon we arrived at Mud Pond and over its mud and shallow waters we had a nice view up Moosilauke’s South Peak. It is a pretty spot and it would have been nicer to see a moose there.
The trail continues along a chain of beaver ponds. It is really grown-in and we pushed through many spider webs and brush. These are the headwaters of Tunnel Brook; the brook runs north from the notch and there are old beaver dams. We were able to use one of the old dams as a bridge to reach the base of Mount Clough.
We stood in the middle of the dam and looked up at the steep slides. I pulled out my compass and took a bearing and into the woods we went. For the next two hours we climbed up the steep mountainside. We crossed the slides, we pushed through thick trees, avoided diving board drop-offs and sat in the middle when we found some less scary places and we admired the view.
Oh the views, the higher we climbed the more we could see. Moosilauke right in front of us, North Kinsman peeked up and then we could see the Franconia Ridge and even the Percy’s.
We found many open spots. We wound our way up through the tight trees. When we were nearly at the top of the south slide we noticed that many of the trees had been munched on by moose.
Above the slides we avoided tangles of blow-downs by going around them and sticking to the now fern carpeted ground and trying to connect moose paths up the mountain.

On the tree covered summit there are no views but I sat down in the ferns and started to eat my peanut butter & fresh blueberries sandwich. Adam kept following moose herd paths looking for treasure.
A few weeks ago we tackled Mount Kancamagus. Long story short, I led us up a route that was a tangled mess and we got pretty beat up bushwhacking to its wooded summit. We didn’t see any sign of moose until we reached the top and then there were herd paths all over the place. I led us down a different way following more herd paths because we both agreed it couldn’t possibly be worse. Adam hooted with joy and I turned around to see him waving a moose shed, a fine piece of treasure! In five more minutes I had found treasure too.
When Adam gave up looking for sheds he walked over to me and informed me that it looked like I was sitting in ferns and moose poop. Yah, the whole ground was covered with dried moose nuggets.
On the way out we headed down Mount Clough’s southeast ridge where we were pleased to find that Mr. & Mrs. Moose had greatly made our bushwhacking efforts far more pleasant by following their herd paths down the ridge.

It only took us half the time to get off Mount Clough and back to the Tunnel Brook Trail. We realized we were about to pop back out on the trail again when we saw two men cruising down the trail. We yelled Hello and they did too but in a few seconds they were out of sight. They were the only people we saw all day. We intersected the trail just south of Mud Pond so we had less than two miles to hike back to the car..
Walking down the trail felt effortless after our feat in the forest.
Have Fun.

hike NH