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Ski
Hiking Trail Conditions Report
Peaks
Peaks Mt. Abraham (attempt), ME
Trails
Trails: Rapid Stream Road, Logging roads, Mt. Abraham Trail
Date of Hike
Date of Hike: Saturday, February 15, 2014
Parking/Access Road Notes
Parking/Access Road Notes: Drove up rapid stream road as far as we could go, eventually hit un-plowed road, back tracked a few hundred yards to a wide turn around (this was ~2 miles to the summer trail head on Rapid Stream). On the hike out, additional road was plowed (only another 0.2 miles though) 
Surface Conditions
Surface Conditions: Snow - Unpacked Powder 
Recommended Equipment
Recommended Equipment: Snowshoes 
Water Crossing Notes
Water Crossing Notes: The crossings at the former bridge location were pretty much closed, though someone nearly put their snowmobile through the wider crossing prior to our return 
Trail Maintenance Notes
Trail Maintenance Notes: A few smaller climb over/ duck unders, but nothing that drastically impedes travel. There is 1 very large tree down, but it was easy to walk around 
Dog-Related Notes
Dog-Related Notes:  
Bugs
Bugs:  
Lost and Found
Lost and Found:  
 
Comments
Comments: Broke trail all day until ~1900-2000 feet before we decided to turn around. Slow progress was disheartening (breaking trail through 18" of powder from the previous week from the trailhead until our turn around point 5 miles in was exhausting). However; the main reason we threw in the towel was the repeated *whump* sounds the snow pack was making (and this was on very moderate terrain). We had at least 3-4 times where the entire snowpack would shift/drop (sometimes propagating outwards from where we were standing). There was also one steep spot early on that you side-hill across that was showing fractures all the way down the slope.

Assuming that the snow instability was going to get worse in the steep stuff after the cabin/campsite (and who knows what we were going to find above treeline) we decided to call it a day. We covered 5 miles from the car, which was about 3 miles from the summer trailhead, and around 2.25 miles from the old trailhead.

Please go use our tracks as we would prefer for them not to go to waste before the next big snowstorm...  
Name
Name: Mike V. 
E-Mail
E-Mail:  
Date Submitted
Date Submitted: 2014-02-15 
Link
Link: https:// 
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