| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Speckled Mountain, ME |
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 | Trails: |
Bickford Brook Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, March 31, 2018 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Road is still gated so you'll need to park alongside Rte 113 and walk the few tenth of a mile to Brickett place and the trailhead |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Snow - Drifts, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Snow - Wet/Sticky |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
All easy rock hops but many had high (2-3+ feet) snow banks we needed to get down to cross the actual stream bed. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
One small walkunder about .2 mile in from the trail head which will eventually drop and get in the way, one large blowdown before the wilderness boundary you'll need to straddle, another large blowdown about 2.5 miles in with a herd path to get around. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Generally an easy canine hike though deep soft snow up top may slow them down a bit. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
A tale of 2 trails. Starting out trail is clear with only a few patches of snow but with some water and mud - boots are fine. The snow started just below the upper bickford slides trail junction 1.1 miles in. Shallow at first with bare spots intermixed but it got progressively deeper. Wet and sticky and from about 2 miles in are snowshoes needed to avoid serious post-holing. Once on the backside of Ames a mix of patches of wet sticky snow and hard packed powder depending on sun exposure. In the stretch from the spruce hill junction to the blueberry ridge junction the trail was buried under drifts which for significant stretches turned the nice flat road into a sloped sidehill where one would not want to slip. There are now a nice set of steps to get across these sections. Past the blueberry ridge junction, back to wet and sticky snow heading up to the summit. Other than us 2, saw three on the trail today. 2 others with snowshoes and one without who ended up turning around about 2.5 miles in due to postholing several feet deep with every step; Prior to this not much evidence that anyone had been up recently. The snowshoe traffic smoothed things out a bit but there are still some quite deep holes. While the warm temps will continue to melt the snow the upper parts of this trail will require snowshoes for a while. Great views from the summit today. For those who haven't taken the opportunity this is a great peak to visit in winter/early spring. |
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 | Name: |
Brian from Maine |
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 | E-Mail: |
Brobert1@maine.rr.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2018-04-01 |
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 | Link: |
 https:// |
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Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
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