| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt Garfield, Mt Lafayette, Mt Truman, Mt Lincoln, Little Haystack, Mt Liberty, Mt Flume, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Gale River Road, Garfield Trail, Garfield Ridge Trail, Franconia Ridge Trail, Liberty Springs Trail, Basin Cutoff, Bike Path |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Thursday, April 14, 2016 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
At Basin parking (I-93 northbound side), men's bathroom is open; women's is boarded shut. We both used the men's. ;p |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Ice - Black, Wet Trail, Ice - Blue, Ice - Breakable Crust, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
On Garfield Trail, we took the snowmobile bridge just because we wanted to check it out, but regular crossing looked easy. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Garfield Ridge Trail is in extra-nice shape :)
Unclogged a few waterbars on Liberty Spring Trail.
A few blowdowns here n there, nothing show stopping. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Pretty icy for most dogs. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
There is a tent fly at Garfield Pond (grrr...). We would've packed it out, but it was frozen into the ground. Packed out a Gatorade bottle (grrr...). |
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 | Comments: |
Barebooted until ~2900 ft on Garfield Trail. Pretty impressive--and beautiful!--ice flows above ~3200 ft. Nary a breeze at Garfield summit this morning. Sketchy ice descending Garfield to Garfield Pond. We took great care and tried not to laugh too hard at some of the crazy drops so as not to get thrown off balance. We did carry crampons but managed okay in Hillsound spikes all day. I dare say we are actually getting used to and comfortable on all the crazy ice this year!
Once at the pond things got a little easier, but Garfield Ridge never seems easy. Snow was pretty firm on every trail we took today, no postholing.. On summit of North Lafayette we removed spikes and barebooted ridge until descent of Little Haystack, where conditions got icier intermittently in the trees. Light breezes were welcome--it was sunny and warm up there today.
Dropped our packs on Liberty (oooh... aaah...) for the out-and-back to Flume. Liberty Spring Trail was very icy in the top one-third but fortunately had softened in today's sun so wasn't too bad. Stellar day up there. We saw only 4 people and 1 dog all day. :) |
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 | Name: |
Snowflea & Fancypants |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2016-04-14 |
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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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