| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
North Brother, Fort Mountain, Mt. Coe, South Brother, ME |
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 | Trails: |
Marston Trail, bushwhack, South Brother Spur |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Monday, February 19, 2018 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Williams Pond Rd was plowed for 1 mile. Room for a handful of cars to park out of the way, past an intersection. Golden Rd and Telos Rd were plowed and in good shape. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow - Drifts |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Easy step-overs |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
A snowmobile track under a few inches of fresh powder made it an easy hike/ski in to Nesowadnehunk on Williams Pond Rd. From there, the Tote Rd had seen lots of snowmobile traffic. No one had signed into the Marston TH register in about a month, but there was a trough visible beneath a few inches of snow, so the trail had seen some traffic recently. Varying snow - about 2-6†fresh powder on the way to the pond and 6-8†above the pond. The trough disappeared shortly before the N Brother junction at a batch of blowdowns. We went around it and broke out N Brother in 16-24†of snow. The summit cone was wind-scorn snow, not much ice, pretty easy going - save for a stiff wind. Going over to Fort was tough - occasionally saw some faint signs of the herd path and followed it when we could, but ended up making our own way heading north to avoid the spruce-trap mayhem in the middle. The snow is very deep in the col - at least 6 ft - judging by depths of the spruce traps. After falling into dozens of spruce traps, many that are chest/shoulder deep, and lots of dead ends, we finally found a better line and went up Fort’s west slope.
It was a busy winter day on the Brothers - with 3 other groups out there after us. Another group of 3 broke out South Brother, and then we joined forces to break out Coe. So the whole range is broken out with many sets of snowshoes though I think our group of 3 was the only one to head over to Fort.
Per joined us on this hike - it would have been a more challenging and less enjoyable trip without him - Per, thank you for a great adventure! |
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 | Name: |
Jeff & Karine |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2018-02-20 |
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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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