Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
| Peaks |
Mt. Abraham, ME |
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| Trails: |
Snowmobile trails, Fire Wardens Trail |
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| Date of Hike: |
Sunday, February 17, 2019 |
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| Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Parked in a very small plowed spot on Rapid Stream Road. Not very much of the road is plowed, so there is a very long road walk. |
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| Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Ice - Breakable Crust, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow - Drifts |
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| Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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| Water Crossing Notes: |
Only very small crossings. Not frozen over, but manageable with rock hopping. |
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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: |
We had a group of 4. We had hoped since a group had recently come through that some of the way would be broken, but new snow left very little trace of the previous group. We had a ~3 mile walk to the official Fire Warden's trail start from Rapid Stream Road. From where we parked, we started breaking trail along the road. We did run into a snowmobile trail, so we didn't have to break the entire way to the trailhead. Since the trail no longer looked broken, we opted to continue along a snowmobile trail that runs parallel to the Fire Warden's trail. We continued along this trail until it reached an open (unbroken) track that cuts back over to the Fire Warden's trail in 0.25 miles. Note that this route is ~0.5 miles longer, but saved lots of trail breaking. This route put us ~1 mile up the trail, so we had ~3 miles remaining to trail break (we had hiked a total of 5.5 miles already at this point). The snow was fairly deep with a crust on top, so it was very heavy. We were able to stay true to the trail most of the way, but close to tree line we lost track of it a bit. We were off trail here and there above tree line, but our route kept us mostly on packed/icy snow as opposed to ice and rock. We wore snowshoes the whole time, and it took us 8hrs 45 minutes to get to the summit with the difficult trail breaking. On the way out, there is a small section of trail that a moose post-holed through, so it ruined our lovely track a bit. Total mileage in the end was 16.6 miles. We had a lovely hike out with an almost full moon. Hopefully the snow this week doesn't ruin the track for the next group! |
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| Name: |
Marielle |
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| E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2019-02-21 |
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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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