Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
| Peaks |
West Baldpate Mountain, East Baldpate Mountain, ME |
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| Trails: |
Appalachian Trail |
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| Date of Hike: |
Monday, March 2, 2020 |
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| Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Plenty of parking at the lot on the west side of Route 26. |
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| Surface Conditions: |
Ice - Blue, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow - Drifts |
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| Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction, Traction |
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| Water Crossing Notes: |
Not an issue. |
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| Trail Maintenance Notes: |
A couple of blowdowns, easily walked around or stepped over. |
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| Dog-Related Notes: |
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| Bugs: |
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| Lost and Found: |
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| Comments: |
Lovely hike, with no one else of the trails. Snowshoes the entire day except on the icy summit of East Baldpate.
Corridor is reasonably well defined/consolidated early on, and was packed powder with a few inches of new snow on top. Further along, new snow amounts increased, and in some sections, the track was quite powdery and wind-drifted.
About 0.2 miles west of the summit of West Baldpate, the track splits into two -- take the right fork. The left fork follows the actual AT for a bit, but then loses the trail and becomes a bushwhack through spindly, dense softwoods, before connecting with the trail about 0.1 miles later.
The ladder heading east off of West Baldpate is completely snow-covered, and easily managed as a controlled slide, with chopped snowshoe steps for the ascent back.
The exposed section of the route up East Baldpate was alternating thick, crusty blue ice with drifted snow. We used snowshoes up, and traction/light traction down, as the latter helped keep us on the trail with the 50-60 mph winds at the time.
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| Name: |
Pancks and Tesco Heaney |
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| E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2020-03-04 |
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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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