| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Bigelow Mountain - Avery Peak, Bigelow Mountain - West Peak, Bigelow Mountain - South Horn, Bigelow Mountain - North Horn, ME |
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 | Trails: |
Appalachian Trail, Stratton Brook Pond Road, Esker Trail, Fire Warden's Trail, Bigelow Range Trail, Horns Pond Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, January 6, 2024 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Stratton Pond Brook Road is closed, AT lot is your option. It was plowed as of 1/6. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Ice - Blue, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Wet/Sticky, Snow/Ice - Small Patches |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Ice bridge on the stream on the AT link to Stratton had an ice bridge, seemed pretty solid. Everything else unremarkable. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Multiple blowdowns but mostly walk overs or straddles. Some would have been worse a week ago but there's been enough traffic where folks just buffaloed through them now you can just walk through; they did your work for you. Thanks! |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Saw some paw prints descending from the Horns, probably domestic |
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 | Bugs: |
Not so much as a snow flea |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
We started from the AT lot on 27, walked down Stratton Pond Brook Road, and ascended via the Fire Wardens Trail, then looped over the Horns and down Horn Pond Trail. Overall the conditions are snow covered dry trail with random patches of ice throughout. The Stratton Pond Brook Road walk is frozen tire tracks and kind of annoying especially on the return, like an evil Lincoln Woods as if Lincoln Woods isn't evil enough. We barebooted for a while but put the rock spikes on just before the FW/Horns Trail intersection. There were some sporadic stretches of flow ice, just be sure to kick those rock spikes in extra hard and _double_ check that they're set (had a short if horrifying Come To Jesus moment so I'm still a little sensitive on the subject). As of yesterday 1/6 the ridge walk between the peaks was ambiguously snow shoe worthy. There were occasional drifts but mostly shoes would have been an encumbrance especially seeing as the peaks were all scoured bare. We stayed in spikes the whole time except for Kiran who decided that the snowshoes were getting a free ride long enough and put them on for the final descent just out of spite. |
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 | Name: |
Muench, Nora, Kiran |
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 | E-Mail: |
erik.coder@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2024-01-07 |
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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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