| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Galehead Mountain, South Twin Mountain, North Twin Mountain, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Gale River Trail, Garfield Ridge Trail, Frost Trail, Twinway, North Twin Spur |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, November 4, 2012 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Gale River Rd open and nice; plenty of parking. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Wet Trail, Snow - Wet/Sticky, Mud - Significant, Standing/Running Water on Trail |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
There's only two streams of any size and both were simple rock hops today. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
No blowdowns, no serious brushing needs, running water in trail in the usual places and a fair amount of mud, especially on the re-routed section. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Pepper had to be the mighty tough little dog today. There was a lot of wet snow which formed huge snowballs on his legs, and which made getting up the big boulders tricky, especially going up S. Twin. The trail is wet so the pads didn't ice up. He's small but pretty trail savvy and it was fun watching him choose his spots and methods. He got plenty of water by eating some of those snowballs. We saw the paw prints of a dog that came up North Twin and then went down in the Pemi wilderness on the Twinway with its companion. I figured it could have been Toby and LRiz given the ground those paws covered and the willingness to go that route in today's conditions. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
I expected a longer version of yesterday's Carrigain hike, but it way different. It snowed most of the hike, there was wet sticky snow on the trail right from the start, and on the ridges and peaks there were 4-6 inches of wet snow. We broke trail until St. Twin, which didn't add much to the effort but slowed us down some, especially going up and down S. Twin from the hut, since it hid holes and slants and made rocks on slopes slippery.
On our return to Gale River we found a group had packed it down as part of a loop with Garfield. Further down the snow had dissipated a lot from warmer temps or perhaps rain. There was no sun at all but that may have been a good thing, since it would have turned the snow on the branches into rain on the trail. I screwed up not bringing Pepper's sweater and going with Plan B with so much wet snow with a rough section of trail in snow, but Pepper overcame my lapses. We saw one other guy who came up N. Twin trail; he said he crossed the river without difficulty downstream from the crossing. |
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 | Name: |
Pepper and Me |
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 | E-Mail: |
windriversjohn at gmail dot com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2012-11-04 |
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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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