| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Carrigain, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Sawyer River Road, Signal Ridge Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, January 6, 2013 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Sawyer River Road closed. The parking area had been plowed probably yesterday; there was just an inch or two of new snow since then. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow/Ice - Postholes |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
The one significant remaining crossing was open with a low flow. Booters would just pick some rocks; snowshoers might go a bit downstream for some rocks with snow/ice. Dogs will likely get paws wet. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Pepper gave an audible sigh when I pulled out the saw, so I only took out the worst bendovers, most of them before and after Signal Ridge, but a few down low. The packed trail is often offset to the low side of the opening, so there are many branch tips to dump a little snow on a hiker, but that's a minor nuisance. The last couple of hikers from yesterday barebooted down and tore up the trail in the upper half, with some significant postholing, but the snow was foregiving, and the trail easily flattened out by snowshoers. The last 2 groups up were barebooting, although the last two had snowshoes and were down low, so hopefully they will pack the trail out nicely on their way down. It should be at least good snowshoeing in any case, but great if well packed. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
The mighty tough little dog did great; there was some paw/leg icing but not too much. He did get wet at the stream crossing but on the way back it may have removed some ice. We met a dog team at the parking area prior to their being harnessed to the sled, and managed to get to the trailhead before they came up the road. At the end of the hike we met another guy and his team, although they were all packed up ready to leave as soon as the others returned. There were some snowmobilers between our road walks, but we only met 3 and that was near the end. But I had the leash ready if there had been more, and there is the ski/snowshoe trail to take for the last section of road if there a lot of them. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
There's a bucket hanging off a tree near the summit. Perhaps someone left their list inside. |
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 | Comments: |
After a ZBonds hike with a great group of people was postponed, we weren't all that enthused about doing Signal Ridge and the never ending switchback, and a drive up in snow didn't help. But the trail dogs provided some initial excitement, and good snowshoe conditions with mildish temps and no wind, allowed a fast and fun hike up and even better one down. It's so nice to have a relatively flat and forgiving trail bed in contrast to the summer's. There was just a slight wind on Signal Ridge and the peak; we even had some bright spots in the sky, although our views were nil. Later we could see all the way to Lowell.
We saw one modest sized group who changed to snowshoes and two sets of 2 hikers who were booting it at the time. For me the MSRs are like a super set of spikes for packed or semi-packed snow, so they went on at the trailhead for traction even though flotation wasn't needed. They made things so easy. They were great on the downhill too. Pepper scored some Pepper-roni from one of the group's member and thought that was great. What a great snowshoe it turned out to be. If you have tomorrow off this might be a good one. Thanks Pepper. |
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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: |
2013-01-06 |
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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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