| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
North Hancock, South Hancock, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Hancock Notch Trail, Cedar Brook Trail, Hancock Loop Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, January 20, 2013 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Fee lot so have a sticker or pay the $3, even though half the required amenities are missing. Handful of cars in the lot at 8AM, cars were parked all the way along the entrance to the Kanc at 1PM though a few spots in the lot had opened up. I suggest getting in early or you're going to have to walk from a different lot. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow - Drifts, Ice - Breakable Crust |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Mixture of partially bridged and totally unbridged on Hancock Notch. The wide Cedar Brook crossing halfway along was ice bridged decently but the rest were open. Partial ice bridge on the Hancock Loop crossing. All were easy crossings in snowshoes. A couple with skis part way up Cedar Brook commented that the crossings were a little tricky in skis. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Removed a few small nuisance blowdowns on Hancock Notch Trail and pulled a couple stubs off of some widow-makers that I almost impaled my head on. A couple larger blowdowns remain on the ridge but not hard to get around. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Probably great for dogs right now if they can handle the steep, somewhat icy links to the ridge. Saw one black lab heading up the South link and seemed to be doing fine. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
Lost: the blue skies that were at the TH in the AM :) |
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 | Comments: |
Got a fairly early start knowing the forecast was calling for snow from 12-2. Was intending to be off the ridge by noon. Blue skies to start, very nice views of the Osceola/Scar Ridge from the parking lot. Best view of the day...slowly clouded up and by the time I started up the North Link it was snowing. Snowed all the way until the South Summit, and there was some blue peeking out for a little while on the last mile to Cedar Brook on the way out, but it snowed a little more after that.
Great snowshoe track in place. There were at least 6 people on the trails ahead of me (and I only ever saw 2 - at N. Hancock as they came up South first) and I ran into probably close to 2 dozen coming in as I came out, most were on the 1 mile stretch of Hancock Loop before the split. Everyone was in snowshoes, so the well-packed trails I saw should be in awesome shape now even with the little extra snow that fell in the afternoon.
North Link was crusty with no powder on top (just a little that was falling at the moment). MSR's with televators worked super on this, no problems at all. The Ridge was drifted pretty heavily in spots by the very strong winds, but the corridor was evident and the yellow blazes were frequent enough to be assured of the right path. South Link had about 1/2-3/4" of powder on top of a hard crust, I tried walking down it for a few yards until I slipped and just slid about 4/10 of the 1/2 mile back to the junction (guess everyone has been doing this on the 2 links judging by the hard crust). Awesome sliding, but watch the speed, and don't knock any uphill climbers over!
Couldn't see South Hancock from North so didn't bother going to the view point, and the same deal at South. Very windy on the ridge, though reasonably sheltered, but with the blowing snow stinging the eyes, goggles were helpful along here. Otherwise an uneventful hike, just under 5 hours total. #36-37 of my W48. Full TR in a day or so. |
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 | Name: |
madmattd |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2013-01-21 |
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 | Link: |
 https://mattshikes.blogspot.com/ |
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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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