| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Passaconaway, Mt. Whiteface, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Dicey's Mill Trail, Rollins Trail, Blueberry Ledge Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Thursday, March 4, 2010 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Ferncroft Plowed |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Wet Trail, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow - Drifts, Snow - Wet/Sticky, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
1 Water Crossing was bridged on the Dicey Mill Taril |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Numerous Blowdowns on all trails, especially the Blueberry Ledge Trail, but nothing that could not be easily crawled under, crawled over or walked around. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Only one or two spots of open water for drinks. 45lb Willow was able to walk without postholing on all trails and fell behind us when we were breaking trail through the drifts and new snow. the base was solid enough underneath that she was able to walk without struggles. Brought a harness and rope to descend the ledges, but they were so powder snow covered that she ran behind following our buttsliding down the ledges without hesitation. A pound of turkey hotdogs kept her happy. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Planned 1:30 start meant we were finishing with headlamps. One inch of new snow falling for the first hour nicely covered all the branches.Microspiked up the Dicey's Mill Trail till about 3000' (hard packed granular snow base) then switched to snowshoes for traction. Trail was pretty crunchy & not super smooth up to Passaconaway and back. The 1/2st half of the Rollins trail had 6 or so inches of new snow with a firm base underneath, but the snowshoe track was still visible. After that any signs of a track dissapeared as more powder and drifts completely filled the track in which made it slower to navigate. And branches were snowcovered and low in spots making us quite wet. Lights went on about 1/2 mile from the summit of Whiteface. From the summit it took us some time, even with bright lights to find the blueberry ledge trail so we turned the GPS on. The top third of the blueberry ledge trail also had no snowshoe track and was filled in with powder and drifts. No issues sliding down the ledges but we lost the trail a few times after that and meandered around a bit, thankfully the GPS led us back to the trail each time. Abouth 1/2 mile after the Tom Wiggins Junct. there was more evidence of a snowshoe track filled in with about 6 inches of granular snow and the trail became much easier to follow. And down around 1700' the consistency of the snow became very granular and there was much less of it. Currently the upper third of Blueberry Ledge Trail and the Rollins Trail just has our 2 snowshoe tracks amongst the powder so it is not fully broken out, but again the base underneath is quite firm. |
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 | Name: |
The Monkey,The German&The Shepherd |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2010-03-05 |
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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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