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Ski
Hiking Trail Conditions Report
Peaks
Peaks Mt. Madison, NH
Trails
Trails: Valley Way, herd path (Snyder Brook drainage), Osgood Trail
Date of Hike
Date of Hike: Friday, April 2, 2010
Parking/Access Road Notes
Parking/Access Road Notes: Appalachia has plenty of space, and the snow berm on the trailhead side is melting fast. 
Surface Conditions
Surface Conditions: Wet Trail, Ice - Blue, Ice - Breakable Crust, Mud, Snow - Wet/Sticky, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Snow/Ice - Small Patches, Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow/Ice - Postholes, Snow - Spring Snow 
Recommended Equipment
Recommended Equipment: Snowshoes, Traction 
Water Crossing Notes
Water Crossing Notes: Water crossings are not a problem -- they're either still snow-bridged or if not, easy to cross. 
Trail Maintenance Notes
Trail Maintenance Notes: The same blowdowns (four or five large ones) are on the trail as have been there pretty much all winter -- with the addition of one large one prior to the Randolph Path (ascending) and just a bit after the Watson Path (ascending). 
Dog-Related Notes
Dog-Related Notes:  
Bugs
Bugs:  
Lost and Found
Lost and Found:  
 
Comments
Comments: Okay -- the long and short of it: with the warm weather of the past few days (including way-above-freezing temperatures on the summits at night), winter is going very fast on the Valley Way and the snow on the trail is going with it. Even at 3:30 this morning the trail was soft, with rotting snow and standing water at the lower elevations and soft, mashed potato snow at the higher elevations. On the Osgood Trail heading up Mount Madison before sunrise, the trail was covered with melting corn snow. Later, the sun was doing a number on the snow/ice on both trails -- flotation was key to avoid deep postholing. Regarding the Osgood Trail headed up the Madison summit cone: snowshoes with an aggressive cleat/grip (eg, MSRs or Tubbs Flex) or crampons were useful early in the day to get a grip on the thick icy crust. I sense that after this weekend's warm weather, though, there will be numerous open/bare patches. I saw no one else on Valley Way this morning until I was halfway down back to my car -- after that, between 9:00 and 10:00 am, there were about 20-30 people headed up. The trail is going to get some use today. NOTE: as has been mentioned by at least one other person posting about Valley Way in the last few days, the final 0.4 miles of the route before the hut does not follow the Valley Way (above Snyder Brook to the west) -- instead, it's a herd path that takes a sharp turn east into the Snyder Brook drainage, circumventing some open water, and then arriving just below the hut. (Forty years ago there was a bona fide trail here that followed Snyder Brook before rejoining the Valley Way below the hut.)  
Name
Name: Medicinal Fried Chicken 
E-Mail
E-Mail: info (at) barkingcat (dot) net 
Date Submitted
Date Submitted: 2010-04-02 
Link
Link: https:// 
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