| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Flume, Mt. Liberty, Little Haystack Mountain, Mt. Lincoln, Mt. Truman, Mt. Lafayette, Mt. Garfield, Galehead Mountain, South Twin Mountain, West Bond, Mt. Bond, Bondcliff, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Lincoln Woods Trail, Osseo Trail, Franconia Ridge Trail, Garfield Ridge Trail, Frost Trail, Twinway, Bondcliff Trail, West Bond Spur |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, February 1, 2014 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Acres of parking at Lincoln Woods. Three inches of fresh snow in the lot when I left Sunday morning. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Ice - Blue, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow - Drifts, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Stable), Snow/Ice - Postholes |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Everything is well bridged for easy walk across. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Franconia Ridge and Twinway were whitewashes in sections. Very few blowdowns and most were easy to step over. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
A lot of what I was on was not consolidated enough for easy dog travel. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Barebooted till about halfway up Osseo. Switched into Hillsounds. Probably could have used snowshoes as well, but knew I had hours of snowshoeing ahead. Osseo and the Ridge trail in great shape to Liberty Springs intersection. Put on snowshoes for the unbroken trail to Little Haystack. Snow was eight inches or so with deeper drifting on approach to Little Haystack. Although I went through, the trail is not well broken or consolidated. Once on LH things were pretty well wind scoured.
I barebooted to the far side of Lafayette though most I passed were in some form of traction. The back side of Lafayette is its usual icy self. I was able to pick around most of it easily.
Strapped on the MSRs at treeline and wore them all the way back to LW. Steve B generously packed out Garfield Ridge from Lafayette to Garfield. Thanks! Was met on Garfield by Cynthia, Skip, and Dee with hot coffee, goodies, and encouragement. The remainder of GR was unbroken though was fairly easy going through about six-eight inches of powder. It should be noted that Garfield Spring was frozen over. I had to excavate some ice to form a pool for refilling bottles. The ice waterfall below the spring was sketchy but doable with my recently re-toothed MSRs. and some tree hugging. Spent a few minutes talking to Jeff at Galehead hut. He was doing a crazy loop with Gar, An Owls Head bushwack, Galehead, and then back out over the Twins. The climb up South Twin was a challenge, though because of my fatigue not ice. Arrived at the top to see an unbroken Twinway. The snow in the Twinway was deeper and I sunk in six to eight inches. Some sections had maybe eighteen inch drifts. After the long slog through to Guyot I was so happy to see the trail that Zack had broken out. Other than some drifting it was in good shape except for the postholes someone had nicely barebooted into the trail. I was on headlamp by now and it was snowing hard. It was great to have a trail to follow with the limited visibility. The Bondcliff trail was in great shape from the summit all the way out. There were two to three inches of snow when I finished which should smooth things out nicely. |
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 | Name: |
Gritty coil |
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 | E-Mail: |
Pfwayne@hotmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2014-02-02 |
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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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