| 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: |
Saturday, February 15, 2014 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Pretty full today, but plowed sufficiently. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Ice - Blue, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow - Drifts, Snow/Ice - Postholes |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Large ones are bridged. One or two open holes on one but it held up to the barebooting hordes... A couple minor open seeps. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
The same old large blowdown or two but nothing hindering travel. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Now they'd probably do fine though there are some deep drifts on the ridge. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
Found a pair of short bungee straps of some sort. Contact me via my blog if you really want them back. |
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 | Comments: |
A late start and I was happy to see so many cars in the lot. Snowshoes from the start of course, over a foot of new snow from Thursday/Friday. Passed a group of 6 or so skiers early on who were heading to LinWood via Cedar Brook/East Side. After that was a postholed mess. I caught the culprits near the Hancock Notch/Cedar Brook junction, it was 12 or more college-aged kids with nary a snowshoe. They seemed shocked when I asked why they didn't have them...needless to say the trail was really chewed up from their 8"+ deep postholes everywhere but I caught 4 snowshoers later on before the fork.
One set of tracks up South, none up North. I went up North and soon saw DMOutdoors on his way down. Funny running into him on this mountain two winters in a row! Slow hard climbing with all the loose powder but eventually I topped out. The other 4 snowshoers came up after me, and 2 of them descended after topping out, so this link is probably in decent shape now. Ridge was only tracked (by Dan, thanks!) and my tracks only helped a little. Some deep drifts, some wind packed sections. The other 2 snowshoers were planning to traverse too, but more work will be needed. Apparently the bareboot horde went up to South before leaving, and a fine mess the South link is. I did what I could, but it was really bad. The descent was really hard due to their mess. Next time think a little harder guys! On the exit the main trails were broken out nicely and was in decent shape with 2 snowshoers still on the mountain and the barebooters gone. Should be a nice snowshoe now, a little work on the South Link and this route will be good to go.
No views today, once again on this mountain. As expected though. Thanks Dan for getting there early and breaking most of it out! |
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 | Name: |
madmattd |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2014-02-15 |
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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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