| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Whiteface, Mt. Passaconaway, NH |
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 | Trails: |
McCrillis Trail, Rollins Trail, Dicey's Mill Trail, Walden Trail, East Loop, Blueberry Ledge Cutoff, McCrillis Path |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, November 8, 2014 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
We were first in this morning; on our return there was one other. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Leaves - Significant/Slippery, Snow/Ice - Small Patches |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
The only major one on Dicey's Mill still has the large tree stem across it making for an easy crossing. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
McGrillis Trail had some blowdowns, including a very recent, but nothing forcing us out of the trail. It also had a few short patches where the spruce-fir branches had filled in the trail corridor. McGrillis Path had a lot of small stems & branches in it but these were easily tossed. I took out one small blowdown blocking the trail but a duck/crawl under remains. The new trail section has an obvious trail corridor but leaves tend to hide the footpath, and there are no blazes, so attention is required. That might be a bit tricky as daylight fades, but I had my GPS (global positioning schnauzer)and he had no problems following it. There are arrows to guide the hiker when it meets the ski trail. As we hit the paved road section a local noted that she often sees confused hikers in that section. There are arrows, but having been there last year is what made it easy for us. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Pepper had fun. A good part of the hike he shared the trail with Nick, a good hiker and a nice fellow. He did have some of the first small snowballs form on his lower legs on the hike up, but the snow wasn't all that sticky. Still I should have put some Vaseline on his paws. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
This is a nice loop to avoid the crowds, excepting between the peaks where there were many. McGrillis Trail does have a short section or two of ledges, so I'd say one should bring traction, but today I didn't use any. There were a fair number of hikers using spikes but I'd guess more were barebooting. Overall, there wasn't a lot of ice. The hardwoods sections had lots of leaves, and on the hike up the 1/4" of snow on top of them combined to make it seem like we were hiking in a few inches of snow at times. There was maybe an inch of snow on the view spur, and the views were well worth it. The sun and hiker's boots had removed most of the snow on Dicey's Mill below Rollins. McGrillis Path was snow free.
We were lucky to run into Jeb and Dave, and share two long stretches of trail hiking with them and Nick. We also had a nice chat and short hike with a couple who had hiked up to do some trail work on the Blueberry. Ledge Cutoff. The WODC has some great trail maintainers. Thanks Pepper for a great hike. |
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 | Name: |
Pepper and Me |
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 | E-Mail: |
windriversjohn at gmail dot com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2014-11-08 |
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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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