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Ski
Hiking Trail Conditions Report
Peaks
Peaks Mt. Moosilauke, NH
Trails
Trails: Ravine Lodge Road, Gorge Brook Trail, Carriage Road, Snapper Trail
Date of Hike
Date of Hike: Wednesday, February 18, 2015
Parking/Access Road Notes
Parking/Access Road Notes: Room for a fair number of cars on either side of road up to the gate. It has been plowed fairly recently but there was a few inches of new 116 plowed snow at the entrance to go through. 
Surface Conditions
Surface Conditions: Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow - Drifts 
Recommended Equipment
Recommended Equipment: Snowshoes 
Water Crossing Notes
Water Crossing Notes: None without wooden bridges. 
Trail Maintenance Notes
Trail Maintenance Notes: Trails in good shape. The new signs are so bright orange. Snapper still has the old sign where it meets Carriage Path. 
Dog-Related Notes
Dog-Related Notes: Pepper loved this hike. Although there were places where the snow was deep from his POV, there weren't many compared to what he is used to going through. There were also long stretches of packed snow that allowed him to go where he pleased, on the road and above treeline. As always in winter he wore a sweater and I treated his paws with Vaseline. He had no major icing issues. 
Bugs
Bugs:  
Lost and Found
Lost and Found:  
 
Comments
Comments: We took the day off to hike with the ageless wonder Georg. The road was a mix of packed narrow trail or trails and wide solid crusty snow. Gorge Brook was nicely packed up quite a ways by skies, which suddenly ended. After that we broke trail through diverse snow types, switching back and forth between a couple inches of powder over packed base, deeper powder, and hardened drifts, with a mix of rock and snow on the summit. Carriage Path on the summit was mostly ice and rock, quite different from Gorge Brook. After that it had the usual drifting section of trail, with maybe soft snow 6-10" deep to Glencliff. Snapper had been skied fairly recently and was a nice wide packed route with a few inches of new powder over it. We met two skiers coming up from Breezey Point just above Snapper and had a nice chat. Snapper was a really nice snowshoe, with several inches of powder over a nice base. Hurricane looked like it hadn't been used recently but there was a trench so it might have a nice base under a few inches of powder. Snowshoes were perfect for the hike.

It was a bluebird day, with no winds until the summit, and those were by winter standards light. The views are of course great. Pepper and I have been laying low most of the winter on unpacked trails, so this was a wonderful change of pace. On the hike out we got to see two jets doing dogfight training using flares. The temps felt quite mild by then. Thanks Georg for great conversation and a wonderful day away from the work computers for me, and a fun day for Pepper.  
Name
Name: Pepper and Me, Georg 
E-Mail
E-Mail: windriversjohn at gmail dot com 
Date Submitted
Date Submitted: 2015-02-18 
Link
Link: https:// 
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