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Ski
Hiking Trail Conditions Report
Peaks
Peaks Smarts Mountain, NH
Trails
Trails: Lambert Ridge Trail, Ranger Trail
Date of Hike
Date of Hike: Saturday, May 2, 2015
Parking/Access Road Notes
Parking/Access Road Notes: Smarts Mountain Trailhead on Dorchester Road in Lyme has room for maybe ten sensibly parked cars. Some mud, but nothing major. 
Surface Conditions
Surface Conditions: Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Ice - Blue, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant, Snow - Spring Snow, Leaves - Significant/Slippery 
Recommended Equipment
Recommended Equipment: Light Traction 
Water Crossing Notes
Water Crossing Notes: No significant crossings, all are easily rock hopped. 
Trail Maintenance Notes
Trail Maintenance Notes: Lambert Ridge is mostly ok. After the open ledges, it gets more brushy with debris, leaners and minor blowdowns. Ranger Trail is a mess higher up, with serious irrigation issues. This trail needs some more love, DOC. Up on the summit ridge there is lots of wind damage. One short section of the trail(s) has been obliterated by blowdowns, as has the side trail to the privy (I could see it, but couldn't get to it due to the blowdowns). 
Dog-Related Notes
Dog-Related Notes: Now might not be the best time for them (see description). 
Bugs
Bugs: They are waking up. And I saw my first butterfly. 
Lost and Found
Lost and Found: Nothing. 
 
Comments
Comments: A somewhat challenging hike up and over Smarts today. Lots of mud, running water, and snow and ice at higher elevations.

Lambert Ridge is mostly dry being in the open. Any wooded area has lots of mud. Above the Lambert Ridge/Ranger Trail junction, there was significant solid ice monorail, which proved "interesting" due to my decision to not bring any traction. Up on the summit, there's still a foot of so of snow lingering about, sometimes firm, sometimes not.

On the iron rung section, the top five rungs are still encased in ice, which necessitated coming back down and taking a herd path on the left to bypass it. That slab is nasty and slimy!

Lots of running water on the Ranger Trail, which I probably won't use again. It seemed to go on forever and the terrain was not that interesting, besides being in rough shape. Lambert Ridge though is pretty great! Some nice outlooks from the open quartzite ledges.

I'll be back when things dry out, and hopefully the fire tower (still closed to the public) will be open again by then.

As I was leaving the summit, a group of Dartmouth students arrived and were under the assumption that the top of Smarts was "bald and open like Cardigan".

:(  
Name
Name: KenM 
E-Mail
E-Mail:  
Date Submitted
Date Submitted: 2015-05-02 
Link
Link: https:// 
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