| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Hale, NH |
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 | Trails: |
North Twin Trail, herd path, Firewardens Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, November 8, 2015 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Still room for a couple cars when I arrived at 9:30, 2 parked along the road approach that were there overnight. There is a new "road" right before the lot, on the left after crossing the bridge, looks like there might be on-going logging in there? I didn't venture down to look, and there were no signs to indicate what was up.
Upon my return to the lot after the hike, there was a local law enforcement vehicle there, and a fellow looking around. He said there had been a car break-in the day before and he was looking to see what could be learned. After he left I noticed a window's worth of broken glass in the area he had been looking. Some people suck... |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Mud - Minor/Avoidable |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
No issues on the herd path crossing, watched for but didn't hit any black ice. A couple tiny crossings on the FWT. The footbridge 1/4-mile in was icy in the morning. I scoped out the first North Twin Trail crossing before taking the bypass, it looked like a rock-hop would be tricky on that crossing but one or two spots where maybe it could be done. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
A couple large blowdowns in the first 1/4-mile of the North Twin Trail. Someone had cut through the worst offending limbs, but large (8-10") step-overs remain. The herd path bypass of the first 2 river crossings is more and more obvious with each trip, but a couple spots are very badly eroded, take caution. The FWT is in pretty good shape, one massive v-shaped blowdown leaner before the glades that will be awkward come snow season, and there is a blowdown up on the ridge that needs to be crawled through. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Should be fine. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
The original plan was to visit the Zeacliff Trail and loop over Hale on the way out, but I needed a shorter and easy hike after tweaking both my knees on Cannon/Kinsmans the day before. So I did the easy up-and-down on the long-abandoned, but still easily-followed Fire Warden's Trail to Hale. There is some mud in the usual spots on both the bypass and the old trail, but no extraordinary issues. A minor trace of snow down low increasing to about 1/2" at the summit. Clear, but chilly (upper 20s) a bit breezy up top, so only a brief stay before heading back down. It felt a little like winter, though it certainly isn't here yet. This hike was the first time I saw another hiker on this trail (I've seen skiers before), who was just heading up as far as the glades to scope out how things looked for the coming skiing season. A nice, simple morning hike, also finishing a 2015 round of the 48. Winter is coming! |
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 | Name: |
madmattd |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2015-11-09 |
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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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