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Hiking Trail Conditions Report
Peaks
Peaks The Horn, The Bulge, Mt. Cabot, Terrace Mountain, NH
Trails
Trails: Mill Brook Trail, Kilkenny Ridge Trail, Horn Spur, Terrace Spur, York Pond Trail, road walk
Date of Hike
Date of Hike: Tuesday, November 24, 2015
Parking/Access Road Notes
Parking/Access Road Notes: I parked at the Mill Brook trailhead which has room for a few cars, but as an extension of the large Fish Hatchery parking there is plenty of room elsewhere. I had a nice chat with someone from the office there as he was leaving, and he did say they are closing the gate at roughly 4 pm right now; but suggested they wouldn't lock anyone in deliberately. He closed it after we drove through it; the one other car we saw having exited a short time before that. He said come winter they likely won't close the gate. We walked the road and it is in good shape. Although we hiked in snow all day, there was none on the road when we walked it, but it was snowing pretty good as we got on to 110.  
Surface Conditions
Surface Conditions: Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth 
Recommended Equipment
Recommended Equipment:  
Water Crossing Notes
Water Crossing Notes: Coming down York Pond there is a place where the trail crosses first the middle of three streams, and then shortly crosses the combined stream of the south two. Both crossings would have been tough to stay dry with spikes but I had none and Pepper would have been stranded. After doing the first a short ways downstream from the crossing and confronting the second, I decided to backtrack, re-crossed the middle stream and then crossed the south stream and walked the bank to the trail to avoid any more crossings. Pepper did the same. Further down the now single stream goes through concrete bridge supports, but there is no log across them; it is frozen in the stream. One of them is too far to jump. I was able to go upstream a few feet and pole vault across. Pepper waded. There are no other significant streams which is good, because the rocks I did see were icy. 
Trail Maintenance Notes
Trail Maintenance Notes: There are a few blowdowns on Mill Brook and lots of white birch debris, but nothing that impedes hiking. There are some new bog bridges and a ribbon for more work to come. It is an easy trail to hike. Kilkenney Ridge was generally clear of blowdowns. The usual wet spots are for the most part frozen which is nice. The eroding section just below Cabot is stable due to freezing. On the Horn people have been going around the summit boulder to the left and accessing it on the opposite side of where the trail reaches it. It is much easier than way when there is snow on the rock. Kilkenney over Terrace is generally nice, there are a few stepover blowdowns, and just below the south peak a couple that I straddled. Near the York Pond intersection there are several significant blowdowns. York Pond is a nice trail, with the wet spots down low frozen enough to make them easy, with only the stream crossings discussed above being problems. It looks like someone has ribboned York Pond west to Heath's Gate. I remember that stretch had some very wet "trail" but if it is frozen it could be a nice hike. 
Dog-Related Notes
Dog-Related Notes: Pretty easy trails for Pepper. He had a very slight amount of paw pad icing that I noticed on South Terrace. There was a fair amount of wildlife sounds to keep him entertained. He is no bird dog that's for sure. He did wade one crossing, but he didn't seem to mind. 
Bugs
Bugs: None 
Lost and Found
Lost and Found:  
 
Comments
Comments: This is one of those hikes where the specs suggest a harder hike than it is. It really is a nice hike, but today there were no views as the clouds stayed low except for a brief moment or two on Horn when I could see below them. It lightly snowed most of the day on the trails, a sugar snow that coated the trail and made it a bit slick. It was cold with a pretty good wind for being in the woods through the Bulge, but after that the wind lessened. Driving home on Rt. 2 the snow was coming down pretty good with some wind; if it kept up the roads would have needed salting/sand.

The hut's outside hook & eye latch is getting loose. It still functions but for how long I can't say. On the inside the string that is used to keep the door closed by looping over a hook is broken into multiple strands.

We saw footprints of 1 or 2 people on Cabot who had come up from Bunnell Notch. We met one hiker as we were coming down from Cabot who may have done the Bunnel Notch up and Unknown Pond down loop. The forecast for today had been pretty good leading up to it, but today it felt like winter. The trails, however, were generally fast and easy, and I was fine in my Hokas. Kilkenney going down from South Terrace to the brook was a bit slow due to the snow coating of a somewhat rooty, rocky, slide sloping descent; it would have been better perhaps to have done this loop clockwise today. We saw very little Moose poop, quite unlike a typical hike on the Kilkenney just a few years ago. The F&G staffer we chatted with said their numbers are way down in the area. If Pepper could talk I think he would have said he heard a couple off in the woods.

A hike with Pepper is always the best way to spend a day, but especially when the alternative is work, and the weekend forecast calls for a storm. Thanks Pep for a great vacation day.  
Name
Name: Pepper and Me 
E-Mail
E-Mail:  
Date Submitted
Date Submitted: 2015-11-24 
Link
Link: https:// 
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