| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mount Jefferson, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Jewell Trail Boundary Line Trail road walk, Caps Ridge, Trail, The Link, Castle Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, March 12, 2016 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
We parked before the gate at the USFS parking lot where there is room for a handful of cars. A few cars were parked on the Base Rd shoulder near it. Base Rd. was completely clear the whole way. Jefferson Notch Rd was gated. It was a mix of clear gravel and ice in the section we hiked and in the summer parking lot. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Ice - Blue, Ice - Breakable Crust, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
The major crossing on Jewell has a wooden bridge. Clay Brook was an easy but careful stepover with spikes on ice sheet remnants on top of rocks. The largest drainage on Link was minor, it did have a lot of ice, but it was no problem in spikes. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Boundary had a couple blowdowns, Caps Ridge had one and The Link had quite a few, some of them required some effort to get around or under. I cut one out and cut a few branches on another to enable a crawlunder. All signs were in place. As always attention is needed to find and stay on the Caps Ridge coming from Jefferson after having not just come up it. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Pepper and Shiya had fun. They are experienced winter hikers and handled ice issues. There are a few difficult spots on Castle and Caps Ridge due to their small stature and some sizable jumps, but they spent a lot of time waiting for us to catch up to them. There were some open water from very minor drainages or melting snow to drink, but only Shiya did so once. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Boundary was mostly ice with some bare spots. We barebooted Jewell & Boundary to Clay Brook, put on microspikes to help with the crossing, and kept them on for the rest of that trail, the road, Caps Ridge to The Link and The Link. We would have been able to go a lot faster if we had been in sharp Hillsounds or trail crampon on The Link. Caps and The Link were mostly ice, some bare spots and a few spots of crusty snow. There is a steep ledge on Castle just above The Link, but part of it was bare and the ice part was easy in our sharp Hillsounds. After some bare ledge it was back to ice for awhile, which was easy in the Hillsounds. After that it was a mix of ice and bare ledge/rocks, so we alternated with bareboots and light traction, but mostly bareboots until on the summit cone where there was some fog ice on the rocks. My spikes repair had failed for this section so when using light traction I was using old Hillsounds, Cory microspikes. On the hike down on Caps Ridge we also alternated between light traction and bareboots, since the trail alternated between ice and bare rock. Some spots were tricky going down. We both carried snowshoes, but there was no need for them for traction or flotation. There is just so little snow on these trails and above treeline.
It was a beautiful day for this hike. There was enough wind on the summit cones that we didn't stop to snack, but the sun is strong and temps were comfy. When we got out of the wind, we were almost too warm and we took a nice leisurely snack stop. The ice we encountered was hard in the morning, but where the sun could get at it, it softened/melted quickly. We saw only one other person all day, coming up Jefferson Loop from Edmands Col, as we were leaving Jefferson.
Thanks Cory & Shiya, and Pepper of course, for a great day. |
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 | Name: |
Pepper and Me |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2016-03-12 |
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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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