| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Starr King, Mt. Waumbek, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Starr King Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, May 1, 2016 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
The ditch entering just past the last driveway heading into the lot is getting really bad. I might have gently scraped my belly pan getting in. Clearance-challenged cars (such as mine) need to take extreme care, but it is manageable. Space was not an issue today, guess the weather forecast kept most off the trails? |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Ice - Blue, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
n/a |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
No blowdowns I noted, I must have missed seeing the one Waumbek reported in his prior post. The lower end of the trail has taken a beating from folks diverging off the main trail and creating some rather muddy bypasses. None of the mud in-trail was that bad, and usually could be rock-hopped through as opposed to adding to this erosion. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
A good dog route, though they'll have to find their own route on the final pitch to Starr King, it's a bit steep and icy at the moment. |
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 | Bugs: |
Found some spiderwebs with my face, per usual. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Not much to add to Waumbek's report from here from the day before. Dry trail with some mud down low, and not much ice until just above the spring. There are a couple significant, but brief, ice flows there, and then patches of ice and bare ground most of the way to Starr King. The final chute to the Starr King summit was filled with ice, but it was fine in the beater spikes, as it was warm enough to be soft. Most of the descent off Starr King on the ridge was clear of ice, then 50-50 ice/bare ground over to Waumbek. I put the spikes on for the last time when the ice started in again near the col, and wore them to the main summit and back to below the ice bulges near the spring, then bare-booted out. Most of the ice is only 1-2" thick, depending on how the rain/snow/sleet mix occurs at elevation it may be gone by the end of the week, or it might be a tad worse. The blowdown patch just past the Waumbek summit was much more open than I remember, I feel like it may have opened up some since I was here last (~1.5 years ago). It's got a nice view of the Presis now, far superior to that of Starr King's. While it lightly sprinkled most of the way down, the cloud deck was well above even Mt. Washington until sometime after I started the final descent, so the views were pretty nice. A handful of folks out, but pretty quiet over all. Lots of moose evidence along the ridge, including a mini-carin next to the Waumbek summit cairn :) |
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 | Name: |
madmattd |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2016-05-02 |
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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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