| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Isolation, Mt. Monroe, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Dry River Trail, Isolation Trail, Davis Path, Isolation Spur, Tuckerman Crossover, Monroe Loop, Crawford Path |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Thursday, June 23, 2016 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
There's room for a few cars to pull of the side of the road at the Dry River trailhead. The sign for the Dry River Connector is inside the campground so I don't know about parking there. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Mostly rock hops; with an occasional leap for me; wades and hops for Pepper. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Dry River to Isolation had an occasional new blowdown, and a few mud spots on the new bypasses that are deep. After getting both feet wet on one, I put a cut stem in it which with care can be used to stay out of the mud. Isolation (West) had the expected Irene damage sloughs down low, but above that it was in pretty good shape with an occasional blowdown. Davis Path's new blowdowns had been removed. The bog bridges just get worse, with more teeter totters, but still they are better than nothing. Waterbars cleared. Trails above treeline fine. Dry River on the headwall was wet with various small drainages crossing it, and some brushiness. Dry River from the headwall to a ways after the Shelter had all kinds of blowdowns, many since our last trip in Sept. 2014 including a handful that required getting down on my knees to get under them. There was also a fair amount of wet/muddy spots, more than what I recall from the 2014 trip, although nothing like the mud pits I recall from my first hike of this trail. All the signs were in place that we needed. I don't recall seeing the sign for the Mt. Eisenhower trail but I wasn't looking for it, and it runs with the trail, so it could be there as always. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Pepper had fun. It was a great day for a little black dog to be hiking a lot above treeline. The temps weren't hot, there was a nice breeze, there were a fair number of clouds, and he found some sip n dips. Below treeline was even better, with lots of shade, nice temps and sip n dips. The upper Isolation (West) and Davis Path don't have sip n dips which is why we went up them first in the cool of the morning. Dry River has plenty of water as soon as one is heading down from the headwall. |
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 | Bugs: |
There were some UFO bug clusters in a couple of places on Dry River but they didn't bite. Otherwise bugs were not an issue. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Upper Dry River is slower going due to all the blowdowns and wet/mud areas, but the corridor is pretty good. A few of the new bypasses have a lot of mud on them. I think a useful short addition to the bypass was recently added to avoid a short section that went down to the river which was made difficult by a new blowdown. The other trails were in pretty good shape. We didn't use all of the Monroe Loop, but did use the Crawford Path around Monroe on the return. We didn't see anybody on Dry River or Isolation West, or Davis Path until near Boott Spur and then only a few. We really only saw people around the hut, and there a herd of young people were running around the area and shouting back and forth. We got out of there fast.
This hike had been Plan A for quite a few weeks, but conditions weren't right for Pepper so it kept getting put off. So on seeing the comfy forecast and knowing summer's heat was coming, I took the day off so Pepper could bag these trails and have fun doing so. It was a great day for a fairly long hike. Pepper and I watched a moose chowing down on underbrush while moving towards us. I talked Pepper into not chasing it, but I think the key was the moose didn't see him only me so it was curious rather than scared. Yep, moose fear Pepper. We also saw a huge pile of bear scat. I told Pepper it looked like the bear had been eating little black dogs. Pepper has been barking tough from inside at the one that came up to the house a couple times this past week, but he has never chased bears we've seen on our hikes. I think he's realized that would not be a good idea. Thanks Pepper for a great day. |
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 | Name: |
Pepper and Me |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2016-06-23 |
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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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