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Ski
Hiking Trail Conditions Report
Peaks
Peaks Southwest Moat Mountain, Spruce Hill, NH
Trails
Trails: Forest Road 602, bushwhack
Date of Hike
Date of Hike: Friday, December 9, 2016
Parking/Access Road Notes
Parking/Access Road Notes: We drove from West Side Road up Passaconaway Road well past the South Moat Trailhead all the way to the parking area at the beginning of the gated Forest Road 602. Passaconaway Road is gated here. We watched a large empty logging truck stop and open gate and then drive through towards the Albany Bridge where we guess by the sound of chainsaws a logging operation must be underway. 
Surface Conditions
Surface Conditions: Wet Trail, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Leaves - Significant/Slippery 
Recommended Equipment
Recommended Equipment: Light Traction 
Water Crossing Notes
Water Crossing Notes: Rock hop-able, lots of ditches where they removed culverts and one Big Brook crossing that had nice dry rocks to hop over on to the other side. 
Trail Maintenance Notes
Trail Maintenance Notes: Notice of closed area to the west of Forest Road are posted up until the crossing of Big Brook 
Dog-Related Notes
Dog-Related Notes: sure 
Bugs
Bugs: none 
Lost and Found
Lost and Found: one mircospike tried to stay but was retrieved after walking 10+ minutes back up the forest road to find it  
 
Comments
Comments: Fun winter-like day bushwhack. We walked up Forest Road 602 on 2 to 3 inches of loose powder snow. Someone had skied out and back to the crossing of Big Brook. We easily rock hopped across Big Brook--I bet the fire fighters wished they didn't remove this bridge and all the culverts on this otherwise nice well graded road. Even with the snow we could see tree trunks singed and burn limbs lying on the ground, this must have been one scary fire. We walked to the end of the road, nice views of Moats, and went left up a skidder road and started our bushwhack before reaching the cut area. We aimed toward the summit of Southwest Moat, this is one steep peak and it was hard work winding our way up between ledges, rocks and trees. We found a nice open bare ledge that gave us grand views over Spruce to Chocorua and beyond and we enjoyed the sunshine. We could see to the East that snow was headed our way. More snow on the summit and trees, woods were open down low but nearer the top, snow covered spruce trees greeted us along with a good snow squall. When we found the recognized highpoint, we put on warmer clothes and dry mittens for the descent. We followed our tracks back until just below the bare ledge where we got the idea to follow moose tracks that were headed directly towards Spruce Hill. This worked well until it came to about a 15'cliff that the moose appeared to have gone over and lived. We went around it and made it down to the col. We crossed the cut area and bushwhacked to the recognized highpoint of Spruce Hill, we did not notice any fire damage between the peaks. We returned to the cut area and headed in the direction of the skidder road that we used to leave the Forest Road. As we crossed the cut area we were startled to realized that the fire had reached this area--above the white snow some burnt slash poked out. I had called the Saco Ranger Office and was told that it would be ok to use the FR602 and to whack to SW Moat and Spruce Hill but was reminded that the Boulder Loop and that area were closed. Making a big T route worked out well for us today.  
Name
Name: Nordic Gal, Danielle 
E-Mail
E-Mail: amybike@gmail.com 
Date Submitted
Date Submitted: 2016-12-09 
Link
Link: https:// 
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