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Ski
Hiking Trail Conditions Report
Peaks
Peaks Mt. Passaconaway, NH
Trails
Trails: Dicey's Mill Trail
Date of Hike
Date of Hike: Saturday, February 18, 2017
Parking/Access Road Notes
Parking/Access Road Notes: Room for a couple more when I arrived at 8:30. Many more spaces available at 4:30. 
Surface Conditions
Surface Conditions: Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow - Drifts, Snow - Wet/Sticky, Snow/Ice - Postholes 
Recommended Equipment
Recommended Equipment: Snowshoes 
Water Crossing Notes
Water Crossing Notes: No issues...though getting over a tributary about 3 miles up was a challenge due to the steep side and unpacked snow. 
Trail Maintenance Notes
Trail Maintenance Notes: There are three trees in the way: the first is a simple step over and two others need to be whacked around. Since the snowpack is so high these might not even be an issue later. Signs are visible but many blazes are either buried or shin high at best. 
Dog-Related Notes
Dog-Related Notes: Didn't see any. 
Bugs
Bugs: Many, many snowfleas out the last couple miles of descent :) 
Lost and Found
Lost and Found: Nothing. 
 
Comments
Comments: I gambled on this trail being broken and it was a push: the first two-ish miles were freshly broken and then I caught up to the foursome responsible. I passed them following in the tracks of two others who had just passed them and I caught up to that twosome quickly. The three of us took turns busting trail (about 1-1.5 feet in depth) for maybe another mile or so when they hit their turnaround time. Just as they were turning back the original group came by so I took turns breaking trail with them until past the East Loop - probably two feet of depth at this point. Then a soloist who had broken the Rollins Trail from Whiteface passed us by and broke trail to the summit. We still took turns flattening it out but it was slow going. If I had to guess I'd say snowpack is five feet high and well above the corridor - especially at higher elevations - resulting in a lot of face slapping and ducking (I wore tinted saftey goggles and was glad to have them). The trail became pretty well broken but on the way down I passed some barebooting dudes who apparently left some gnarly postholes here and there. I could get on the soapbox about this but I'm tired... I hope the other snowshoers behind me are enough to flatten these areas out. I wore mine just about the entire way, only taking them off for the final road walk past the house to the lot. Other traction devices would have been completely useless today.

On the bright side the temps, mostly blue skies and hardly any wind made it feel more like late March than mid-February and the viewpoint near the summit was fantastic. In fact the temps were so warm it started to rain on my way down - not from the sky but from all the snow melting off the trees. It also made the trail a little sticky in the afternoon. In all an exhausting but satisfying day. Thanks to the folks who broke this trail with me and without me.

FWIW: I noticed in the afternoon the Blueberry Cutoff, Tom Wiggins and Rollins Trails all saw some traffic from this side which wasn't there in the morning. When I descended the East Loop was still untouched.  
Name
Name: HMJ 
E-Mail
E-Mail:  
Date Submitted
Date Submitted: 2017-02-18 
Link
Link: https:// 
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