| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
North Tripyramid, Middle Tripyramid, South Tripyramid, Mt. Whiteface, Mt. Passaconaway, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Pine Bend Brook Trail, Mt. Tripyramid Trail, bushwhack, Kate Sleeper Trail, Rollins Trail, Dicey's Mill Trail, East Loop, Walden Trail, Square Ledge Trail, Passaconaway Cutoff, Oliverian Brook Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Tuesday, November 28, 2017 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Oliverian Brook Trailhead was pretty icy. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Ice - Black, Ice - Blue, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
All were easy today but beware of icy rocks |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
An easily bypassed blowdown here and there, except for Kate Sleeper Trail which fared the worst with somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-50 total trees down across the length of the trail, worse on the eastern half of the trail. For the time being they are all pretty easy to navigate over, under, or around, but with 3-4 feet of snow these obstacles will become more problematic. Thankfully, the damage is nowhere near the extent of Hurricane Sandy's in 2012.
On Oliverian Brook Trail, about 1/2 to 3/4 mile from the trailhead, someone axed through an impressively large blowdown, today by the looks of it. THANKS! |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
This is a long hike and Kate Sleeper Trail is relatively remote, potentially tricky to follow, and without bailouts, so be sure your dog is well conditioned and mountain hardy. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
We started off barebooting until the steeps of Pine Bend Brook, then wore Hillsound spikes until South Tri. Bushwhacked directly off South Tri to Kate Sleeper Trail in order to avoid South Slide, cut off a tiny bit of mileage, and eliminate a bit of elevation loss-gain.
Kate Sleeper Trail was the Moose I-93 today (or perhaps it was one moose doing wind sprints back and forth over the same half mile of trail). No need for traction in this section. We were breaking through 3-4 inches of crusty snow until Rollins, but snowshoes would have been overkill this day.
Rollins Trail had seen significantly more traffic and was icier, so spikes went back on eventually. We opted to go both up and down Passaconaway via Dicey's Mill Trail and East Loop in order to avoid descending the steep and usually icy Walden Trail. Also dropped our packs which was nice at this point in the game. :)
Square Ledge, Passaconaway Cutoff, and Oliverian Brook Trails were a somewhat annoying mix of ice and rock. Spikes stayed on for about half of it. The sun sets quickly this time of year on this side of the mtn, with skies turning beautiful hues of pink and some eventual moonlight. The brook crossing on Passaconaway Cutoff is tricky to navigate by headlamp! Knowing where to go here helps a lot, and the signed arrow (left on descent) is much appreciated.
Thank you to Al and Percy for a wonderful day playing in the mtns, but maybe we should start earlier than 8:15 next time? :p |
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 | Name: |
Snowflea |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2017-11-29 |
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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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