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Ski
Hiking Trail Conditions Report
Peaks
Peaks Smarts Mountain (attempt), NH
Trails
Trails: Ranger Trail, Lambert Ridge Trail
Date of Hike
Date of Hike: Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Parking/Access Road Notes
Parking/Access Road Notes: The gravel section of Dorchester Rd is marked as closed with a local traffic only sign under it. I assumed this meant it was ok to drive the 2 miles to the trailhead. The trailhead is plowed but at a somewhat odd angle and is a mix of mud and slush. Room for maybe a couple cars.  
Surface Conditions
Surface Conditions: Wet Trail, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Wet/Slippery Rock, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Mud - Significant, Snow - Spring Snow, Snow/Ice - Postholes 
Recommended Equipment
Recommended Equipment: Snowshoes 
Water Crossing Notes
Water Crossing Notes: Smaller crossings open but easy to cross 
Trail Maintenance Notes
Trail Maintenance Notes: Ranger Trail could use a few blazes after the first half mile. White blazes along the AT (Lambert Ridge Trail) could use a refresh.  
Dog-Related Notes
Dog-Related Notes: Sarge thought it was a great hike! 
Bugs
Bugs:  
Lost and Found
Lost and Found:  
 
Comments
Comments: I arrived to find both trails had seen traffic. “Great” I thought to myself. Well, 1.5 into Ranger the tracks just stopped. It’s fairly easy to stay on the old road assuming you know that’s the trail until the garage then it’s kind of a guessin game as there are really almost no blazes on this trail. Grades are nice throughout making the cement snow trail breaking somewhat less of a slog ;). Oddly enough, we arrived at the AT junction to find that Lambert Ridge was also not broken out? At that point I decided to skip the summit of Smarts and start my way down LRT so I could enjoy the views along the trail. Well, this turned into a real slow slog between breaking trail and route finding. I’m very thankful for my route finding capabilities as well as my GPS and map! I used it all today! After the last ledge we were greeted by a broken out trail which lasted for the remaining mile or so of the hike. This 6.5 mile hike felt like 12!  
Name
Name: Tip Toe 
E-Mail
E-Mail: whitsilb at hotmail dot com 
Date Submitted
Date Submitted: 2018-03-27 
Link
Link: https:// 
Bookmark and Share 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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