| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Pudding Pond, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Pudding Pond Loop Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, February 2, 2019 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Room for a half dozen conscientiously parked cars to pull in in he designated parking area. Room for probably one car pulled in sideways off the road on either side of the area. More than 8 cars and you’ll probably have some poorly pulled off the road.
5th car there at 10:30am and there were 6 other cars when we left at 12:30. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Stable), Snow/Ice - Monorail (Unstable) |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
One with just a big bridge was a little tricky in snowshoes but no water crossings of any consequence. |
|
 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
The trail was easy to follow given that it was well broken but there was very little blaze and what there was was usually faded. There are occasional yellow arrows though and trail signs at intersections with bike trails or turns.
One slightly tricky section was towards the middle of the loop right by the pond. The trail forked. I decided to take the right fork that stayed towards the pond as I saw a yellow arrow that way but the tracks eventually stopped and we turned around and took the left fork. Shortly thereafter I saw what looked like an unbroken path coming in from the left from the area where I stopped on the right fork and turned around. Sure enough, when I went that way I found where my tracks stopped. I believe the right fork was the old trail and the left fork is the relocation mentioned in the 30th edition AMC guidebook.
No blowdowns and the only leaners were way above head height on the trail. Only postholes were on the right fork; very nice snowshoe track :) |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
I imagine they’d be fine. |
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 | Bugs: |
None |
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 | Lost and Found: |
None |
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|
 | Comments: |
We only passed 3 people but they were all in snowshoes :) Saw a lather grpup between a half dozen and a dozen in the distance but we didn’t pass them so I don’t know if they ere in snowshoes or not. The trail seems relatively well packed but as others have noticed, this new snow doesn’t pack as well as it usually does since it was so cold when it fell. That said it’s VERY light and fluffy making it easier to break trail than usual.
The spur trail mentioned in the guidebook was easy to identify for redlining. Towards the beginning of the right side of the loop, when the trail goes left and dead ahead is a bridge, follow the bridge and that’s the spur trail :) Other than this, things were broken and after this weekends traffic barebooting probably wouldn’t be the worst thing although snowshoes certainly won’t hurt. |
|
 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
|
 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2019-02-02 |
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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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