| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Barber Mountain, Melvin Mountain , NH |
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 | Trails: |
Wyman Road, bushwhack, skidder road, older woods road |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, March 2, 2019 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
We parked at the corner of Gifford Hill Rd and Wyman Rd in Grafton. I did have my plow on the truck so that helped make a little room to get us out of the way. When we return, as we were loading our gear back into the truck a vehicle approached us from Wyman Rd. It happened to be Mr. & Mrs. Wyman (I forget their first names).
At first, they weren’t too happy we had parked at that location seeing they were going to move some snow getting ready for an upcoming storm. After chatting for a few and telling them of our adventure they were very welcoming, in fact they told us to come back any time for coffee. Really nice folks.
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Drifts |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
a few water crossing but no issues |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Melvin Mountain is on the NH 2000-Footer & NH500 Highest Lists. Barber Mountain is just an awesome bonus peak along the way.
From our parking spot we strapped on our snow shoes and headed east a few hundred yards down Wyman Rd, turned northeast and started bushwhacking in nice woods. Very soon we hit a few ups and downs seeing lots of current moose activity. In fact, I was surprised we didn’t see one. At this point I noticed we forgot out camera. We keep moving northeast towards the western ridge of Barber Mountain in nice woods at moderate grad, turning east and then hit an area of pine but really not too thick.
As we reached the pre-summit area the things really opened up north with awesome views of Orange Mountain and Mountain Cardigan to the north. Did I say I forgot my camera ïŒ.
We then jumped off the summit still in nice woods heading east towards the col between Barber and Melvin Mountain. This col had lots of recent moose scraps as we passed through. The climb up got a little tight in pines but not bad at all and we soon popped out into some former logging area and easy walk to the summit. Again, we had great views north toward Cardigan & Orange and south towards Tinkham, Forbes and Ragged Mountain. Did I mention I forgot my camera?
On our return trip we decided to drop of Melvin heading southwest towards Wyman Rd. We first started off dropping rather quick on an old skidder / woods’ road. That woods road ran into anther, we crossed it heading west jumping back into nice woods, crossed several more woods roads turning northwest and running parallel with Wyman Road and once again seeing lots of fresh moose signs and soon ran into our inbound tracks and back to the truck.
Nice pre storm hike, clocking in just under 3 miles, 1000 feet of elevation gain, snowshoe posting of 12 inch plus at times
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 | Name: |
Brian Bond |
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 | E-Mail: |
brianbond@comcast.net |
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| Date Submitted: |
2019-03-02 |
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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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