| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
East Osceola, Mt. Osceola, West Tecumseh, Mt. Tecumseh, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Greeley Ponds Trail, Mt. Osceola Trail, Tripoli Road, Mt. Tecumseh Trail, Pipeline X-C ski trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, April 16, 2011 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
lots of parking at livermore. greeley ponds parking was a busy place even relatively early this morning. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Ice - Blue, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Stable), Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Spring Snow |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction, Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
water crossings on all trails required rock hopping, but none were difficult. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
a fair amount of wind/ice damage and debris on the trail along the area near tecumseh west and a bit along trail near the sosman junction. a couple blowdowns along mt. tecumseh trail between tripoli road and summit. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
greeley ponds trail had full snow coverage right from the start. a solid base and a bit soft and crunchy on top. some snow rail forming in places. conditions heading up to east peak were much better than i expected. snow was in great shape with very minimal ice. just some patches in the usual places. nice conditions continued to osceola. the chimney is mostly melted out, but had one ice bulge about halfway up. we used the bypass which was free of snow in the initial scramble with a little ice before the left turn up the slope. good packed base heading down osceola trail to tripoli rd. tripoli rd. to the mount tecumseh trailhead was packed in spots from prior snowmobile use and soft in others. the section of the mount tecumseh trail from tripoli road to the summit didn't seem to have gotten much use this past winter though we did follow the traces of an old ski track for much of the route. snow was generally firm and quite crusty higher up. a fair amount of wind/ice damage to the spruce and fir around west peak with lots of debris in the trail. from the summit to the ski area the trail had a good packed base with a little bit of the same type of wind damage between the the summit and sosman junction. snow thinned out down low in the hardwoods with some rail and bare stretches of trail. pipeline x-c trail a mix of snow, ice and bare ground.
i wore snowshoes the whole day until we went with bareboots for the last stretch of mount tecumseh trail near ski area to the livermore trailhead. megan used hillsound spikes up over osceola switching to snowshoes at tripoli road. both worked well and though we brought crampons expecting to need them they were ballast for the day. had we descended back to the kanc we may have used them.
great traverse of osceola and tecumseh. conditions were generally excellent with lots of great bonus views thanks to the deep snowpack. pretty windy at times even in the trees. we spotted a car at livermore trailhead and headed up from the kanc which made for a nice route without any backtracking. thanks to megan for a great hike and congrats on adding three more summits towards your 48.
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 | Name: |
bryan |
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 | E-Mail: |
bryancuddihee@yahoo.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2011-04-16 |
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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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