| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
North Tripyramid (attempt), NH |
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 | Trails: |
Pine Bend Brook Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, March 14, 2020 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Many people parked on the sides of the highway by the trailhead. |
|
 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Stable), Snow - Wet/Sticky, Snow/Ice - Postholes |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction, Traction |
|
 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Many were unbridged and required some negotiation. |
|
 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
A few blowdowns. |
|
 | Dog-Related Notes: |
I saw one dog who seemed okay. |
|
 | Bugs: |
I saw two mosquitoes. It begins. |
|
 | Lost and Found: |
Lost: One hot pink Columbia mitten, size children's large. It slid gracefully down the slope and I saw where it fell, but I wasn't going after it. I bought it with money and can replace it. If you find it, you can keep it. |
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 | Comments: |
I didn't make it all the way up. Though I saw a few other parties cheerfully descending (and one group near the bottom of the steeps whose dazed stares now make a LOT more sense--I get it now, you guys!) the upper part of the Pine Bend Brook Trail was too slippery for me to consider it passable, even in my best spikes.
The snow at the bottom of the trail is just starting to get slushy. I felt better in snowshoes but it's certainly doable in microspikes. The problem is that the snow further up is exactly the wrong texture, such that a hiker misplacing a foot will slide over it rather than sink into it and could be in for a nasty spill. I got partway up the steeps on Pine Brook when I came down with a nasty case of kitten-up-a-tree syndrome: I knew I could keep going up. Wasn't so sure about getting back down. Since I'd gotten a late start and didn't want to attempt it in the dark, I turned around then and sure enough what took me ten minutes to climb was easily a half hour of tough dealing. I used my hiking stick to chop foot and handholds in the snowpack and still almost lost myself to a slide a few times. |
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 | Name: |
Professor |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2020-03-14 |
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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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