| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Kearsarge, NH |
|
 | Trails: |
Lincoln Trail, Barlow Trail, Winslow Trail, Rollins Trail |
|
 | Date of Hike: |
Monday, May 25, 2020 |
|
 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
They are only taking cash at Rollins state park and not giving change. Seemed to be $4/person. The lot wS not very busy when we arrived at 10:45am. Just under a dozen cars probably. Many more (maybe two dozen) when we returned just shy of 3:30pm. Room for maybe a few dozen cars. The park is asking that you call ahead to make a reservation. They will allow you up if they still have room though (which was very good as we didn’t make a reservation!). Also funny to note that I meant to take us to Winslow State Park...oops!! |
|
 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Mud - Minor/Avoidable |
|
 | Recommended Equipment: |
|
|
 | Water Crossing Notes: |
I’m not recalling any. |
|
 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Lincoln Trail is has the white marking of the Sunapee-Ragged-Kearsage Greenway. Barlow Trail was blazed in yellow, Winslow Trail was blazed in red, and Rollins Trail wasn’t blazed I don’t think. The other trails were all blazed descently well if not terribly frequently. All trails are well travelled though and are thus easy to follow below treeline. The trails seemed pretty well marked on the ledges either by blaze or cairns. The trails are so well travelled that they are very eroded of course but I didn’t notice the erosion so much as I did all the herd paths and trail creep. Lots of alternate paths to avoid steep and rocky areas. There’s a large, delimbed stepover blowdown on the lower portion of Winslow Trail. Probably about a quarter mile from the trailhead. There may be some other blowdowns I’m forgetting about. There’s a “Rollins State Park This Way†sign sitting atop a small pile of rocks partway down Rollins Trail. |
|
 | Dog-Related Notes: |
We saw several and had no issues. Some were unleashed. My guess is that they weren’t supposed to be but again, no issues other than unleashed one startling my mom ;) Lincoln Trail will be too steep and rugged for most dogs including some hiking dogs. Winslow Trail would also be too rocky and rough for many dogs although most hiking dogs could probably handle it. Barlow Trail would be fine for any hiking dog and probably most dogs generally and Rollins Trail would probably be fine for any dog |
|
 | Bugs: |
Not that bad interestingly enough! When we stopped to pay the iron ranger, we noticed that the park ranger had a head net on and was totoally surrounded in a cloud of mosquitos. As soon as we lowered the window, they started pouring in the car too. It was crazy. On the trails though they were minimal! |
|
 | Lost and Found: |
Found some trash on the trail including two face masks. |
|
|
|
|
 | Comments: |
Mom’s birthday hike #2! She got another 52WAV peak (well we may have done this many years ago as a family but none of us were quite sure lol) and redlined all the trails to Kearsage other than the lower part of Lincoln Trail. We went up the steep, bouldersy, and even scrambly, Lincoln Trail, down the easier Barlow Trail, up the steeper Winslow Trail, and down the easy Rollins Trail. Cool to go from one state park to the other and still keep the hike just under 4mi. The elevation gain was a bit under 1500ft I believe.
We were surprised and disappointed to be in cloud even before we reached the parking area on the Rollins State Park side. The trees and rocks were sometimes wet due to being in cloud so we watched our footing a bit but I never actually found them to be slippery. They seemed pretty grippy. My memory of the ground conditions is a bit fuzzy at this point but I think things were generally pretty dry. We didn’t see anyone else on the section of Lincoln Trail we did but saw lots of others on all other trails. Winslow State Park seems much more popular than Rollins State Park. We found people to be pretty considerate :) No snow or ice anywhere. |
|
 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
|
 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
|
| Date Submitted: |
2020-05-27 |
|
 | Link: |
 https:// |
|
|
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. |
|
