| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Carrigain, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Sawyer River Road, Signal Ridge Trail, herd path |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, December 6, 2020 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
The winter lot at the base of Sawyer River Rd was easy enough to get into and out of with just 2WD. Room for over a dozen cars there and not even half that on Sunday. That said, we were surprised to see a few others out. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Wet Trail, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow - Drifts, Mud - Significant |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
The trail was broken in the direction of the old trail with the slightly easier water crossing. The couple of crossings along this abandoned section of trail were a bit high but still doable as rock hops although they were awkward in snowshoes. Some of the rocks may have been slightly submerged. Poles for balance are helpful. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
I know the trail is blazed well in yellow at its beginning but I think the blazing stops after the forest boundary... not hard to follow though but your opinion might change if you’re breaking trail. There is one small but very annoying pine blowdown...I don’t recall exactly where but I believe it’s partway up long slog (but toward the beginning...maybe 0.5mi into it). Heat Lightning’s report seems to indicate there’s another blowdown as well 0.75mi into the trail that I’ve since forgotten about. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
One group did bring there dogs up. They didn’t look to be having a good time. At least the dog owners noticed this and two of them stayed back with the dogs instead of continuing onto Signal Ridge. Most dogs will need a jacket and booties in this kind of cold weather. |
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 | Bugs: |
None |
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 | Lost and Found: |
None |
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 | Comments: |
A nice hike with two fellow gridders. Definitely glad to have company for this one. This was my 4th 4000 footer this month and my 11th 4000 for November. 37 more to go! (Ignore my Waumbek post where I miscounted...that was actually my 5th this month).
One member of the group didn’t get the memo that the other two of us were running late and started before us. The other two of us started at 7:30am and made quick work of the 2mi road walk which we booted (some snowshoed). The two of us put snowshoes on maybe 1mi into the true trail. No good place to choose to put them on as there was significant rocky/muddy/wet areas before this point as well as some areas after this point (although fewer). Even then, there were some very bony areas on the steeper slog up the mountain later on. On the way down, I took my snowshoes off just a little earlier. Particularly with things surely being better packed down by now, I’d probably recommend putting them on no earlier than at the base of the climb if not a little later. We chose to put ours on earlier as we were starting to slip around in the unpacked snow and it was beginning to slow us down. That shouldn’t be a problem at quite such low elevations now. The best thing would be for us to get either some real warm weather that melted this or a bunch more snow that covered up the rocks and roots better but neither seems to be happening too soon.
We passed a nice couple early on in the hike. The only other group we ran into was a group of 4, two of which stayed back with the dogs mentioned above. Of these 4 I believe two used snowshoes, one had them one their pack but didn’t use them, and one didn’t have snowshoes. One of the snowshoers and the one without snowshoes made it to the summit. The barebooters made this hike more difficult than it should have been. Please be considerate and wet snowshoes when warranted.
The two of us caught up to our friend maybe 1.5mi in but then ended up splitting up again due to me being terribly slow due to some snowshoe issues and one of us having a time constraint. Kuddos to that friend who pulled ahead and eventually passed the barebooter and smoothed our the trail! Eventually fixed my snowshoes but between that and having trouble keeping my hands and feet warm, this was not my best hike! Oh well, all part of the game and it happens to all of us!
No views today and we felt the wind very early on (and strongly!) in the hike but it wasn’t as bad at the summit or on Signal Ridge as we thought it would be. Two of us even made it across Signal Ridge without our balaclavas ;) |
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 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
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 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2020-12-08 |
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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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