| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
South Twin Mountain, North Twin Mountain, Galehead Mountain, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Beaver XC ski trail, herd path, Gale River Road, Gale River Trail, Garfield Ridge Trail, Twinway, North Twin Spur, Frost Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, December 5, 2020 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Plenty of parking in the Beaver Brook lot for at least a couple dozen cars probably. Only car there before dawn and there were maybe a half dozen other cars there when I left shortly before 3pm. Mostly just people pulled off the road I think but one at least was a hunter that I ran into on the ski trail on my way out. The lot was still easy to get out of at 3pm with not much more than a dusting of snow/sleet. The roads on my drive home to Berlin were either slushy or just wet. Slush made the roads bad but not awful. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Ice - Black, Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Wet Trail, Ice - Blue, Wet/Slippery Rock, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Light Traction |
|
 | Water Crossing Notes: |
The crossings on Gale River Trail were all rock hopable even if water was a little high. On one of the crossings there was a rock that was partially coated in ice and I didn’t realize this until I was putting my foot down...oops. I slipped and half fell in the water. Luckily it was really only my hands and part of my arms and boots of course that got wet. Most/all the other rocks were ice free oddly enough. That said, on the way down, they all had a bit of snow on them which made things look a bit more treacherous although I hopped across (avoiding the one memorably icy rock from earlier) just fine. |
|
 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Gale River Trail is blazed regularly in yellow I believe. Twinway is blazed in white as it coincides with the AT. This is a pretty regularly blazed section of the AT as I recall. North Twin Spur is blazed in blue often enough I think. This hike was too long ago now for me to recall if there were any blowdowns, sorry. It’s probably safe to assume that there’s some, particularly after all the snow we got later that day and Sunday. All trail signs were intact. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Not the nicest weather to bring a dog out on but if they’re in good shape and have proper gear then they could’ve been okay. Not many scrambles to this hike. |
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 | Bugs: |
None |
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 | Lost and Found: |
None |
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|
 | Comments: |
Got a little behind in my trail reports here, sorry. Posted them out of order which I normally don’t do and am doing this last and at this point the hike is no longer fresh in my mind. Almost didn’t post since this report became largely useless as soon as the hike was finished given the weather conditions.
Did an out-and-back to the Twins and Galehead from Beaver Brook picnic area. Decided to do the Twins first before it got super windy, the snow really started to fall, etc. and did Galehead on my way back. These were my first 3 4000 footers of the month and my 8th-10th in the month of November in total.
The snow started a couple hours into my hike shortly after 8am but just started as snow showers. It fell harder and more consistently as the day went on but it was a bit wet and not the sort of large flakes that accumulate quickly. There wasn’t more than a trace to a couple inches at most on top of the Twins when I was leaving them for good around noon and most of the precipitation that seemed to fall at the lower elevations earlier in the day seemed to be rain/sleet as there wasn’t really any accumulation in the low level woods on my way out.
I threw my microspikes on just after hopping onto Twinway and they stayed on until partway down Gale River Trail I believe. Before this point, there were lots of fun wet and mucky spots, particularly on the ski trail. Spikes were definitely warranted on the Twinway. Just enough snow had accumulated on this section of Twinway on the way down to obscure the ice and not give the microspikes grip such that I slipped on an ice glazed rock and fell...luckily no harm done. I’m sure that snowshoes were needed after this storm and likely still are.
Met a nice uncle/nephew pair working on their 48 together on Gale River Trail that we’re doing an out-and-back to Galehead and one other man on Twinway that was doing a Pemi Loop. |
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 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
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 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2020-12-09 |
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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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