| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Galehead Mountain, Mt. Garfield , NH |
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 | Trails: |
Beaver Brook XC ski trail, Gale River Road, Gale River Trail, Garfield Ridge, Frost Trail, Garfield Trail, logging roads |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Tuesday, March 16, 2021 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Beaver Brook lot snowy, but easy to drive in.
Typical trail access roads are snowmobile trails. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow - Drifts, Snow/Ice - Postholes |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
A few on Gale River were open & hopable. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Garfield Ridge from Gale River to Garfield had a number of blow downs.
(The high snowpack “helped” make it an issue ;-) |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
The trails are solid!
Gale River was beautiful — hard pack nearly the whole way; very little drifting — fast spike access!
Ridge traverse From Gale River to galehead was also in great shape — a couple minor drift areas, but really solid base.
Garfield ridge from Gale River to Garfield ... lots of drifting, very little passage. Frozen base was choppy; signs of snowshoe postholing. Rather hard to navigate— identifying trail, unpacked trail with cross slope, trail-crossing branches at your knees. Alpine snowshoes recommended. The very steep sections weren’t ice— users choice whether kicking steps or televators will give you the best purchase. This section took 2 to 3x longer per mile than the rest of the hike.
And Garfield Trail ... you can cruise down the top mile or so ... but below that it’s 2 to 3 miles of frozen post holes — many look snowshoe sized; it was warm last week. I took a random logging road to go east back to beaver Brook; untracked snow was hard enough I wouldn’t sink in, even just in micro spikes.
Access roads were snowmobile groomed; no snowshoes required. |
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 | Name: |
Eric Army |
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 | E-Mail: |
ericarmy11@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2021-03-16 |
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 | Link: |
 http://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10158587635194702&id=749574701 |
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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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