| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Zealand Mountain, Mt. Guyot, Mt. Bond, West Bond, Bondcliff, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Zealand Road, Zealand Trail, Twinway, Zealand Spur, Bondcliff Trail, West Bond Spur, Lincoln Woods Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, March 20, 2021 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
About 8-10 cars at Zealand Winter Lot @8am. Lincoln Woods Lot was already 1/4 full when we dropped cars @7am |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Wet/Sticky, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Unstable), Snow - Spring Snow |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
The crossing above the hut was well bridged in the morning. The top 2 crossings on Bondcliff Tr were bridged, the others 2 major ones were rock hops/ partially bridged. All of the small crossings after the old Wilderness Tr jct are hops as the snow over them had large holes and I wouldn't trust it to hold weight. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Shoutout to whoever recently reblazed Zealand Tr as there are now nice bright blue blazes! West Bond Spur and Twinway had a few minor blowdowns to cleanup |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Our 1 dog had a blast in the spring snow |
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 | Bugs: |
N/A |
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 | Lost and Found: |
N/A |
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 | Comments: |
It was a nice cold morning allowing for pretty solid and crusty snow conditions up to Zeacliff. There is enough snow to sit on top of the hut. Barebooted to the 1/4mi sign above the hut and then wore spikes to Zealand summit spur. Above Zeacliff, it started to become that annoying combination of sticky spring snow and after fighting with balling spikes, we ditched them at the Zealand summit spur. We then barebooted until we returned from West Bond to start the climb up Bond where we put the spikes back on to Lincoln Woods. One of my friends did the Zeacliff Pond Spur and while it was very crusty, he did get stuck in a spruce trap. We brought snowshoes but didn't wear them as the combo of crusty and sticky that turned into disgusting down low in the afternoon made them utterly useless. It was a complete mess on the section from Zealand to Guyot but we no postholing. Very crusty on Guyot as we got some pretty solid wind then softer once we got back into the trees and then similar for West Bond Spur and over the Bonds. There is enough snow that the one tricky spot coming down off of Bondcliff was an easy walk down. Tip: don't try tossing ur poles down as I had to fish one outta a spruce tree. It was a nice solid snowpack for the first few miles down other than the branches being at face level and this will become stable monorail in the near future. Farther down it became unelevated, unstable monorail from about the bottom major river crossing until reaching the Wilderness Boundary at the end of Lincoln Woods Tr. It was that terrible combination of 1 foot wide and postholing to the top of ur boot every step that u slid off. Lincoln Woods Tr was much better as it was a solid, thin crust of snow/ice/frozen slush |
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 | Name: |
Heat Lightning |
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 | E-Mail: |
ecs@mountainlogworks.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2021-03-21 |
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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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