| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Hale, Mt. Tom, Mt. Field, Mt. Willey, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Hale Brook Trail, Lend-A-Hand Trail, Twinway, Zealand Trail, A-Z Trail, Mt. Tom Spur, Willey Range Trail, Ethan Pond Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Tuesday, June 1, 2021 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Parked at dirt surfaced trailhead lot for Hale Brook Trail. Can hold 10 cars. Zealand Rd is dirt surfaced (except for a small paved portion at the start) and is passable by any vehicle. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Mud - Minor/Avoidable |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Nothing of concern. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Great work on A-Z! That must have taken some time! The ladders on Willey Range are starting to deteriorate. Though they felt sound, several rungs are missing/broken. Two of the crossing platforms are missing several inches on each edge narrowing the crossing board. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Willey Range Trail after the summit of Willey heading towards Ethan Pond is very steep with numerous ladders. This may be a bit too much for dogs (maybe a bit too much for this human). |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Route:
Hale Brook Trail > Lend-a-Hand Trail > Twinway > Zealand trail > A-Z trail > Mt Tom Spur > Willey Range Trail > Ethan Pond Trail (AT) > Zealand trail > road walk on Zealand Rd
Hale Brook: well blazed in yellow. Deep footbed. Quick ascent to Hale. Super nice backpacker met on summit. Good luck with your trek, man!
Lend-a-Hand: blazed in blue. Less steep than Hale Brook. Footbed well established.
Twinway: this is the AT and I only took 0.2 miles of this trail in order to get to the A-Z junction (which is technically off of Zealand trail).
A-Z: nicely blazed in yellow. Good footbed, simple to follow. Beautiful forest trek. Maintainer has done quite a good job of taking out the blow downs. Lots of water on this trail. Several back country campsites seen. This is a mellow ascent to the Willey Range.
Mt Tom Spur: not blazed. Signage clear. I never knew there was a carin! I love this grid game! This was my first time on this peak without snow.
Willey Range Trail: only blazed in blue from Field summit to Willey summit but footpath is simple to follow. Ridiculously steep descent after Willey summit heading towards Ethan Pond. Several ladders to help scale down the steepest parts. Footing is sketchy on the steep descent. It took me an hour to go 1.1 miles to the jct with Ethan Pond.
Ethan Pond trail: this is the AT and is blazed in standard white blazes. Why has this trail been hidden from me? Oh my gosh. What a super nice, chill trail. Mostly flat to easy grades. There is a plethora of bog bridges before the Shoal Pond junction. I cannot imagine the amount of work that went into this. Such a nice trail! All signs up, footbed easy to follow. Bridge intact. Lots of water points. I didn’t go to the shelter as I was already doing 21 miles…
Zealand Trail: well blazed in blue. Very popular trail and easy to follow. Gentle grade. Lots of bridges over water. Hut will be officially open on a June 3rd. Water point and bathrooms open.
Zealand rd: I can never escape a flipping road walk on this road… The road is open. I just seem to always start at one location and end at another. I have logged so many miles on this road.
21 miles of gridding and tracing on this first day of June. Shaping up to be a nice season, indeed. |
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 | Name: |
Remington34 |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2021-06-01 |
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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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