| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Adams, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Great Gulf Trail, Six Husbands Trail, Buttress Trail, Adams Slide, Star Lake Trail, Parapet Trail, Osgood Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Monday, August 16, 2021 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Lot was 1/2 full @9am and a few cars remaining at 8:30pm |
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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: |
Parapet Brook is an easy rock hop. The W Peabody crossing at the start of 6 husbands is an easy rock hop with no need to go upstream of the crossing. The Jefferson brook crossing at the start of Buttress Tr is a pretty easy rock hop but watch out for slimy, mossy rocks |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Great Gulf trails are well maintained to wilderness standards. Adams Slide Tr is in great condition after 50 years of abandonment. Wouldn't mind some illegal maintenance thru the krummholtz as its a fight to reach treeline. Most of the cairns are standing but some could get rebuilt |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
None seen today. Very rugged and non dog friendly terrain |
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 | Bugs: |
What bugs? Really not noticed |
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 | Lost and Found: |
N/A |
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|
 | Comments: |
All the currently maintained trails on this loop are in great condition and the hut was pretty busy when we stopped there early evening. Lots of AT thru hikers seen between the hut and the tentsite. Hot day with low humidity but unfortunately a very low and inconsistent wind made it feel stuffy above treeline. Osgood Tr becomes way less used and much narrower below the tentsite to the Great Gulf Tr.
Adams Slide man, what a day. Note that descent is strongly not recommended for Adams Slide! 2300' of vertical gain in 1 mile. The start of the trail is right before the first talus boulder field on Buttress trail where the trail makes a sharp hard turn. Obvious start location except for my misremembering of other trip reports that its at the top left corner of the talus field. Its not and this required a short annoying contour whack to the actual trail. Slide track is pretty obvious and wicked steep from the start and is a relentless climb until it reaches the first knob above treeline. The slide is easy to follow below treeline for the most part except for one short section where blowdowns have obscured a turn to the right; this required a short annoying contour whack back to the slide track. There are a few faint blazes and arrows in the conifers but they require a sharp eye or lucky glance to spot. This is a hellacious whack once you reach the high scrub and requires swimming thru krummholtz in spots as the old trail is completely brushed in. Easy to follow trail footbed but slow going fighting scrub branches; this would be a high risk spruce trap area in the winter! The old trailbed angles up to the right as it fights thru the scrub and crosses short sections of talus fields. Above treeline, the cairns are still in decent shape and is pretty easy to follow. After climbing the series of knobs below the summit, the old trails angles right to meet Star Lake below the couple really steep and tedious scrambles about 0.2 below the summit. Instead of following the cairns over to the trail we angled straight up the fallline to the summit and intersected Star Lake Tr about 50 yards below the summit.
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 | Name: |
Heat Lightning |
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 | E-Mail: |
ecs@mountainlogworks.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2021-08-17 |
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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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