| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Zealand Mountain, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Zealand Road, Zealand Trail, Twinway, Zealand Spur |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Thursday, February 17, 2022 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Lots of room to park at the snowmobile lot on 302. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Drifts, Snow - Wet/Sticky, Snow/Ice - Postholes, Slush |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Still solidly ice bridged. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
From the quantity of snow on the leaners, they definitely do not appear to be new!! |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Rough hiking conditions today. Zealand road remains as previously reported - a mix of snowmobile tracks, ski tracks and snowshoe tracks. When I headed out this morning I saw the deep postholes previously reported on a trip report about Hale, and had the same concerns for that person’s safety - those holes were methodical and deep. It turns out that that postholer had started at the Zealand Hut! I followed those tracks all of the way to the hut.
It was 41 degrees when I started and 53 degrees when I finished. Snowshoes all the way, were the way to approach this.
I started in microspikes (wishful thinking!) but changed as soon as the snow felt sticky and soft (which was soon!!). Zealand Trail has a nice trough and the only drifting was near the pond, and it was minor. I snowshoed it and both of the caretakers skied it, so we definitely made some progress at smoothing over the postholes (but definitely watch your step!)
From the hut to ZeaCliff is a nice trough with minimal postholes and no drifting.
Though you could see that the Twinway between ZeaCliff and Zealand had a nice trough, it was significantly drifted over in places. Because of the temperatures, even in snowshoes I couldn’t break it back out to the trough because the snow was so wet and sticky, so I ended up leaving snowshoe tracks in both directions. I did the best that I could but it is only roughly broken out. For whatever reason the spur that rejoins ZeaCliff to the Twinway was the worst drifts that I have ever seen and it was like wading through mud in both directions. Because the weather was so warm, that just made me laugh both times, but it wasn’t the satisfying trail breaking experience that I have had in the past!
Shout out to Garritt and Rita (the Zealand winter caretakers that I met - it was shift change for them on Thursday), for being super nice and for building ZeaMan, the snowman!
Additional information:
The AZ trail has nice ski tracks as it leaves the Zealand Trail.
Ethan Pond Trail appears mostly untouched.
There is a set of snowshoe tracks headed out to the Zealand Falls view just below the hut.
As previously reported, Lend A Hand appears nicely broken out.
No one has been on ZeaCliff Trail this winter and the sign is almost completely buried!!
There are more than one set of snowshoe tracks going down to the pond between ZeaCliff and Zealand.
There is a bushwhack to a view up above ZeaCliff (that was pretty neat!)
The Twinway beyond the Zealand spur apprears to have a trough and I know that others have done a ZBonds recently so that is previously broken out.
There are two options at the ladder near Zealand - the ladder (steep) and a trough that appears to be for butt sledders. I took the ladder both ways and did just fine with it!
Stay safe, have fun! |
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 | Name: |
Bikecamphikegirl |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2022-02-17 |
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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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