| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Cabot, NH |
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 | Trails: |
York Pond Trail, Bunnell Notch Trail, Kilkenny Ridge Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Thursday, March 24, 2022 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Oh my gosh, pavement without ice! It’s a miracle! York Pond Road gives me nightmares, when it is icy. Today it’s blissfully free of ice! Yay!! |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Wet/Slippery Rock, Ice - Breakable Crust, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Drifts, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Leaves - Significant/Slippery, Snow/Ice - Postholes, Slush |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Snow bridges are gone but water levels are low so the small water crossings are absolutely no issue at all. You guys know that I am terrible at water crossings, so if I am saying this, it’s a really good water crossing situation! |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
There remains a large blowdown about 0.1 miles before the BN/KRT junction; it has a well developed work around to the left. There is a new tree down across KRT 0.2 miles before that super sharp right turn where you start climbing toward Bunnell Rock. This blowdown is a multi-limbed tree, with the largest branch at least 8”. It’s a smidgen difficult to get around it as it’s on a sidehill and it fell more parallel to, than perpendicular to, the trail, but it’s possible. This route keeps “losing” trail signs but there are no more trail signs missing today than when I was on this route last month. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
I packed out some trash type items from the cabin and from the clearing near the summit. Leave no trace, folks. |
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 | Comments: |
A surprisingly fine day to hike Cabot, despite the rain/snow/sleet shenanigans. BN is mostly ice, in the lower sections, and very well compacted snow in the upper sections. There are postholes but most of them are moose postholes, which made me laugh out loud as this was reported some weeks ago. Moose make really deep postholes!!
KRT is also mostly ice all the way to the cabin. From there to the summit is well compacted snow with human/boot postholes. Those prints continue on KRT toward the Bulge.
I got really lucky with the temperatures - it was cold enough to freeze everything solid but warm enough that my sad and tired Hillsounds were able to grip nicely. I kept wanting to put on my snowshoes, but ice was the story today, so it was Hillsounds the whole way and my snowshoes got a ride. This will likely not be the situation with warmer temperatures this week so if I were headed this way again soon, I would definitely be bringing my snowshoes. Those upper elevations still have some pretty deep snow and it’s going to be a whole lot of mashed potato misery soon! |
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 | Name: |
Bikecamphikegirl |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2022-03-24 |
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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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