| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Adams, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Valley Way, Gulfside, Airline |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Tuesday, November 29, 2022 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Almost the entire lot was bone-dry. Relatively warm daytime temps are keeping things tame. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Ice - Black, Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Wet Trail, Ice - Blue, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Wet/Slippery Rock, Ice - Breakable Crust, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Drifts, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant, Leaves - Significant/Slippery, Slush, Snow/Ice - Small Patches |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Light Traction, Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Several spots on Valley Way are still wet -- standing water, running water, mud, etc. I clicked so many surface conditions because really, it's running the absolute gamut. But with Gore Tex boots and either micro spikes or crampons, you're very likely to do just fine. Any place where you actually have to walk through or cross over water is trivial at the moment. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Overall, the trail was fine. But there are a couple blow-downs, one of which is a crawl-under. In a month, when there's a foot of snow on the trail, they'll become problematic. Cairns are detectable, but sometimes they hide a fair bit and you have to look hard. There's not enough snow, nor enough trampers, and there's too much wind to make a clearly defined trail above tree-line. Route finding in the area of the Gulfside/Airline junction can be a bit tough. One thing for sure, snowshoes are certainly not a barrier to entry. I post-holed a couple times, but those were drifts, maybe I stepped into krumholz once or twice. It's not heinous in the slightest. If you're wearing some kind of spikes on your boots, you'll be fine, traction-wise. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
One pup having the time of his life. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
I needed November for my grid, but the past few days, the wind has been atrocious on the higher summits. So the waiting and watching... finally, a nice day, so I pounced. And what a day it was! The weather boffins on Washington called for temps in the 20s, and maybe it was the higher end of that range. It certainly didn't feel arctic, and the winds were very modest. Abundant sun on the summit, stellar views of the Great Gulf... what more do you need?
Down low, the snow was fractions of an inch deep. Up above tree-line, it was a few inches in the deeper areas, thinner everywhere else. In between, mostly packed down. In short, it ran almost the entire range, except chest-deep. (I doubt even the absolute deepest I saw was higher than my calves, and that was done in a few paces.) A lot of Valley Way was wet, not even frozen, though some of the ledges ranged from black to blue ice. Again, spikes will be your friend.
Pictures and a more detailed write-up are on my blog, as always. Share and enjoy! |
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 | Name: |
Protean Wanderer |
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 | E-Mail: |
hiker@proteanwanderer.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2022-12-01 |
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 | Link: |
 https://www.proteanwanderer.com/2022/12/01/trip-report-mt-adams-should-i-stay-or-should-i-go/ |
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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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