| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Passaconaway, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Oliverian Brook Trail, Passaconaway Cutoff, Square Ledge Trail, Walden Trail, East Loop, Dicey’s Mill Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Monday, December 26, 2022 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Parked at the trailhead lot for Oliverian Brook off NH 112. This was plowed in about 500 feet or so. Still, can park 6-8 well parked cars. Makeshift lot was super icy but I did fine in my SUV- any vehicle should be fine. In the main lot there is a gate, kiosk, no privy. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Ice - Blue, Ice - Breakable Crust, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Oliverian: two minor crossings just before the junction with Passaconaway Cutoff are still open. They are shallow, but tricky in snowshoes with the ice ensconced rocks. Passaconaway: only one major crossing that I had to kinda ford. Water went up and over my snowshoes and dorsal part of my boots. Maybe 3-5 inches deep at most. There were not viable crossing options without removing my snowshoes, so I elected to just wade through. Water was not fast moving. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
There is a sizable blow down right next to the Pemigewasset Wilderness sign on Oliverian. Sign was saved! Other blow down clump was shortly in on the Passaconaway Cutoff from Oliverian. It’s a triple header (3 trees) and has to be hiked around. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Good trails for dogs. No treacherous obstacles or technical terrain. See comments below about snow levels. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Route:
Oliverian Brook > Passaconaway Cutoff > Square Ledge > Walden > East Loop > Dicey’s Mill > and back the whole way…
Oliverian: the first 0.25 miles are torn up by, I assume, non-hikers in sneakers or winter boots. Luckily these stop quickly as those unprepared persons turned around. But it’s a flippin’ mess. Faint snowshoe track noted that went on a bit further after the shoe prints/craters. Unfortunately, the storm on Friday knocked all the thick wet snow off the trees into the trail making a general mess of deep, heavy mounds and basically obliterating this light track. I broke trail to the junction. But it’s just my prints and the snow did not lend to sweet track laying. It was super stubborn snow. It will take several more snowshoe tracks to start building the trough.
Passaconaway Cutoff: this trail has not been touched by anyone since the first major snowstorm. Oh joy… So I broke out this trail too, kinda. The snow was frozen and crusted on the surface, soft underneath. This meant that every step of my snowshoe I was punching though this crusty surface- but not in a snowshoe shape. It was creating this sunken, or pocketed, circular buckle in the snow. In several parts the crusted frozen surface broken by my shoe would flip up creating these kind of styrofoam-like shards in the trail. Man, it was ugly! The good thing is I have broken the trail- those that come behind will still have work to do, but it won’t be the level of physical exertion I had to apply. This trail is not blazed, I had no issue following the corridor. Disclaimer: I have been here several times and am familiar with the route. See water crossing notes above. Snowshoes the only appropriate footwear.
Square Ledge: not blazed. Also not touched since the first snow storm. Insert face slap and loud groan… This morning the snow was much more supportive and I didn’t punch through the crusted snow nearly as much. I made pretty decent time because of this. But man, on the descent I was basically re-breaking trail as the formerly supportive snow had softened causing me, again, to punch through in those crater shapes. Such a choppy track. This trail is steep as well; no cliffs or ledges. Snowshoes remain the logical footwear.
Walden: lightly blazed in blue. Simple to follow as the corridor is quite tight. Lots of debris over the trail. I moved whatever I could free from the frozen snow. Unsurprisingly this trail was also unbroken. Stomp, crack, sink. Stomp, crack, sink. The whole way to East Loop. I was reaching my physical trail breaking limit. Branches had a light layer of snow- that ALL went down my neck when I would push past/underneath. I blatantly refused (to the pine trees who were listening) to climb the summit cone on this trail so I elected to take the slightly longer detour on East Loop to Dicey’s.
East Loop: this is a gently graded 0.3 mile trail that connects with Dicey’s Mill. It was trashed by debris; which I made every attempt to move what I could. Also not broken out. Snow much more fluffy through here but still very deep. There were a few blue blazes.
Dicey’s Mill: oh praise any higher power! The trail was broken out- by SNOWSHOES!!! I almost cried. Nice, firm snowshoe track established all the way to the summit. Not blazed. Water point still open if you need a refill. The only two people I saw today were met here (in their fabulous snowshoes). They said that Rollins Trail had been severely postholed. I was done for the day. I elected to skip the trek out to Whiteface today. |
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 | Name: |
Remington34 |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2022-12-26 |
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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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