| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
North Twin Mountain, South Twin Mountain, West Bond, Mt. Bond, Bondcliff, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Little River Road, forest road, Haystack Road, North Twin Trail, North Twin Spur, Twinway, Bondcliff, West Bond Spur, Lincoln Woods Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Monday, January 9, 2023 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
The Seven Dwarfes owners are incredibly gracious to provide winter hiker parking. $10 in an envelope on your windshield. The fee is per car, not per hiker, and if you are backpacking remember it’s $10 / day.
When you hike up the road and turn right, remember NO SPIKES OR SNOWSHOES ALLOWED on the wooden bridge over the Little River. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
The Little River 3rd crossing (these days the only crossing that anyone uses) is passable via a downed log just upstream from the blazed location. If you are coming from the trailhead and planning to ascend to N Twin, walk up to the river and look to your left and you will see it. There is a herd path to get to it and interestingly a cairn marking the spot.
The Bondcliff Trail crossings were open but running low today so no issue for rock hopping. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
North Twin trail is in fabulous condition with a wide hiking lane (thank you for your brushing work!) and no blowdowns that I can remember.
Twinway between N and S Twin has maybe 1 or 2 blowdowns, nothing major, and the muddy nightmare location where I completely face-planted last fall is blissfully frozen over.
Twinway between S Twin and the Bondcliff junction gets less traffic but is still in good shape.
Twinway between the junction and Guyot is actually hard to follow right at the moment because the side sloping ice field is so thick that you can’t see that nice curb of little boulders marking the trail. Not a maintenance issue, just noting it.
The West Bond spur is tight and has two blowdowns; neither are an issue.
Bond over to Bondcliff is in good shape.
When you get below Hillary’s Step, the blowdown shenanigans begin. Just a few from here down to the second (major) water crossing but one of them is the world’s most awkward limbo with no option to bypass. More snow will hopefully make it a climb-over. It’s stable.
After that and all the way down to the Franconia Falls spur is a really impressive (not in a good way) quantity of blowdowns. Many appear new based on the snowshoe and spikes tracks underneath them. One is up high and is a widowmaker; I couldn’t see how stable it was because we hiked the “death march” via headlamp. Most of these blowdowns will require a chainsaw or vigorous people with axes. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Saw one today. |
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 | Bugs: |
None currently. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
Nothing today. |
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 | Comments: |
Twins-Bond Traverse is a really interesting alternative to a ZBonds. We dropped a car at Lincoln Woods and then parked at the Seven Dwarfes Motel. Spikes car to car; there were no areas where you could consider snowshoes (bummer; we need more snow). There were no visible ice flows on the entire route and the layer of snow on top of the ice is very grippy so the sketchy descents off N Twin and S Twin, and that creepy no fall zone coming off Bond were no issue today. No rime ice on the signs but rather an encasement of ice, with the most impressive display being on S Twin. We had some wind gusts and very cold conditions on N and S Twin but after that the winds subsided and the summits were a good place to spend a few minutes gawking at the views and the undercast, which persisted through the day. Photos are posted on IG. |
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 | Name: |
Bikecamphikegirl |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2023-01-10 |
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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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