Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
| Peaks |
Mt. Jefferson, NH |
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| Trails: |
Jewell Trail, Gulfside, The Cornice, Caps Ridge Trail, Jefferson Notch Road, Boundary Line Trail |
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| Date of Hike: |
Tuesday, January 17, 2023 |
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| Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Parked at Ammo lot- a little bit icy under a fresh dusting of powder, but still easily passable with FWD cars |
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| Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Drifts, Snow - Wet/Sticky, Snow - Spring Snow, Snow/Ice - Postholes, Slush |
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| Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
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| Water Crossing Notes: |
Major crossings bridged by either wood or ice, minor ones easy enough to hop across- nothing too exciting |
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| Trail Maintenance Notes: |
A few (3 or 4, can't recall exactly) low leaners/blowdowns on Jewell, including one crawl under- planned to get them all on the way out but changed plans and went out Caps Ridge instead. Cleared 4 blowdowns/leaners off of Caps Ridge, a few high leaners left but shouldn't be much of an issue unless we get quite a bit more snow. A couple of small (3-5" dia) ones remain, currently 95% buried by snow so entirely a non-issue until spring. Boundary Line Trail had a bunch of twiggies in the trail, tossed most of them to the side, and one small stepover towards the Jewell end that wasn't enough of an issue for me to drop my pack and pull out my saw (end of the hike, getting lazy... sorry!) |
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| Dog-Related Notes: |
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| Bugs: |
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| Lost and Found: |
Lost some stress, found a few new friends to hike with! |
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| Comments: |
Today started out in the clouds and quite windy, but ended up being a glorious day! Caught a bit of undercast along the way, which is always cool, regardless of how many times you've seen it before. Winds weren't awful by the time we got to the summit, but enough that we didn't hang out for any longer than necessary- clocked about 30mph with my anemometer, with temps right about 30F- definitely not the worst I've been in, but certainly sub-optimal conditions for a picnic! Jewell was pretty uneventful going up, a few scattered postholes but nothing too crazy. Caps Ridge below the first cap had countless frozen postholes, many were filled in by drifting powder so it was hard to see them until you sank in- but the snow cover was extremely variable- at one point, there were knee+ deep frozen postholes, while 5 feet away the snow wasn't even an inch deep- snowshoes would have taken quite the beating, had we attempted to use them. Overall, the spots with deeper snow were firm enough that we were able to stay on top, though there were a few scattered surprises here and there. Roadwalk and Boundary Line trail were uneventful, even managed to make it back to the cars before it was dark enough to justify breaking out our headlamps. Overall, a great day was had with Sue, Ralph, and Brian! |
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| Name: |
Zippy |
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| E-Mail: |
hikerzippy@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2023-01-17 |
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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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