| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Zealand Mountain, Mt. Guyot, West Bond, Mt. Bond, Bondcliff, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Zealand Road, Zealand Trail, Twinway, Zealand Spur, Bondcliff Trail, West Bond Spur, Lincoln Woods Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, March 18, 2023 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Dropped my truck at Lincoln Woods and drove up to the Zealand Winter lot on Rt. 302. Both lots well plowed and plenty of space. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Drifts, Snow - Wet/Sticky |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Crossings on Bondcliff Trail were mostly open but low. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
This would have been a difficult day for most dogs. Only saw a couple today which were on LW trail. |
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 | Bugs: |
Tons of snow fleas, which I recently learned from another NETC report are not actually insects but rather hexapods. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Congrats to E.T. for checking the SSW48 off her bucket list! Today the two of us did a southbound ZBonds travers. Snowshoes on all day with the exception of the start of Zealand Rd. and the last couple miles of LWT.
Zealand Trail to the hut is a well pathed out trench but still fairly soft. From the hut to Zeacliff has seen a decent amount of traffic, a boy scoot troop staying at the hut were descending back from Zeacliff while we were heading up. After the lookout has seen less traffic but was well broken to Zealand, there were a few sets of fresh tracks ahead of us this morning. At the Zealand Spur junction we met the three hikers and found there was only a faint set of tracks (we were prepared for and expecting no tracks) from there to Guyot, these appeared to be a solo hiker heading from Guyot to Zealand. Two of the hikers (Scott and Kevin) we met at the junction were thinking to continue on their traverse, after a quick conversation letting them know our plans they started breaking trail out towards Guyot while we tagged Zealand.
We ended up catching up to the two and then took turns trail breaking. We soon found while following the tracks from the hiker the day before that they ended up going off trail (south, to our left) and ended up in the spruces. We then made a correction back to the actual trail, this was obviously completely untouched since this past Tuesday. The snow was not overly deep but there was some significant drifting. After a ways the other's tracks did rejoin the trail but looked to of continued onto the twins.
Above the trees on Guyot had some hard windswept snow and good footing. Bondcliff trail had some deep snow and big drifts, here and on West Bond Spur we were crawling through the trees (sunglasses / eye protection recommended). We didn't encounter anyone until we were descending Bond, there we crossed paths with a large group of hardy ADK hikers (with a couple other groups mixed in) who were all making their way northbound. Had some good conversations, all of us happy to see our trail breaking end for the day.
Bondcliff itself has some hard ice and exposed rocks that some were switching to light traction for, but we just kept our snowshoes on. As it got later in the day the snow pack off Bondcliff was softening, becoming mashed potatoey at times. Snowshoes were needed to stay afloat and maintain the pack.
If you were hoping to get these peaks before the start of spring but holding off until you heard it was broken out, well let this be your notice. You have about 40 hours. |
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 | Name: |
Kyle L & E.T. Fudge |
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 | E-Mail: |
kjlanctot g mail |
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| Date Submitted: |
2023-03-18 |
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 | Link: |
 https://www.strava.com/activities/8737921697 |
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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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