| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
North Tripyramid, Middle Tripyramid, South Tripyramid, West Sleeper, East Sleeper, Mt. Whiteface, Mt. Passaconaway, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Pine Bend Brook Trail, Mt. Tripyramid Trail, Kate Sleeper Trail, East Sleeper Spur, Rollins Trail, Dicey’s Mill Trail, Walden Trail, Square Ledge Trail, Passaconaway Cutoff, Oliverian Brook Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, April 22, 2023 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Olivarian Brook lot is not fully plowed to the gate but enough room maybe 6 cars near the entrance. Parking for Pine Bend Brook is best across the street from the TH where you can get off the pavement. Our two vehicles were the first at each lot this morning and only one other vehicle at each on our return. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Wet Trail, Ice - Blue, Ice - Breakable Crust, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Unstable), Snow - Spring Snow, Snow/Ice - Postholes, Slush, Snow/Ice - Small Patches |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
All crossings on Pine Bend Brook were easy. Oliverian Brook crossing required a few steps in ankle deep water, relatively easy. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Notable issues:
Kate Sleeper Trail just a few feet east of the Downes Brook Trail junction there is a large windsnap blowdow fully blocking the trail, propped up and leaning.
Oliverian Brook Trail roughly a mile south of the wilderness sign there are two major blowdowns blocking the trail, one single then a cluster of three.
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Did see one on Rollins. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
It's snowbasket season. Packed out a few. |
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 | Comments: |
Very poor conditions today on these trails with the Kate Sleeper Trail being the only exception.
Pine Bend Brook up to the wilderness sign has little snow depth besides a rotting and narrow monorail with sections bare trail. We tossed on snowshoes at the wilderness sign, there are some sections of exposed rock lower on the climb but can avoid some of it. I wore my "beater" spring snowshoes (an old pair of Tubbs Flex Alps that I had bent and cracked the crampons which I repaired and welded back together) that I use for just for these conditions. The degrading monorail is lined with postholes throughout and chopped up. Snow depth on the ridge is still 24"-36".
We switched out of snowshoes when coming off South Tripyramid to descend the short section of the slide (which is now all bare rock) then back into snowshoes for Kate Sleeper Trail. There were no signs of recent traffic over the Sleepers which was nice, the only decent trail conditions we encountered all day (except for a few sections of super deep moose postholes). Snowshoes are 100% necessary here, there is no solid base.
Rollins Trail is a postholed mess, some sections of soft ice, exposed rock, and bare trail lower but we chose to just stay in snowshoes rather than constantly switch back and forth all day. Dicey's Mill was better than Rollins but still mostly a narrow monorail.
We did swap out of snowshoes to safely navigate some of the ledges on the short section of Walden then Square Ledge Trail then back to snowshoes as soon as we could. These trails see a lot less traffic and did not have a significant base but people still tried to boot it resulting in knee-deep postholed with every step.
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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: |
2023-04-22 |
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 | Link: |
 https://www.strava.com/activities/8939322199 |
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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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