| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Madison, Mt. Adams, Mt. Jefferson, Mt. Clay, Mt. Washington, Mt. Monroe, Mt. Franklin, Mt. Eisenhower, Mt. Pierce, NH |
|
 | Trails: |
Valley Way, Watson Path, Osgood Trail, Gulfside, Airline, Lowe's Path, Israel Ridge Path, Jefferson Loop, Clay Loop, Trinity Heights Connector, Crawford Path, Monroe Loop, Eisenhower Loop, Webster Cliff Trail |
|
 | Date of Hike: |
Thursday, March 14, 2024 |
|
 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
|
|
 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Ice - Blue, Ice - Breakable Crust, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Drifts, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Snow - Wet/Sticky, Snow - Spring Snow, Snow/Ice - Postholes, Slush |
|
 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
|
 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Tiny streams coming down from Pierce are mostly still bridged with snow but those will likely colapse soon |
|
 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Sign post between Washington and Lake of the Clouds has blown down |
|
 | Dog-Related Notes: |
|
|
 | Bugs: |
|
|
 | Lost and Found: |
|
|
|
|
|
 | Comments: |
Beautiful day up there! Overall there was still decent heavy sticky snowpack in the trees, no monorail yet anywhere. The above treeline areas were relatively bare for this time of year. Northen peaks had fairly solid ice/snow bootpacks. Trails south of Washington were an absolute mess of slush, mud, standing and running water, bare dirt, and ice. Probably wore a season of use off the spikes this hike. We used snowshoes on our way to Madison hut, the bootpack was soft and postholey. Also found them very useful on the decent from Jefferson and really should have put them on for decent from Clay/trail up to the cog. For all rest, peaks especially, the rocks were too exposed for snowshoes, microspikes were the way to go being careful of the ocasional thigh high drift to posthole into. Crampons would have been overkill, no steep ice to speak of anywhere that we encountered.
Ice on the lake of the clouds is getting soft and were easily able to break though to filter/treat water.
DONT TAKE WATSON!!! We made the mistake of following a partially bootpacked trail out past the stream crossing. The bootprints we followed gave up and turned around after encountering waist deep heavy snow. Trail seems like it might have been fully unbroken this winter. We attempted to break trail for a bit, gave up and backtracked to Valley. Our snowshoe tracks make Watson look good at the junction, don't believe it, it's a lie, take Valley. |
|
 | Name: |
Salamander |
|
 | E-Mail: |
|
|
| Date Submitted: |
2024-03-15 |
|
 | Link: |
 https:// |
|
|
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. |
|
