| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Flagg, Mt. Shaw, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Gorilla Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Friday, January 10, 2025 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Plenty of parking at the Farmhouse of Merrowvista Camp |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Wet Trail, Ice - Blue, Wet/Slippery Rock, Ice - Breakable Crust, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Leaves - Significant/Slippery, Snow/Ice - Postholes |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
No problems |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
One step over, one tree bypass, and a couple of easy duck-unders. Very faded blazes, many of them on rocks and barely visible especially with the light snow cover from Thursday evening. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Typical of trails in the Lakes Region right now, a wide mix of s!urfaces. We opted to bare boot for about the first mile, carefully avoiding several large ice floes and using caution between the rocks as the light snow disguised plenty of icy patches. Leaves and acorns were exposed lower down, for another's challenge! Spikes went on as we started up to Flagg, over large rocks and some open slabs, and we kept them on for the rest of the day. There was a clear footbed up to Flagg, then it became a bit of guesswork but the track seemed pretty obvious for another 1/2 mile or so. Eventually resorted to checking GAIA frequently and adjusting accordingly. The track is public on GAIA so anyone wanting to use it should stay on the line to the east, because we followed the correct track pretty closely on the way down. We were postholing to our knees and sometimes deeper when we were off track so once we reacquired the track I kept GAIA at hand and that helped a lot. There were some messy blowdowns as we neared the summit of Shaw, so we mostly proceeded the easiest way possible. Uneventful return as we had our footprints to follow along with some arrows in the snow that I left on the way up everytime we reacquired the trail. A 6.7 mi RT that felt like 8 to the three of us, but a beautiful day to be out, with great views of Mt. Washington. |
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 | Name: |
Sugaree |
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 | E-Mail: |
nhfoodie7@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2025-01-11 |
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 | Link: |
 https://www.gaiagps.com/datasummary/track/8d67d7b1-164c-4286-9eec-bec072a71794/ |
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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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