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Ski
Hiking Trail Conditions Report
Peaks
Peaks Mt. Hale, Zealand Mountain, NH
Trails
Trails: Zealand Road, Hale Brook Trail, Lend-A-Hand Trail, Twinway, Zealand Spur, Zealand Trail
Date of Hike
Date of Hike: Saturday, March 17, 2012
Parking/Access Road Notes
Parking/Access Road Notes: Plenty of space on Rt. 302. Gate up on Zealand Road 
Surface Conditions
Surface Conditions: Snow/Ice - Monorail (Stable), Snow/Ice - Monorail (Unstable) 
Recommended Equipment
Recommended Equipment: Snowshoes 
Water Crossing Notes
Water Crossing Notes: Most bridged or an easy jump/step across. The main one above the hut is still well bridged, the minor one next to it is a long jump. Some of the bridged on Lend A Hand are opening up and may not be so for long, but they aren't major streams. 
Trail Maintenance Notes
Trail Maintenance Notes: A few bendovers in various places that required ducking. Nothing major. Some water running in or just under snow on Lend A Hand nearer the hut. Zealand road was plowed starting at Hale TH parking up to and over to the Bethlehem Water Supply road which produced a flat icy stiff slush mix. Lower portions of the road starting in the gravel section down through the paved are clear or partially clear on the hike out, quite a bit of melting this day alone.  
Dog-Related Notes
Dog-Related Notes: Easy trails for the mighty tough little dog. Despite his thick winter fur and the warm temps, he didn't overheat, but his sweater stayed in my pack. There was a fair amount of open water for drinking but he didn't seem interested in it; he did do a bit of wading but snowballing was no issue today. 
Bugs
Bugs: None but I could imagine their presence in the warm temps and sunny skies. 
Lost and Found
Lost and Found:  
 
Comments
Comments: Used spikes up the road on the way in, then put on the snowshoes shortly after Hale's TH. I kept them on until I was back at the Hale parking when I switched to bare boots. The road had cleared quite a bit during the day, and otherwise was soft enough for just boots. We didn't see many others, all but one were in snowshoes. There was one real nice guy on the Twinway in crampons, who had postholed deeply in a few places on teh way up, and likely a lot more on the way down. Snowshoes were clearly needed; even with them on there were a few places where they postholed just to the side. There really was no raised monorail, but getting off it a bit was obvious.


Lend A Hand's packed area was softer and narrower than Hale's or the Twinway, and thus more prone to a hole even in snowshoes. We followed one other snowshoer around the whole route to Zealand and I wondered what other nut could be doing this route. It turned out to be fellow Ashland B&V man Gary T, who like me had missed yesterday's get together. What a pleasant surprise. The best views would have been early when there was an undercast around 3500' and above, but Hale's views are very limited. Over on the Zealand ridge there was still undercast in the Little River Valley, and nice views towards the Presi peaks. Zeacliff's outlook was special of course but the undercast was gone by the time we got there. All in all it was a nice snowshoe hike in spring like weather. We missed having our frequent winter hike group with us but the mountains always lift the spirits.  
Name
Name: Pepper and Me 
E-Mail
E-Mail: windriversjohn at gmail.com 
Date Submitted
Date Submitted: 2012-03-17 
Link
Link: https:// 
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