| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Hale, Zealand Mountain, South Twin Mountain (attempt), North Twin Mountain (attempt), NH |
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 | Trails: |
Little River Road, herd path, North Twin Trail, Fire Warden's Trail, Lend-A-Hand Trail, Twinway, Zealand Spur, Zealand Trail, Zealand Road, US 302, US 3 |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, December 7, 2025 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Parked at 7 Dwarfs, $10 in envelope in mailbox with plate #, car description, planned route written on it. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Wet Trail, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Drifts |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Not 1 crossing that was any more than an easy step-over. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
TLDR Twinway from Guyot to S. Twin is not broken out. Fire Wardens and Twinway from the hut up to Guyot in great shape, would still recommend snowshoes, bare boots even with micros will churn and not grip as well on the steeper sections. There is a lot of snow up high.
Started at 7am from 7 Dwarfs. Barebooted all the way to the hut. Fire Wardens is well packed and snow was grippy. Lend-A-Hand was much less packed and could use some snowshoe love but I had no trouble barebooting as I was lazy and knew I had to go into the hut to refill water and didn't want to take off/put back on shoes. There is a .5 mile stretch on Lend-A-Hand where there is water under the snow and buried log bridges which was tedious and made for slow going, some dunked feet, and some spills. Watered up at the hut and put on snowshoes. Twinway up to Guyot was amazingly well packed by Team Gridiot on Saturday with 10+ folks. 1st moment of truth when I got to Guyot and discovered the Twinway coming from S. Twin was untracked. It was thigh deep and loose. The last NETC report of someone going from S. Twin to Guyot was Nov 25, which seems believable as the last time someone hiked this section. I started in hoping that once I got in the trees the snow would firm up or get less deep. It did not...after .5 miles it was still very deep. Time to survey situation. I was 12 miles in, and maybe 6.5 miles from the end (my car) if I kept going. Breaking trail was hard and slow, would have probably taken 2 hours to go the 1.5 miles more to S. Twin, which would have been right around sunset. I had not seen any reports that once I got to S. Twin, the trail to N. Twin (and even from N. Twin down to the river) had been broken out. Weather was expected to go downhill overnight, and I was pretty sweated up.
Not wanting to end up a chapter in someone's SAR book, made the decision to turn around and go back the .5 miles to Guyot then made good time back to the hut. Decision time...go back up 1200' and ~2 miles to Hale summit, then the ~4 miles back down Fire Wardens to my car, or out Zealand Rd. to 302 and hitch back to 7 Dwarfs. Given a re-do, going back over Hale would have been the right choice, because before yesterday I had never hitchhiked, and as of today I have still never hitchhiked (successfully). Switched to bare boots at the bottom of the climb down from the hut, and the hike out to 302 from the hut was peaceful and pleasant in the dark with a light snow falling, and eternal.
The initial elation of reaching 302 and began hitching quickly subsided after the first 3 or 4 cars went by over a period of 10 minutes as I trudged towards rte 3 in the dark on the fortunately very wide shoulder. Techniques which had equal levels of unsuccess: Facing traffic with my thumb out and a forlorn expression on my face, continuing to walk with my thumb out or not out, trying not to seem needy, and then finally giving the finger to the cop who went by at the Rte 3/302 intersection as I jaywalked like a total scofflaw right in front of him (fortunately I had mittens on), they passed up a perfect opportunity to both Protect, and Serve. The walk out from the hut ended up being 6 miles from the hut to 302, then 5 miles on 302/Rte 3 (which fortunately has a sidewalk)/Little River Rd. As far as "end of hikes death marches", this made the Lincoln Woods Trail seem like a Disney ride. Was able to let my wife know I was "running a little late" with my InReach, but had a nagging worry about how late the 7 Dwarfs folks would wait before calling someone about the lone car still in their lot. Apparently (and thankfully), not before 7:30pm when I finished with a total of 27 miles. Possibly, they called the cops and they said "Naw, I think we just saw him walking down 302, he'll probably be there in 30 minutes or so. He waved at us, so I think he's ok".
From trip reports posted last night, S. Twin to N. Twin and S. Twin down to Galehead (my other bail out option) had not been broken out, so very glad I turned around when I did. |
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 | Name: |
Borealis |
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 | E-Mail: |
kdwelch1@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2025-12-08 |
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 | Link: |
 https://www.strava.com/activities/16684737887 |
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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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