| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Madison, Mt. Adams, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Valley Way, Osgood Trail, Gulfside |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Thursday, January 8, 2026 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Plenty of spots in Appalachia lot, maybe 3" of snow that was mostly packed down by tire tracks. No problem for my front wheel drive car. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Drifts |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction, Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
The group in front of me cleared some smaller trees but there are some big'uns across the trail that are easy to go around but will require considerable effort. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Nice to start a hike in above 0F temps...feels like it's been a while. Altered plans to head up Valley way instead of Airline since VW had already seen a lot of traffic and Airline was untouched. Snowshoed to the hut, some were wearing micros but the trail is still pretty soft. Caught up to the group of ~10 gridders at the hut and we all headed up together in shoes. Once above treeline 3 of us switched to micros, the rest stayed in snowshoes, mostly because they didn't want to change in the strong wind at that point. The spikes worked pretty well, would do again.
Back to the hut, switched back to snowshoes for the out/back to Adams. There are deeper drifts so IMO this was the right choice. Went too far on Gulfside and had to cut uphill to get back to Airline...sorry to anyone in the gridder group who followed! Summit was very windy, some deeper drifts between the rocks. Took a better route down, and chose to go back down VW instead of the untouched Airline.
With snow/rain/ice in the forecast, you'll want snowshoes and micros/crampons in the next few days. Even 1 or 2 inches can leave some huge drifts up top. |
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 | Name: |
Borealis |
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 | E-Mail: |
kdwelch1@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2026-01-08 |
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 | Link: |
 https://www.strava.com/activities/16984022523 |
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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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