| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Philadelphia Peak, Monastery Mountain - East Peak, Monastery Mountain - West Peak, VT |
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 | Trails: |
Pine Brook Trail, Philadelphia Peak Trail, bushwhack, FR 62 (Thesher Hill Road), FR 42 (Bingo Road) |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Thursday, April 16, 2015 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
parked at the start of pine gap road/pine brook trail about 2.4 miles up bingo road (FR 42) off of rt 73 in rochester. road is wet, muddy and rutted in spots, but i assume maintained year round to that point for residents. beyond that is is seasonal. room for a few cars. well signed. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Wet Trail, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Snow - Wet/Sticky, Snow - Spring Snow, Snow/Ice - Small Patches |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
a few small crossings of little issue on pine brook and philadelphia peak trails. some feeder streams on the descent, but managed to avoid any larger ones. brooks in the area are running pretty heavy. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
some blowdown on philadelphia peak trail. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
i headed up pine brook trail for a few minutes to a split where the portion of the trail i wanted turned hard left up hill. this section had little snow, but soon i hit larger patches and put on snowshoes. after crossing a small bridge i came to the junction with philadelphia peak trail leaving right. there was a usage sign there, but if there was something identifying the trail name i missed it. this road/trail is shown on the usgs and on the national geographic map is labelled as philadephia peak trail. it does not look to be heavily maintained and seems to receive less use than the pine brook trail. it is also not marked as the prior trail is. snow on this trail was wet and spotty at times and in sections i snowshoed beside it as it was very wet. at 2200 as shown on the usgs the trail forks with the right branch heading up philadelphia peak. straight ahead continues towards pine gap. i went right and found deeper soft snow on the ascent, but i wasn't punching in deeply too often. probably 1-2 feet left in this area with bare spots too. either the trail does not actually turn up to the peak or i missed it as i followed it to where is petered out on a flat plateau west of the peak. i started bushwhacking and from there it was mostly open spruce woods to the summit, but the snow was deep and soft (2-3) on the more shaded slope and it was slow going. the summit features a forest service radio repeater. i doubled back then headed down to pine gap having a hard time in the soft and rarely supportive snow. i considered bagging it, but decided to head to east monastery and see how it went. once off the steeper climb out of pine gap the snow got a little better and is still well over 3 feet deep along the ridge. i hit a little bit of spruce then it opened on the gradual ascent to the summit. leaving east peak i stayed right on the ridge down to the col with west peak and began the mellow ascent, with continued difficult snow conditions, up to its highpoint. woods were a mix of birch and spruce and very open. from west peak i doubled back to a sag then slabbed southeast to pick up a prominent south running ridge. i hit some spruce and blowdown initially, but after a couple hundred vertical the ridge was mostly hardwood with good going down to about 2200 where the snow quickly became patchy and i dropped off into the drainage to the east eventually following it down to fr62 near a drive up campsite. very little snow once down in the drainage and the same was the case on fr62. fr42 back to the car was bare when i first hit it, but then i went back to snowshoes the rest of the way as there was still ample soft and wet snow.
a beautiful and very warm spring day. i had hiked in this area last week and had nice snow conditions so i figure i would try this hike/bushwhack this week. i underestimated just how much the warm temps had effected the snow pack and got a pretty good workout once up on the ridge. heavy, wet snow was the story. i had expected more consistent consolidation, but found very little. otherwise the woods were great for bushwhacking and were quite pleasant. lots of moose sign on the peaks and down in the brook drainage. a few filtered views. nice to be out. |
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 | Name: |
bryan |
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 | E-Mail: |
bryancuddihee@yahoo.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2015-04-16 |
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 | Link: |
 https:// |
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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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