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Ski
Hiking Trail Conditions Report
Peaks
Peaks Old Speck Mountain (attempt), ME
Trails
Trails: Old Speck Trail
Date of Hike
Date of Hike: Monday, February 27, 2017
Parking/Access Road Notes
Parking/Access Road Notes: Lot plowed- 2 cars there when I arrived, 1 when I left 
Surface Conditions
Surface Conditions: Snow/Ice - Monorail (Stable), Snow/Ice - Postholes 
Recommended Equipment
Recommended Equipment: Snowshoes, Light Traction, Traction 
Water Crossing Notes
Water Crossing Notes: No Problems- see below 
Trail Maintenance Notes
Trail Maintenance Notes: Trail in good shape 
Dog-Related Notes
Dog-Related Notes:  
Bugs
Bugs:  
Lost and Found
Lost and Found:  
 
Comments
Comments: Actually I never intended to summit Old Speck, just do the part up to the upper Eyebrow Trail junction, which is the part I maintain for AMC, so I could report on trail conditions. The trail is mostly in very good shape, a very firm hard wide monorail. The first water crossing is open and flowing but an easy step over. The rest are all solid packed snow just like there was no water there. I used my climbing snowshoes, which have full size crampons on them and had no trouble with traction. If conditions remain the same you could do this trail in spikes, but I would recommend crampons because of how steep parts of it are. Before it all firmed up, some dear soul tried to bare boot it, and as a result there are lots of postholes, mostly to one side or another of the monorail, but some right on the trail. Some are very deep, so watch where you are stepping. Near the top of my hike (after the last water crossing), all the previous hikers used a section that is blocked with a big pile of brush so that it is clear in the summer that it is not the trail. But the brush pile is all snowed in, so people went right over it. The actual trail, which is a sharp right turn at that point, was not used at all. Since I had snowshoes on and the surface was hard I decided to break out the right trail. If you decide to use the correct trail, it is easy to follow (and blazed!). You will come to a place most of the way up to where the real trail joins the bootleg trail where there are two sets of snowshoe prints. Follow the ones to the left, as I made a mistake going up and took an unnecessary steep bushwhack instead of the trail. I got it right on the way down. I am old and slow and it took me only 1 1/2 hours to get to where I stopped, so this is an easy day hike to the summit if you have the right equipment.  
Name
Name: Ray Cooper 
E-Mail
E-Mail: rcooper207@yahoo.com 
Date Submitted
Date Submitted: 2017-02-27 
Link
Link: https:// 
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