| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Monadnock, NH |
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 | Trails: |
White Dot Trail, White Cross Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, February 10, 2013 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
$5pp fee at the State Park HQ. Fair amount of parking, though fairly full when I left at 1. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow - Drifts |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
n/a |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
All good aside from a lack of signage at the White Cross/Smith Connecting Link junction. White paint on rocks in winter doesn't cut it guys! (and is rather unsightly at other times...) |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
No dogs permitted on the mountain. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Didn't want to waste the beautiful day and the fresh powder, but too lazy to drive all the way to the Whites and back in the same day. Originally had ambitions of attempting Pumpelly, but decided to stick to the shorter route, figuring there'd be some trail-breaking. Well, not totally right. A few people had gone up ahead (and possibly some traffic the day before), so the trail was nicely broken, though far from consolidated. 12-18" of very LIGHT powder, even in snowshoes it compressed all the way to ground level. Which meant in the steep sections you hit the rocks underneath and rolled ankles constantly...
Still, it was a great trek up. One guy snowboarding down as I approached the lower white Dot/White Cross junction, passed a pair before the steeps of White Dot, and leap-frogged with a solo gentleman through the steeps and to the top. Breaking out onto the rocks, I took off the snowshoes as it appeared to be all rock the rest of the way, but I soon found a hip-deep drift, so they went back on for the rest of the day. Only the last couple hundred feet to the summit could be reasonably bare-booted. No need for traction right now, there's either snow or bare rock. That may change after the rain tomorrow.
Took White Cross down, which took a little bit of doing, as there was no signage at the Smith Connector junction, and both routes were broken out. Figured out I was on the Smith connector pretty quickly when I saw a yellow "S" poking out between the snow, so retraced and found my way down into the woods from there. This trail had only seen one or two people through it since the snow, but I saw about 6-7 people heading up it as I descended, so it's probably in decent shape now, and it should be more obvious which way it goes for those descending.
Barebooters were out in the early afternoon chewing the heck out of the snowshoe track. It is a sad day for humanity when we get a 2' blizzard and people go hiking in bare boots up a mountain the next day... Luckily the snow is really light, so if the last person down was in snowshoes, there will be little damage evident. If the last one down was a bare-booter, well, after the rain and re-freeze tomorrow, these trails will be ankle-breakers, which is unfortunate.
Saw one person running up from Pumpelly as I left the summit, so I'd guess it is at least broken out (I did note he did not appear to have any snowshoes with him, unless he left them at treeline).
Myself and the other guy were the ONLY ONES at the summit unbelievably, though others arrived as I left. Pretty amazing for Monadnock! Saw only a handful of people on my descent, but the lot was pretty full, my guess is most were on the White Dot while I was on the White Cross.
Crystal clear skies, not a cloud to be seen, but pretty windy at the summit (30s gusts for sure). Took some pictures, then ducked off the summit a little into the lee of the wind and enjoyed the views a while longer before heading down. Wachusett was easily spotted, Boston and the Blue Hills were visible, Mount Washington stood out as did what I am guessing was Franconia Ridge or something in that vicinity? Views to Vermont and towards the Berkshires were equally awesome. Great shorter hike to take advantage of the weather. |
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 | Name: |
madmattd |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2013-02-10 |
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 | Link: |
 https://mattshikes.blogspot.com |
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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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