| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Peak Above The Nubble, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Snowmobile trail, bushwhack, Haystack Road, Forest Road 304A, bushwhack, herd path |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Thursday, December 26, 2013 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Haystack Road closed. Parked at the end of Little River Road - popular place today. Without snowbanks, was able to park a little bit down the road from the turnaround area, however when the snowbanks reform, the amount of cars from today would be tough to fit. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Ice - Blue |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
None via this route. The Little River is starting to slush over at snowmobile bridge crossing. |
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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: |
Another shoulder season "winter" hike. Started by bumping into a bunch of familiar faces (Hale-bound). Crossed the snowmobile bridge and headed straight. In hindsight, we should have beared left onto a newly cut snowmobile trail. We followed the old one, which is now a driveway that eventually sort of dead ends. Knowing we were close to Haystack Road, we bushwhacked straight to the road, emerging a few dozen feet from our objective, Forest Road 304A (the three boulder entrance).
We beared right at the large gravel slide and continued on the road for awhile, then hopped into the woods.
Sort of approaching from the northeast, we had generally decent grades (not too much in way of cliffbands) and generally open woods. Eventually reaching the false peak (cleared viewpoint now?!?), we soon ran into some very fresh tracks (since it was snowing and windy, the tracks must have only been minutes old) of someone who perhaps came up from the northwest, hit the false peak, then descended, without actually going across the ridge to the highpoint.
We hopped onto the herd path and followed it across the ridge to the summit. The canister was iced shut unfortunately, and there were no views from the directional vista due to the snow flurries.
From Haystack Road to this point, we encountered no more than an inch of powder, with only tiny, isolated patches of old granular maybe 2-3 inches deep. We also encountered minimal ice via this ascent, aside from occasional small blue ice patches on the herd path. No snowshoes needed until there's perhaps half a foot more of snowpack (being that this is on the lee side, that could happen with a few minor snow events). Our traction went along for a free ride.
For the descent, we got sucked into the bootleg trail for awhile, which was quite icy. We veered away from it in places, but got sucked back in when going through cliff bands that have no alternatives. We barebooted the descent with care and bushwhacked away from it quite a few times, but an ascent on the bootleg path would require full ice equipment. Not worth it right now.
Once back in the hardwoods and then down to the forest road, it was smooth sailing. A trace to an inch of snow fell while we were on the mountain. |
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 | Name: |
rocket21 |
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 | E-Mail: |
rocket21@franklinwebpublishing.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2013-12-26 |
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 | Link: |
 https://www.franklinsites.com/hikephotos |
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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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