| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Cardigan, Brown Mountain, Church Mountain, Grafton Knob, Crane Mountain, Orange Mountain, Rimrock, South Peak, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Skyland Trail, South Ridge Trail, Clark Trail, Mowglis Trail, Grotto Cave Trail, Hurricane Gap Trail, Woodland Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, November 29, 2015 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Parking for a few vehicles on the side of the road at Alexandria Four Corners -- just don't block any driveways. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Ice - Black, Leaves - Significant/Slippery |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
All major crossings had good bridges on our route. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Trails are in great shape and very well blazed--thank you Cardigan Highlanders. Looks like someone blasted the trail signage at junc. of Clark & Vistamont with a shotgun; one sign is on the ground. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Up Cardigan via the south (Skyland) rim and its subordinate peaks, RGoH, party of 10. After the summit we took the obscure side trail to Grotto Cave (very fun), back over summit, then descended to the AMC lodge via Hurricane-Clark-Woodland. The trail to Grotto Cave is tricky to find. Can be found by poking around on the ledges E. of Mowglis Tr. between Cardigan and Firescrew <0.1 N. of where Mowglis emerges from the trees below the Cardigan summit cone--look for a faint & narrow descending path, no cairns. There are a few pale blazes and an arrow on rocks further down. It descends E. to a short and tricky slab then the trail makes a sharp N. turn on the level toward the caves. On our descent of the mountain, we took Hurricane Gap Trail specifically because we heard the AMC had made noise about closing and/or rerouting this fine trail. It's a nice alternative to Clark which can get icy this time of year. Overall, there were a few patches of ice on the trails in shadier spots; easy to miss and slip on but not enough to make us want to use spikes. No snow yet. (We found the latest AMC map of poor design detail for navigating the longer trails like Skyland--prefer the old USGS format maps. Product of trying to cram too many maps on one piece of paper--sometimes less IS just less). |
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 | Name: |
Shoeless Paul |
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 | E-Mail: |
pgagnon999@outlook.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2015-11-29 |
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 | Link: |
 https://www.meetup.com/random-hikers/events/226803712/ |
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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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