| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Square Ledge, Mt. Passaconaway, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Old Mast Road, Kelley Trail, Lawrence Trail, Square Ledge Trail, Walden Trail, Dicey's Mill Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, February 6, 2016 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Ferncroft parking fine. There was only an inch or so of new snow. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
All were open, but all were easy to jump, rock step or use the downed tree. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
I don't recall any significant blowdowns or other problems. The sign for Walden where it turns right at its intersection with East Loop is now obvious. There is no sign for the campsite spur or its |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Good trails for Pepper but there are many places where paws can get wet and thus encourage icing. Some are streams and some are just wet areas in the trail. He had minor snowballing and paw icing since the loose snow was only 1-3" or so. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
I started in bareboots which worked but the new snow reduced the traction noticeably. So I switched to microspikes as the new snow got a bit deeper but without much benefit; the spikes just couldn't reach the harder pack or it was loose. I finally had the sense to put on my "macrospikes", my MSR Evo Ascents. They gave me the traction I needed and I used them thereafter until well down Dicey's where I went back to spikes, but bareboots would have been just has good that low. As Fran noted in his report upper Dicey's has some ice flow in the trail, but by the time we got there it had warmed up some and the snowshoe crampons bit well. There was only 1-3" maybe new snow over some harder pack until Dicey's which was packed down by the time we got there. The climb up Square Ledge wasn't bad; the snowshoes were clumsy on the rocks in a way, but they bit well. We hiked Lawrence over to Cabin and back too since this was a mixed trail and peak hike.
We saw no one until the final climb up Passaconaway, but we did see some boot prints that came part way up Square Ledge but turned around before the open ledges views. The same thing happened on the summit outlook spur; boot prints stopped a little over half way down it. We only saw a handful of people all day, Pepper chased a moose off, and it was a splendid day in the woods. Later we found out we missed seeing N&C and Fran & Karen. That would have been fun. Thanks Pepper for a great day. |
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 | Name: |
Pepper and Me |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2016-02-06 |
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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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