| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Morgan, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Old Mountain Road, Crawford-Ridgepole Trail, Mt. Webster outlook spur, Mt. Morgan Trail, Mt. Morgan ladders spur path |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, April 16, 2017 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Plenty of parking at trailhead on Old Mountain Road; Route 113 trailheads are closed.
Lot is muddy on one side, but relatively dry and not too rutted on the other. Unpaved sections of Hardhack Road and Perch Pond Road are rutted/potholed, but in generally good shape. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Ice - Blue, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Stable), Snow/Ice - Monorail (Unstable), Snow - Spring Snow, Leaves - Significant/Slippery, Snow/Ice - Postholes, Snow/Ice - Small Patches |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Not an issue. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Several corridor-obscuring blowdowns on Crawford-Ridgepole Trail between Mt. Webster and Mt. Morgan trail intersection, easily walked around or under. This (underused) section of trail could use a re-fresh of blazes, as well -- more than a few have faded or rotted off.
On entire length of Crawford-Ridgepole we walked, there is quite a bit of spring deadfall -- small branches and twigs and bits o' tree. We removed as much of it as we could while walking. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
Some midges and black flies -- not biting. Also, ticks are out. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Less than two weeks ago, we wanted to try a final snowshoe before spring temperatures and rain turned everything to slush. This time, we still got in a snowshoe for about half the route -- there's still quite a bit of deep (but rotting, undermined) snow between Mts. Webster and Morgan. Snowshoes were a must for this section.
The trails from Route 113 -- the eastern side of the Crawford-Ridgepole -- are still closed for mud season, so the only access is still via Old Mountain Road, from the west.
Old Mountain Road is a running stream with some monorail here and there. It's easy to go around/through the stream without trail-widening; plenty of exposed rock and some mud.
From Old Mountain to Mt. Webster outlook spur, the Crawford-Ridgepole Trail is mostly dry, with a few short sections of shallow spring snow and some ponding on trail.
Between Mt. Webster outlook spur and Mt. Morgan Trail intersection, there is a foot to two feet of rotting spring snow, with flowing water underneath in some sections. There are short dry sections here and there, and occasional ponded sections. After postholing for a few feet, we put on snowshoes, and the going was much easier. We were able to circumvent most water/ledge obstacles by simply walking on the snow a few feet off trail -- didn't remove the shoes until the Mt. Morgan Trail.
Mt. Morgan Trail is dry for the first 0.1 mile (steps, prior to ladders spur path), then a running stream bed, with plenty of rocks exposed to use as steps. Higher up is a short section of blue ice -- exposed rock meant we didn't need to put on light traction. Mt. Morgan ledges are bone dry.
One member of our party took the ladders spur trail up -- everything is bone dry except the crawl-through boulder cave section, which is half-filled with blue ice. A small person with small pack can wriggle through; anyone else might find this a bit difficult.
A lovely (Easter) day to be out.
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 | Name: |
Pancks and Tesco Heaney |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2017-04-17 |
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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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