| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Straightback Mountain, Mt. Anna, Mack Mountain, Mt. Klem, Rand Mountain, West Quarry, Mt. Major, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Stage Road, Straightback Mountain Trail, Belknap Range Trail, Quarry Trail, bushwhack, Marsh Crossing Trail, Jesus Valley - Beaver Pond Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Friday, February 9, 2018 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
good parking road side on jesus valley road at the start of the stage road in alton. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Ice - Black, Ice - Blue, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Ice - Breakable Crust, Snow - Unpacked Powder |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
minor crossings along the route a non issue today. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
there are a couple blowdowns, one large stepover and one smaller duck under between anna and mack. some big blowdowns on quarry trail east of glidden. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
i heard that a woman was looking for a husky lost on major, but have no details. hopefully already resolved. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
some boot tracks on the stage road gave way to snomo packed trail for a bit then unbroken snow on straightback mountain trail as it starts to climb. 6-8 inches on average with deeper sections. definitely ice underneath in places, but the snow pretty much negates it wearing snowshoes. some fresh tracks entered at the blueberry pasture junction and continued up to the summit of straightback. the tracks dropped down from the summit towards anna, one blue ice bulge of note, then turned off onto the quarry trail.
i continued breaking trail to anna with continued good snow conditions. at the anna summit those earlier tracks reappeared and looked to have come over from quarry trail via a bushwhack. more untracked snow on the long stretch to mack. crustier snow up high on mack.
untracked trail to klem and its short summit spur. i took some care on the steep descent from klem as it was hard to gauge what was under the snow in spots. i had a bad feeling about possible heavy ice on the steep tricky section of the trail heading up rand so opted to bushwhack up in open woods north of the trail. i noted ample ice to the south which made me feel good about the decision. rather than hopping back on the trail i took a direct line to the summit of rand and was quickly back on the trail just before the highpoint.
good snowshoeing off rand and to the steep ascent of west quarry. the bypass had a little ice underneath in spots, but good grip. the ledges appeared to be icy. at the summit of west quarry a number of folks on snowshoes had come up from the reed road side. i decided my best bet was to use marsh crossing to get back over the my tracks on the range trail. one set of tracks, the ones from earlier, descended on marsh crossing then left the trail on a bushwhack towards anna. i continued on the trail and broke it out to the range trail. i picked my tracks back up to straighback and continued towards major soon meeting two folks heading up. the going was good and quick following their tracks to the brook trail junction on major. from there the trail was tracked out to the summit which had a bit of bare ledge.
i dropped back to the jesus valley-beaver pond trail which had nice unbroken snow down to my tracks from earlier today turning up straightback. definitely some ample ice under the snow on the upper trail which wasn't a problem if i didn't get going to fast. on the descent back to stage road i encountered a snowmobile that smartly turned around as the trail is way to bony and icy right now for anything but foot traffic. |
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 | Name: |
bryan |
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 | E-Mail: |
bryancuddihee@yahoo.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2018-02-09 |
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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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