| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Carrigain, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Sawyer River Road, Signal Ridge Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Friday, April 27, 2018 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Plenty of parking. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Ice - Breakable Crust, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Unstable), Snow - Spring Snow, Snow/Ice - Postholes |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
You boots will be under water. If they are excellent and water-proof, and you have very good gaiters, and can find the rocks that are not too far under the water, you can stay dry. Other-wise, you might have to take then off and wade. We checked the old crossing and the new crossing on the re-routedtrail. The new crossing is easier. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Some blowdowns, nothing difficult. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
First, if you don't have to do this hike now, don't. Road walk is best part, can bare boot. Trail up to main stream crossing is mostly snow covered but monorail is breaking up and pretty much any bridge not broken will. Recommend taking the re-routed trail rather than the old. From stream crossing to begin of switchbacks is not too bad, almost entirely snow covered. Switchbacks are trouble and not too fun in many places. The fifth one from the bottom, one mile long, will seem much longer. Really tough to stay on the trail there without sliding off into the trees, post-holing or falling down. This is because of the slide slope of the trail there and in many places. I tried Hillsounds that were Ok (in the morning, we started at 6 am) but had to be very deliberate as the snow often slid under our feet. If you stepped a millimeter off the mono-rail (not very easy to see) you post-hole. I later tried full crampons up higher, traction is great and you won't slide sideways, but by this time the snow was softening so much it was difficult to not post pole. On switchback the 13th switchback (of 17), I finally put on my snowshoes and stayed with them the rest of the way up and down to stream crossing. You still posthole in snowshoes, but you have to step more off the monorail. I have Tubbs Flex Alps which have very aggressive traction, so I liked the traction on my shoes. My parter had some old MSR lightnings, and her snow shoes did not work well on the slide slopes (she fell many times, sliding off) so she went back to Hillsounds spikes. Another hiker coming after up the switchbacks when we were coming down had taken his snowshoes off because he kept sliding off. All in all, not a great choice for these conditions, but we both needed it for the Grid so there you go! |
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 | Name: |
Paul Stinson |
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 | E-Mail: |
paulstinson2@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2018-04-28 |
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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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