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Ski
Hiking Trail Conditions Report
Peaks
Peaks Baldpate Mountain - West Peak, ME
Trails
Trails: Appalachian Trail
Date of Hike
Date of Hike: Saturday, May 5, 2018
Parking/Access Road Notes
Parking/Access Road Notes: No issues at main Grafton Notch parking lot 
Surface Conditions
Surface Conditions: Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Ice - Blue, Wet/Slippery Rock, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Unstable), Snow - Spring Snow, Snow/Ice - Postholes, Snow/Ice - Small Patches 
Recommended Equipment
Recommended Equipment: Snowshoes, Light Traction 
Water Crossing Notes
Water Crossing Notes: All of the proper water crossings were jumpable, but there were sections of the trail that were essentially a small stream. 
Trail Maintenance Notes
Trail Maintenance Notes: Several blowdowns on the trail were likely caused by the windstorm on the night of May 4th. There were even several blowdowns on Rt. 26 on the way to the trail, but those had been cleared by the afternoon.  
Dog-Related Notes
Dog-Related Notes:  
Bugs
Bugs:  
Lost and Found
Lost and Found:  
 
Comments
Comments: Typical spring hiking conditions...

If you're hiking this in the next week, don't let the first mile of the hike fool you. While it is clear of snow and ice, there is still plenty of both at higher elevations. Shortly after the Table Rock spur trail and until the Lean To site, we trudged through snow of varying depths, regularly postholing. Several times I was up to my waist. Other times, we would break through a foot of snow to find a pool of water below. The snow in this section is melting quickly and the monorail referenced in a posting from late April is very unreliable. At points on this 1.2 mile section we were essentailly walking on snow that hovered above a stream. Snowshoes would have been helpful, of course, but there are also some bare stretches and those will only increase with more melting.

However, during the climb after the Lean To site, there is far less snow and more ice. Microspikes certainly helped here, but we were also to jump from rock to rock and made it up the final .8 miles to Baldpate-West without much difficulty. On the way down, we had to be more careful to avoid the ice, but there were plenty of bare spots to make the decent navigeable.

We typically hike around 2 miles an hour, but we were closer to 1 mile an hour due to the postholing on the middle third.

 
Name
Name: Drew 
E-Mail
E-Mail: dttaylor105@gmail.com 
Date Submitted
Date Submitted: 2018-05-06 
Link
Link: https:// 
Bookmark and Share 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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