| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Boundary Peak (Panther Peak), ME |
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 | Trails: |
East Kennebago Road, Big Island Road, Power Company Dam Road, bushwhack |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, January 5, 2025 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
With winter setting in, roads are too. Morton Cut off is plowed, as is Lincoln Brook Road, to burnt mountain. Oqossuc side is no longer viable access. TIM POND ROAD IS PLOWED to the camps. That's as far as your getting. On 1/4 we attempted to drive to Wiggle Brook summer parking and got stuck a few times, after spending a few hours getting the car out we called it a day. Road is just a sheet of ice from 27 side. You can get there but its slow going. Also of note Big Island Road from Coburn Gore is overly signed NO VEHICLES, foot traffic welcome, but the gate was open. See Maine State Statute 17 Ch 127 Sec 3860 regarding foot traffic for Great Ponds. Canada still is likely a viable option - but you'll have to check. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Ice - Blue, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow - Drifts |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Skis |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
The tree the canister/sign is on has snapped in half and will need to be reset. Not when its 4 degrees out, though. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
A FINE day in the forest! Panther.... you won a few battles, but we won the war. Attempt #3 this year, a 26.5 mile, 11.5h odyssey from Grant Camp. Another brutally cold day, temps in the sun hitting 6 above, with them far more regularly below zero. That was before the biting wind chill all day. Friendships are forged in (dumpster) fires but cured in ice. We found decent conditions for the road walk, which was about 13 of the 13.5 mile trek one way. Mostly blown in drifts, never getting too ridiculous. The four way, to Wiggle Brook is well snomo tracked and fast going. From Wiggle Brook Rut to first gate (CLOSED), is still tracked out but less traffic. First gate (1.8 from WB) to second gate - also locked (~5ish from WB) had been tracked by one or two sleds sometime in the past week. From second gate to Crystal Cavern Rd, no tracks and varying from bare ground to 12" drifts, depending on which way the road faces. From Crystal Cavern all the way to the upper log yard on Power Company Dam Road, was tracked by a single sled maybe last week. We took the road all the way around the Gore and into the massive cuts south west of the peak. We rode one cut to about 700 feet from the peak and then slabbed over through thick and pokey stuff (think of Lowell/Anderson) to the swath. Nothing really bad. Snow depths here rapidly increase to about 24"+. We brought a very tall person for this task. Retraced our steps out. Had to rebreak sections again on the way out, because why not add one more level of fun. A VERY long, cold day. Snowshoes car to car. Ski's, if that's your thing, would likely make this much faster and less effort. However we are quite stubborn and like to do things the hard way. We find we hurt ourselves enough and don't need any more kinetic energy to cause more damage. WINTER BOUNDARY... CHECK! 92/100W for me, 96/100W for Dragoon! |
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 | Name: |
The Teal Goat, Dragoon, Pretzel, Just_Ben, Steve |
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 | E-Mail: |
sea2thebiscuit@yahoo.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2025-01-06 |
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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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