| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Madison, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Great Gulf Trail, Osgood Cutoff, Osgood Trail, Parapet |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Thursday, May 8, 2014 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
We were the only parked car at Great Gulf at our start and our finish. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Unstable) |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Just a couple down low; easy rock steps. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Osgood had a couple of major blowdowns above the tent site; one duck/crawl under and one that is not an easy stepover, and a couple others. Parapet had a couple of stretches where the trail fades out in short trees, but after hunting around for alternatives on the first we went with a continuation of the prior direction and it worked despite a fir trap, so we repeated with the second which also worked. We only saw a few paint blazes and a few cairns on it. We easily crossed an interesting frozen "pond" area with running water between layers of ice. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Pretty good day for Pepper. He got a couple of sip n dips in the small streams down low, only pawholed a few times on Parapet, had no problems on the rotting monorail on Osgood's mid section and enjoyed a long nap on Osgood's open ridge. He also got to tell a couple of moose on the side of the road (one near the Pinham Notch Center and one on our local gravel road)to get lost. |
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 | Bugs: |
None seen. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
Found one black T shirt down low that we moved to some branches to be dry and obvious. |
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 | Comments: |
We barebooted the entire hike. We could have used spikes on the rotting monorail on Osgood especially on the down hike but just didn't stop to put them on. There are some spots where we saw and added to postholes on Osgood, and in the Parapet , but for the most part we had no problems. Parapet doesn't really have a monorail due to lack of use, but it mixed open rock with fairly deep snow stretches that still supported us pretty well. Snowshoes not needed although they could be used on the monorail if they also have good traction.
Osgood has excellent views on the upper ridge, as does Parapet, which were especially nice today with the higher summits nicely snowcapped. Except for our time around Star lake & Madison Springs hut, there was very little wind, and the hut provided shelter from the modest wind we had there. We must have sat in shorts and Ts on Osgood ridge for 1-2 hours in the warm sun with almost no wind. We didn't see another soul on the trails. It was just a fabulous hike: splendid weather, awesome views, & great companions. What a gift. |
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 | Name: |
Pepper and Me |
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 | E-Mail: |
windriversjohn at gmail dot com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2014-05-08 |
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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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