| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Madison, Mt. Adams, Durand Scar, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Fallsway, Valley Way, Brookside, Lower Bruin, Airline Cutoff, Airline, Upper Bruin, Scar Loop, Brookbank, Sylvan Way |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, January 24, 2015 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
The Appalachia lot did not fill up today. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Ice - Breakable Crust, Snow - Unpacked Powder |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
All bridged and easy to cross, although some with openings. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Brookside has a couple of walk around multi-stems frozen into the trail and a duckunder. I took out one duckunder. I took out two small stems across Scar Loop. All signs were up, even the one to the Airline Cutoff near the hut. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Pretty easy conditions for Pepper. He could walk on the crust by Brookside if he wanted, the packed trails were easy, only Upper Bruin had snow deep enough to be chest high on him. Pepper got to meet up again with two wonderful dogs, Kali and Thor, who were having a grand time, plus a couple others. Pepper, Thor and others even scarfed a trail treat from a nice lady on Adams. Trail magic. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Valley as expected pretty well packed, hence barebootable, although spikes helped some and MSRs had great grip without being hindered by rough crust. Brookside & Lower Bruin rather rough with some crust from bareboots in past days, so snowshoes stayed on the pack. Above treeline a mix of snow, ice and bare rock, so I stayed in spikes. Airline Cutoff not used much; it could be snowshoed or not. Airline upper had lots of bare rock and some snow, could be barebooted or spiked, not snowshoed. Getting down towards treeline it could be snowshoed nicely but all I saw were signs of boots. Upper Bruin a very nice snowshoe. Scar Loop also a nice snowshoe. The latter two showed signs of old snowshoes but hadn't been used recently. Brookbank had old ski marks and was a nice snowshoe as was the short Sylvan Way.
There was very little wind above treeline with mild winter temps made things comfy. Cloudy but some bright spots am, and then some snow in the pm. The drive home saw a fantastic sunset looking south and west, and radiant peaks east. We were delighted to run into Heather & Kali and friends on Adams (doing a northern Presi traverse), and Dave & Thor a couple of times on different trails. Good luck to you all on your winter lists. All in all it was a splendid day hike with my great little buddy. |
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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: |
2015-01-24 |
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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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