| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Shaw, Black Snoot, Big Ball Mountain, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Mt. Shaw Trail, Black Snout Trail, Banana Trail, Tate Mountain Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, April 2, 2017 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
The trailhead was not plowed, which was expected. There was a good 8 inches waiting for us when we arrived. When we left the bare ground showed through. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Drifts, Snow - Wet/Sticky, Snow - Spring Snow, Slush |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
The 2 "difficult" crossings were bridged. Rock-hopped the other closer to the trailhead. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
If you haven't done this trail in a while the recent logging near the beginning may throw you. Just after you start, when you get to the big open area the tendency is to go left over a little hill. Go to the right around the hill instead. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Saw dog paw prints along with prints of a bare-booter that went up the italian trail from the parking lot...we hoped they went to tate - but they were bushwhacking the carriage roads as we came to find out later. |
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 | Bugs: |
Couple flying annoyances and a snow spider. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Gorgeous day to be out and about. Think I'll start packing more sunscreen as I got a burn. There was about 8-10 inches of snow on the trail in the beginning. The higher we went the deeper it got. I would say definitely over a foot higher up. Trail breaking was a beast as the snow was wet and heavy and stuck to our snowshoes for most of the hike. The snowmobile trail was not broken out my snowmobiles - just 3 ladies wth snowshoes...
Tons of drifting on Shaw - looked very pretty. Moose tracks there, Blacksnout and Tate - as usual. Lots of other tracks too. Lots of fun going down the steep section of Big Ball Mtn Trail with a couple events of unexpected glissading. Some kind soul tied neon tape around branches at the beginning parts of the descent via Big Ball Mtn trail which really helped, since the moose love that trail, but don't really stick to the trail...it's easy to just follow the tracks and find yourself off-trail.
We got to the Italian trail to find the moose got there first, and left quite the gift to make sure we didn't miss the turn back to the car. It really helped that I was familiar with this trail as a lot of the blazes were worn and painted on trees that were since felled.
Well, the entire loops is broken out - only saw two other gentleman heading up to Shaw as we headed back to the Black Snout spur so a couple more pack things down. |
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 | Name: |
BubblesTheHiker |
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 | E-Mail: |
kdoer@yahoo.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2017-04-02 |
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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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