| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Monroe, Mt. Eisenhower, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Ammonoosuc Spur, Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail, Crawford Path, Monroe Loop, Crawford Path, Eisenhower Loop, Edmands Path, Mt. Clinton Road |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Friday, February 23, 2018 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Parking at the junction of Base Rd and Mt Clinton Rd has enough room for a three cars or so. Plenty of parking at the Base Station if you want to pay the $10 and save a bit of mileage on the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail. The Ammonoosuc Ravine parking lot is open, but that charges $5. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Ice - Blue, Ice - Breakable Crust, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Stable), Snow/Ice - Postholes, Snow/Ice - Small Patches |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Light Traction, Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
The Abenaki Brook bridge on Edmands Path was washed out. The ice bridge is melting quickly. We were able to find a safe spot a few feet upstream, but any more warm weather and I would prepare to get wet here. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
A couple of crawl under blowdowns on Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail. Edmands Path has a massive section of blowdowns, but someone thankfully brought a chainsaw up there and cleaned it up. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
The Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail had a stable monorail down low and microspikes were all that was needed. Up higher in the frozen waterfall section, it is shear ice for large sections. My Hillsound Trail Crampons (they are really microspikes with a bit longer spike) were adequate and I had no issues. My buddy with his Kahtoola microspikes could not get enough traction so he switched to crampons. No issues then.
We wore microspikes up to the summit of Mt. Monroe. Once there it was clear that the Crawford Path was pretty well melted (or so it looked). So we took our microspikes off and barebooted it all the way to the base of the Mt. Eisenhower Loop. In reality there was enough ice in the trail gully that we could have used our spikes, but it was just as easy to walk along side the trail on the bare rocks. It helped save beating up our spikes for a few miles.
We put the microspikes back on to summit Mt. Eisenhower and kept them on all the way back to the junction of Mt Clinton Road and Base Road.
Edmands Path is awful. You can get some good running speed on it, but it looks like no one has ever used snowshoes on it. The trail is quite choppy, but frozen enough that postholing (though visible in spots) was not a concern.
It felt like cheating today out there to call this a winter hike. Besides colder temperatures and a steady ~50 mph wind on Mt. Eisenhower the day was great and we beat the incoming precipitation. We actually hiked Ammonoosuc all the way to the upper frozen waterfalls in just t-shirts. |
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 | Name: |
BobTheLoveGoat |
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 | E-Mail: |
BobTheLoveGoat at yahoo dot com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2018-02-23 |
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 | Link: |
 https://lovegoatfilms.blogspot.com/2018/02/winter-cheating-on-monroe-and-eisenhower.html |
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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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