| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Cabot, NH |
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 | Trails: |
York Pond Trail, Bunnell Notch Trail, Kilkenny Ridge Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Tuesday, January 11, 2011 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
I used the Unknown Pond lot (one other car there)since it is large, plowed and requires no uphill to leave. The York Pond TH is plowed but smaller and is downhill from the road. The road is unsanded from the USFS boundary, and consists of snow, snow over ice and early on some pavement. The road has slight to modest grades and so with studded snows it was no problem for me. The other car there looked like it had nice snows on it. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Step overs. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
One slight duckunder until the ridge, then a major two tree blowdown causes the packed route to diverge and it does a fair amount of twisting for awhile. After a big snow & wind the beaten path might not be found, but I checked off path and the snow holds up under snowshoes pretty well. Down low and up high under the spruce-fir there was just a little new powder on a fairly well packed trail. In the upper hardwood section as much as 5-6" of new powder seemed to have fallen, but being second on the trail I couldn't be sure. It was snowshoe heaven on the trail today, although it probably could have been barebooted without postholing and much wasted effort. |
|
 | Dog-Related Notes: |
A fun day for the mighty tough little dog. Following two sets of snowshoes meant modest snowballing on his legs, and on the way back he just flew down the trail. We never saw the other hiker and his/her dog, since they must have done the loop. There were many small open drainages on York and Bunnell, easy for Pepper to jump across but potential paw icers. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
Found one smallish Gore-tex glove. I put it on the trail sign at the York trail head. Also saw one gold and one silver small Hershey bars on the trail sign up in the notch which I left in place. |
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|
 | Comments: |
I took the day off to do the much disliked drive to this trailhead, and found one of the most beautiful hikes I've ever been on. The last section of trail rising to the notch was out of a Currier & Ives, and looking up the rime coated hardwood branches and twigs were coated in rime, and in the low bright sun they shone as the purest white patterns against the deep blue ski, as deep a blue as I can recall seeing without a polarizer on. On the other side there was fine snow coating the branches and it was beautiful against that blue sky. When looking towards the sun, the air was filled with snow crystals so fine the clear air itself seemed to sparkle. From the viewpoint in the midst of the sparkles there was a brilliant white glow from the air above the notch. I have never done anything to merit such grace; what a gift. The whole hike was beautiful from the trail. Cabot surprised me. We never saw the other hiker or dog and wondered if they experienced the same beauty beyond words that we did. What an awesome day. |
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 | Name: |
Pepper and Me |
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 | E-Mail: |
windriversjohn at gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2011-01-11 |
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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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