| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Garfield, NH |
|
 | Trails: |
Gale River Road, Garfield Trail, Garfield Ridge Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, December 16, 2018 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
5 cars when I arrived around 7:15am Sun, 5 when I returned around 1:30pm. |
|
 | Surface Conditions: |
Wet Trail, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Stable) |
|
 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
|
 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Passable with care, and general unremarkable. Water levels are low, and ice bridges are holding up. I found a few spots where the ice was tacky, but there were plenty of options of exposed rock hopping and/or very solid ice. No issues. |
|
 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Large blowdown (current an easy duck under) on the lower part of Mt Garfield Tr, then a few very small blowdowns near the top of the trail on the last section before the campsite & GRT intersection. |
|
 | Dog-Related Notes: |
didn't see any |
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 | Bugs: |
Thought I had broken a spider web or two on the ascent (near trailhead from Gale River Loop), then post-hike on the road walk back, sure enough I spotted a large black spider in the snow approx 1". I guess these guys haven't gone south yet for the winter. :) If there are any interested entomologists, feel free to email me and I'll send you a pic for identification. |
|
 | Lost and Found: |
n/a |
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|
 | Comments: |
Nice day to climb Garfield. 20 deg F at the Mt Garfield Tr trailhead around 8:00am, and it warmed up throughout the day. Summit was 27 deg F with 30 mph winds around 10:45am. Back down at the TH, it was 35 deg F so it warmed up quite a bit.
Trail had a stable/consolidated base so I wore spikes the whole day. I carried snowshoes but they just went along for the ride. It was relatively easy to avoid postholing so long as you stayed in the middle of the trail ... though snowshoes would have been fine, too. On the lower sections it was indeed a little bit boney in places with exposed ground, but by and large was packed snow. We could use some additional snowfall to improve the situation. :)
I passed 10 other hikers for the day: 4 people (3 adults + 1 kid) who had spent the night at Garfield Campsite, and I ran into them descending the summit on GRT - all wearing snowshoes with their winter backpacking gear & sled. They said it was an enjoyable outing and not very cold (20's F). All seemed pretty happy! On the rest of the descent, I passed another six people, all in spikes.
Previous review from Sat Dec 15 said they smelled an "electrical" smell on the GRL roadwalk. I detected this as well, and I'm pretty sure it's actually petrochemical in nature, and some sort of treatment for the new wood guardrails installed on some of the road's bridges. There was a piece of construction equipment (backhoe type thing) parked inside of the gate early Sunday morning when I arrived, and when I returned to my car post-hike it was gone. So there has definitely been active maintenance happening on Gale River Loop road. I only smelled this just as I was crossing a few of the bridges, and didn't find it too bad. |
|
 | Name: |
Eric H |
|
 | E-Mail: |
ejhansen &at& gmail |
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| Date Submitted: |
2018-12-16 |
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 | Link: |
 https://www.instagram.com/p/BrdsLm0HieC/ |
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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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