Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
| Peaks |
Mt. Whiteface, Mt. Passaconaway, NH |
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| Trails: |
Blueberry Ledge Trail, Rollins Trail, Dicey's Mill Trail |
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| Date of Hike: |
Saturday, February 9, 2019 |
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| Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Ferncroft parking lot plowed but very icy/rutted, navigable with my SUV but would be more cautious with a low clearance vehicle due to the ruts. Room for approx 12-15 cars parked in "regular" (non-overflow) fashion. |
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| Surface Conditions: |
Ice - Blue, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Drifts, Snow/Ice - Postholes |
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| Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
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| Water Crossing Notes: |
Main crossing on Dicey's Mill (with the log) was pretty standard, either walk across the log or find rocks to hop up/down stream. |
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| Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Some duckunder blowdowns here and there (from memory, mainly on Dicey's up to Passaconaway summit), all relatively minor. |
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| Dog-Related Notes: |
didn't see any but would imagine they would've been fine, possible extra caution taken on ledges up Whiteface which were iced over. |
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| Bugs: |
nope |
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| Lost and Found: |
nada |
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| Comments: |
Nice day for a clockwise loop hike up Whiteface, over Rollins Tr, out/back to Passaconaway, then descent on Dicey's. Probably 10 other folks on the trails this day, and as usual everyone we ran into was grinning ear to ear. Took us 7 hours flat with a good 30-40 mins of stops. Windy (20mph peak NW wind measured at northerly outlook on Passaconaway) and cool at 10-12 deg F but more favorable than the Mountain Forecast. Trails were generally hardpacked, and I wore micros at the lower parts of both Blueberry Ridge and Dicey's, and snowshoes for the higher els and Rollins cross. My hiking partner had both tractions in his pack but opted to bareboot the entire loop (go figure - he did slip/slide a bit on the steeps but otherwise did fine), so really it was whatever you were comfortable with. Most other hikers we saw had spikes on, with snowshoes in the pack, and we did see other fresh snowshoe tracks. Some drifting of up to a foot on Rollins between the peaks. Trench/path was mostly followable throughout, although more difficult to detect on Rollins; stray off the path by a foot or two and you were quickly knee/waist high and intimate with the snow. |
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| Name: |
Eric H |
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| E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2019-02-10 |
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| Link: |
https://www.instagram.com/p/BtrqgpOHj2h/ |
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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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