| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Middle Mountain, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Gates Brook Trail, Middle Mtn Trail, summit/view spur, Peabody Brook Trail, road walk |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Friday, November 29, 2019 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
One car shortly before 10:30am at the Peabody Brook trailhead. It was able to pull most of the way of the road nicely but we wouldn’t have been able to as there’s significant snow on the sides of the road and they took the only good spot. You may want to bring a shovels if you aren’t comfortable leaving your car somewhat in the road. We were the only car at Gates Brook Trail. We parked east of the trailhead but not sure if it was the pull off the guidebook described (feels like we walked 50+yard but we didn’t see anything that looked like a pull off). We were able to pull most of the way off the road. Again, you may wish to bring a shovel. The road had some snow/ice but should be doable with care by any vehicle. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Wet Trail, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Leaves - Significant/Slippery |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Nothing of any significance that isn’t isnt bridged; just a couple minor stepovers. The bridged crossing of Peabody Brook 0.2mi from the trails starts doesn’t have any rails or anything which may unnerve some people. If it were icy and you didn’t have microspikes, it’d be quite dangerous as there was a significant drop as I recall. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
The guidebook says Gates Brook Trail is blazed in orange however it was only blazed in orange after its jct with Yellow Trail to Mt Crag at 0.4mi; before that it was blazed in yellow. In addition to the trailhead sign there was a more unofficial looking one giving distances to nearby trails/peaks. If I recall correctly, many of the distances didn’t jive with the guidebook. At Gates Brook Trail’s jct with Middle Mtn Trail, there was a sign for the latter and a sign pointing in the other direction for Mill Brook Rd. Might be confusing for people hiking to Austin Brook Trail. Nice, fresh, frequent yellow blaze on Middle Mtn Trail (the western portion of the Trail wasn’t hard to follow as the guidebook indicated). If we weren’t following a snowshoe track it may have taken some looking but it’s blazed pretty frequently that it’d be hard to not find the trail quickly. Faded blue blaze on Peabody Brook Trail but the lower portion of that trail I was on yesterday was easy to follow. There’s a bunch of twiggy branches to the face that should get cut back on this trail not far from its jct with Middle Mtn Trail. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
None seem but should be a good hike for dogs. Yesterday may have been too cold/windy for some. |
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 | Bugs: |
None |
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 | Lost and Found: |
Found an orange blazed vest not long before Middle Mtn Trail’s jct with Peabody Brook Trail. Must have been the snowshoer who broke trail for us :) Feel free to email me and I’d be happy to return it to you. |
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 | Comments: |
Nice little redline with my father :) 3.8mi on trail with 1300ft of elevation gain plus a 1.2mi road walk. Mid-high 20s both when we stared and ended. I knew it’d be windy but it was worse than I thought. Combined with the fact that the sun didnt come out until much later than predicted and it made for a pretty cold hike. My upper body stayed in 4 layers (base layer, fleece, light puffy, and hardshell) the whole time.
There was snow cover the entire way save some wet areas on the trail where water was flowing on/next to the trail. The snow stared off crunchy and we’d sink a little into it. For those of you who’ve done this, you know it’s not the nicest conditions. The snow gradually depth gained and wained along Gates Brook Trail until somewhere around the jct with Middle Mtn Trail where it became powder and the depth increased. We hadn’t brought snowshoes and were wondering if we should have. By the end of the hike we knew we should have. I wouldn’t say we postholed as even on the top where we broke trail along the view spur, I didn’t even step in it to my knees (but was close!) but we were consistently sinking several inches for a good portion of the hike. You could easily kick down and unearth rocks, fallen limbs, etc. but it’s not a very rocky trail so snowshoes wouldn’t have been much of a burden if any even given the minimal snow depth (always less than 2ft usually much less). The snow seemed to stay powdery a bit longer on the Peabody Brook side. I imagine there must have been some elevation cutoff Wednesday night into Thursday morning where some spots got powder and others got freezing rain which gave us the crunchy snow conditions down low. We were lucky that someone had already broken this loop for us as we didn’t have gaiters. If the trail got a little more action today, snowshoes may already be unnecessary.
Gates Brook was gradual. The eastern side of Middle Mtn Trail wasn’t as steep as I thought it’d be. It helped to kick steps in the unbroken powder on the steeper sections. The western side is very gradual and I enjoyed the woods on that side although the eastern side was also nice :)
Nice view of one of the peaks of Bald Cap from the summit. The rock that says “TOP†at the high point on the trail was partially covered in snow but pretty obvious. From there head right and aim for a ledge be far off for the view spur. Follow your nose through the brush and it’s pretty easy. You can’t see the summit sign from this direction though as it’s very small. |
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 | Name: |
LIam Cooney |
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 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2019-11-30 |
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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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