| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Crescent, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Road walk, Mt. Crescent Trail, Crescent Ridge Trail, Carlton Notch Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, April 12, 2020 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
I parked directly across from Carlton Notch Trail as that was where the road was plowed to and I could pull off just enough to let other cars by. Three cars and some more the day before had gone down the unplowed road. A local (who also works in SAR - see important notes about that below please) came out and placed cones at the end of the plowed road to prevent other cars from going down there. The tracks turned to slush throughout the day and he figured they would get stuck on their way out. The plow truck got stuck where I parked my car a few days before which is why it was not plowed all the way to the parking area which it normally is in winter. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Wet Trail, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Snow - Drifts, Snow - Wet/Sticky |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
A few small water crossings mostly on Carlton Notch Trail. The tracked path seemed to cross at a slightly different place than the true trail at times. Nothing major that was too difficult even in snowshoes. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
All trails were blazed in orange. Some older blazed mixed in with newer ones. Between the two, the trails were blazed descent enough for most. A couple times a had to do a little trail hunting or consult Gaia with an unbroken trail. There were some trees bent over into the trail from snow and a couple other very small learners like this. The easiest thing to do was usually just use a little shoulder strength and lift them up. I don’t recall any larger blowdowns. Note that according to Gaia there is a small piece of Carlton Notch Trail that goes between Randolph Hill Rd (where the trail now starts according to the guidebook) and Mt Crescent Trail. There is not a trail sign for it but there’s a sign there saying “trail closedâ€. I’m guessing this was an old piece of trail that was retired. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
None seen other than some tracks on Carlton Notch that I assume were with the skiers but I imagine most hiking dogs would be okay on these trails. They may need some assistance on the scramble up the ledge to the southern viewpoint on Mount Crescent Trail. |
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 | Bugs: |
I saw snowfleas sometime recently...maybe that was this hike?? |
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 | Lost and Found: |
I dropped a Karrimor glove liner. I forget exactly where I was when I realized it but I think it was somewhere up high. Either on Crescent Ridge Trail or coming out from my short bushwhack in which case it may not be found for a very long time. |
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 | Comments: |
Got a late start yesterday just past noon. As I was getting ready a man come by and placed some cones preventing other vehicles from coming down the road where I was. Naturally I went over and asked if I could park there. He said I was fine but wanted to prevent others from continuing past where I was as the road wasn’t plowed past me as the plow truck got stuck where I was a few days before. He figured the three others that went past me would get stuck on their way out due to the melting snow/slush/mud throughout the day. Anyway, we got talking and he asked me my plans for the day and wanted to be sure I knew that SAR wasn’t rescuing people anymore. I said that wasn’t exactly what I heard. I’d heard that you were being asked to stay low and local to reduced the strain on SAR as their numbers would be reduced and obviously they didn’t want to potentially expose themselves. He said he was a member of SAR and that Fish&Game wasn’t expecting them to go out anymore. They said it was their choice whether or not they went out and they’d only send out one person to check on the situation. He also claimed that this was not a new decision and that the last SAR mission was on Tucks. That was at least two weeks ago now I believe but there was a rescue mission more recently on South Moat. The man was polite and respectful of my decision to continue on my short hike but I wanted to at least put this info out there for people as I haven’t heard this elsewhere.
Anyway, my crazy redliners route: Road walk from Carlton Notch Trail to Grassy Lane —> Mount Crescent Trail to summit area —> Crescent Ridge down to bottom of loop —> Mt Crescent Trail back up —> short bushwhack to suspected high point of Crescent (I forgot earlier that this was a NH500 peak...duh) —> Crescent Ridge Trail —> Carlton Notch Trail back to car.
I’d also planned to clean up a few other small trails down low but it was 6pm and finishing before sunset would have been a bit of a stretch and I also was requested on a massive Zoom Family Easter call and wanted to get home to see some family on this holiday so cut my hike short :) I didn’t anticipate this hike risking nearly as long as it did either but the Whites really got a good dumping of new snow this week at least this far north and trail breaking in the wet snow was slow going. Snowshoes the whole way. You’ll still scrape some rocks down low but they’re necessary. About 2000ft of elevation gain and around 6mi (including bushwhack).
Going to the summit of Crescent twice was a lot of extra elevation gain for redlining but I liked my choice of doing Mt Crescent Trail twice. Less elevation that way and although Crescent Ridge is steeper overall, the steepest section on either is on Mt Crescent Trail. The section I’m referring to is the scramble up to the southern viewpoint. Tough in snowshoes breaking Trail but much easier the second time up. I chose to do some side stepping and back stepping on my way done Crescent Ridge but it felt quite doable. Pretty much all downhill from there which was nice though.
I broke Trail along all of Crescent Ridge, from above the ski trail jct on Carlton Notch, and from the beginning of Mt Crescent Trail to Jimtown Logging Rd and again after a pair of snowshoe tracks diverged (where to I have no idea) left shortly before the jct with Crescent Ridge |
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 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
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 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2020-04-13 |
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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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