| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Zealand Mountain, Mt. Guyot, South South Twin (attempt), South Twin Mountain, North Twin Mountain, Galehead Mountain, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Zealand Trail, Twinway, Zealand Spur, bushwhacks, North Twin Spur, Frost Trail, Garfield Ridge Trail, Gale River Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, August 15, 2020 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
No issues at Galehead or Zealand at 0500. Galehead had some parking on our way out with a few on Gale River Loop, Zealand had cars parked down the road for approx 1/2 mile from trailhead. Hale Brook had a few on road, Sugarloaf was just ridiculous with people almost blocking access to the bridge. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
No issues with crossings at all. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Nothing of note along the entire trip, except for some new materials in the area of the floating logs at the twinway/zeacliff view junction! Yay! Finally they will get some TLC! |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Several puppers out |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
A fine day of August grid cleanup with Zealand, Twins and Galehead with Deep End Dan. We started about 0530 from Zealand, saw very little trampers out at this time. Lovely views of the mist burning off on the pond. There is a strong odor of either sewage or something dead and rotten just before you start your climb to the hut, but it ebbs quickly. Nothing of note on the climb to Zeacliff aside from an AT Thru hike camped on the overlook. Met a trio of fellow NETC folks here, hi!!!. Ran into a forest chicken on the way to Zealand, who casually just hiked with us for about 100 yards on trail, far better than charging me as usual like a deranged rooster.
Zealand was delightful as always, the Twinway/Bondcliff junction was absolutely slammed and super peopley, I was happy to be turning north here! That section of Twinway is a favorite. Only ran into one looper and 2 packpackers along the entire section.
We attempted from here to bushwhack to the named knob known as "South South Twin," which is only a few hundred feet off trail - ha ha ha. We got within fifty feet before it became completely impenetrable, typical twin scrub. Twins where not as busy as anticipated but still busy. In order to avoid the tent city that has now formed around the hut (which has now had a negative effect on the area around the hut - tons of bootleg camp sites) we took a compass bearing and bushwhacked off the Galehead summit, coming in 150ft shy of the Gale RT/Garfield RT junct. Sure it saved about .6 of a mile, but it took twice as long, haha. Scrappy woods but about to maintain a bearing. |
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 | Name: |
The Teal Goat & Deep End Dan |
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 | E-Mail: |
sea2thebiscuit@yahoo.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2020-08-16 |
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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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