| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mossy Glen, NH |
|
 | Trails: |
Road walk, Wood Path, Pasture Path, Will's Way, Randolph Hill Road, Short Circuit, Diagonal, Burnbrae Path, E-Z Way, Grassy Lane, Bee Line |
|
 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, February 21, 2021 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
We parked at the Randolph Municipal Offices/Public Library at 130 Durand Rd. Plenty of mostly plowed parking. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder |
|
 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
|
 | Water Crossing Notes: |
All the crossings had either a snowbridge or an actual bridge. |
|
 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
No major blowdowns. A couple of the trails looked like they might be quite wet in the spring, but that was not an issue today. A sign might have been missing in Mossy Glen - see notes below. |
|
 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Didn't see any, but this would probably be a pretty good hike for them - mostly easy grades and nothing dangerous. |
|
 | Bugs: |
None. |
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 | Lost and Found: |
Nada. |
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|
 | Comments: |
This was a redlining hike designed to grab the entire trail network south of Randolph Hill Road, including the Mossy Glen area and trails to the east. From the Randolph Municipal Offices, we walked east on Durand Road almost to its end, to the start of Wood Path. Wood Path was mostly unpacked, but there was a small trench indicating where the trail was, and if we stayed in that trench, we didn't sink much into the snow. Even so, I was quite glad when we reached the junction with Diagonal and found that the upper portion of Wood Path was packed out. We continued up Wood Path to Pasture Path (which was fairly well packed out), and followed Pasture Path east to its summer trailhead. Near there, a new trail called Will's Way (too new to appear in the 30th edition of the WMG, but clearly signed and blazed) led a short distance north to Randolph Hill Road. Will's Way was not clearly packed out, but it too had a trench and was easily followed. We followed the road east a little bit to Short Circuit (which was kind of packed out), and followed that back to Pasture Path Road. After making sure that we had redlined all of Pasture Path in that area, we started down on Diagonal. Diagonal was fairly well packed out and easy to follow. We took Diagonal all the way to Burnbrae Path, and then took a left and followed Burnbrae Path back to Durand Road. Burnbrae Path was a little packed out, but not as much as Diagonal, and the bottom-most part of the trail wasn't packed out at all (it goes across a field, and the tracks had been obliterated by drifting).
We then followed Durand Road east again to the start of E-Z Way, which was packed out by snowshoes earlier today. The climb was straightforward up to Pasture Path - the short section above Pasture Path was not packed out and had only a trench. We followed it to Randolph Hill Road and then back to the junction with Pasture Path, and then redlined the portion of Pasture Path between E-Z Way and Wood Path (which was mostly packed out). We then headed west on Pasture Path to High Acres Road and Bee Line. We then followed High Acres Road and Randolph Hill Road to the start of Grassy Lane, which is directly across the road from the start of Mt. Crescent Trail. The sign for Grassy Lane is clearly visible (i.e. not buried under a snowbank, as we were initially concerned of). We obviously didn't see much grass on Grassy Lane today, but it was a nice little trail and in good condition, and then we followed Pasture Path back to Bee Line (this part of Pasture Path was broken out by skiers). We followed Bee Line south (clear and somewhat broken out) to the junction with Burnbrae Path (less broken out but still clear), took Burnbrae Path to Diagonal, and hopped on Diagonal (which was clear and in good condition) into Mossy Glen. We crossed Carlton Brook on a solid snowbridge.
This is the point at which our hike, which thus far had gone exactly according to plan, took a weird turn. According to the map and trail description, a trail called Glenside is supposed to diverge left from Diagonal very soon after crossing Carlton Brook. However, we were unable to find any sign or blazes of any kind to show us where Glenside went. According to our map and GPS, we were in the exact spot where Glenside was supposed to diverge from Diagonal, however we simply could not find any trace of it. After searching fruitlessly for 15 minutes, we gave up and decided to come back another day to redline Glenside, Groveway, and Bluffway. Considering that the Randolph Mountain Club (the amazing group that maintains all these trails) is usually excellent at keeping all of their trails well signed and blazed, we found this situation to be highly weird and unusual.
We took Diagonal to its end at Bee Line, and spent the rest of the day redlining the remaining portions of Bee Line. The parts north of Durand Road weren't too bad, but the section between Randolph Hill Road and Appalachia was still soft in parts and completely unbroken in others. Even though the unbroken stretch was fairly short, it was the end of the day and we were both tired, but we ultimately got through it. We then went back to Durand Road and walked the half-mile back to our vehicles.
This was a highly successful redlining day - 8 new trails completed - despite our inability to find those short trails in Mossy Glen. All the trails we hiked are relatively packed out and easy to follow as of this writing, however with new snow and drifting, you never know what could happen. We saw only a few other people today - two people skiing Pasture Path, a couple of people walking dogs, and one local on Randolph Hill Road. On that road, we also saw an unexpectedly large number of vehicles heading to the Randolph Community Forest trailhead at the end of the road, so maybe those trails got some use today. Either way, this whole area is absolutely gorgeous, and I can't wait to come back and redline more trails here. |
|
 | Name: |
GN |
|
 | E-Mail: |
ghnaigles@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2021-02-21 |
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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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