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Ski
Hiking Trail Conditions Report
Peaks
Peaks Cannon Mountain, NH
Trails
Trails: Kinsman Ridge Trail, Rim Trail
Date of Hike
Date of Hike: Monday, July 19, 2021
Parking/Access Road Notes
Parking/Access Road Notes: Only one or two cars in the dirt lot when I arrived at 8:30am. A couple more arrived between then and when I actually started at 9:45am. Similar when I got back 1pm.  
Surface Conditions
Surface Conditions: Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant 
Recommended Equipment
Recommended Equipment:  
Water Crossing Notes
Water Crossing Notes: I never knew this section of Kinsman Ridge Trail had water crossings until today...🤣 Mostly just running water down the trail but there was one or two that you had to cross. One in particular was sort of difficult to do without getting your feet wet. This spot was near the start of the semi-open area where the trail comes out of the woods and crosses the ski trail.  
Trail Maintenance Notes
Trail Maintenance Notes: The trail is blazed ad if connects with the AT. If I recall correctly, it is better blazed than most trails to the 4000 footers at least down low. I don’t recall if Rim Trail was blazed. It is very well travelled and easy to follow anyway except perhaps where KRT goes over the ledges (watch for one sharp left turn on the ascent - there is a blue blaze though) more so in winter. Rim Trail coincides comes out onto a ski trail for all of 10yds before re-entering the woods on the left. Make sure you know to make that turn. You had to step over some rope here; they had a lot of rope up in this area; it seems they really don’t want people on the ski trails (see note below). No blowdowns that I recall but the trail is very eroded.  
Dog-Related Notes
Dog-Related Notes: I saw one dog out; he enjoyed the water :) A short but very steep and rigged hike for dogs that doesn’t usually have much water on it; today was obviously an exception ;)  
Bugs
Bugs: Once the rain stopped I saw some swarms of little little flies on the way down. Not sure what they were.  
Lost and Found
Lost and Found: I picked up the bottom half of a trekking pole that was left and carried it out... or so I thought; it’s no longer in the mesh stuff pouch of my pack so it must’ve fallen out one of the many times I fell.  
 
Comments
Comments: A very wet hike today to get my 13th 4000 footer this month out of 26 I need.

This may have been the most running water I’ve ever seen coming down a trail. I had bigger plans for today but am glad I abandoned them. I knew water would be high but the higher summits forecast seemed optimistic last night so I didn’t think conditions would be quite this bad. It seems like the overnight showers was more like rain and I can attest to their not being showers in the morning but a steady moderate-heavy rain for at least an hour in the notch which is why I waited an hour plus in my car before I started my hike.

The trail started off fine without running water but by the time you got to the section that crosses the ski trail you saw some. It was off and on but at times it was pretty bad and treacherous over all of the slab. I ate it a few times. Some of the rocks are very slippery. Once on the East peak, the running water turns to standing water. Some places where the trail was flooded and you couldn’t rock hop through it without getting your feet wet. So you either got your feet wet or went around through some
Very thick stuff although there’s also some herd paths at times. That said, even the herd paths were flooded sometimes. One section of the Rim Trail between the ski trail and the summit was even flooded.

Given conditions, this hike took much longer than usual. The trail was treacherous at times and I wasn’t a good day for beginners to be out. I was surprised to see between a half dozen and a dozen people out though including a group or two around the summit that took the tram up. Conditions should be better tomorrow but given that we’ll likely get some more showers tomorrow and a chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon, I’d say that 1) water levels won’t be coming down too quickly, and 2) we’ll see a lot of wet rock, slab, trails for some time.

On another note, in addition to the rope near the top of the ski trails mentioned above, I drove over to the ski area and there’s now multiple signs at the bottom explicitly prohibiting hiking.  
Name
Name: Liam Cooney 
E-Mail
E-Mail: liamcooney96@gmail.com 
Date Submitted
Date Submitted: 2021-07-19 
Link
Link: https:// 
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