| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Little Haystack Mountain, Mt. Lincoln, Mt. Truman, Mt. Lafayette, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Falling Waters Trail, Fraconia Ridge Trail, Old Bridle Path, abandoned Old Bridle Path |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, November 7, 2021 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
I got front row at 815, which was shocking. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Ice - Black, Wet Trail, Ice - Blue, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Leaves - Significant/Slippery |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
The water crossings where doable, but had black ice on them this morning (to be expected). No real issues. I did feel the need to see how cold it was though, ha. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Nothing of note along all trails listed |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
A FINE day above the forest today. My 8th and 9th grid outs. I originally only was going to summit Mount Laundry and Mount Sink-full-of-dishes today but the forecast was too good to pass up. A perk of living less than 15 minutes away. Anyways, conditions described here will likely rapidy change in the coming days. No real issues to Cloudland Falls, minimal ice except in the immediate vicinity of the crossings. I was finding that water from folks boots where actually rapidly refreezing. I used a trick that I was taught to step on the rocks that have water flowing on them as they are less likely to be frozen, and this worked. No real issues past this to Shining Rock spur. After this more care in footing is needed as ice becomes sporadic, culminating in about a 50-100 foot section of (at the time) bullet ice immediately before breaking treeline. I am a bad example, spikes would have been satisfactory here, but I chose to go for cheap thrills, knowing above it would be bare. I was able to ascend this section with care. The ridge was beautiful. The only hint of a breeze was my heavy panting. Incredibly warm. The ridge line section is wholly devoid of snow, some minor patches of ice where present in the shaded areas but they came and went quickly. I was able to have incredibly long stretches of ridge line to myself. Descending off Lafayette is where it got tricky. Leaving the summit cone to the area of the descent left 90 degree turn at the spring, spikes are needed unless you want to penguin walk on a large stretch of bullet ice. It caught me off gaurd and I was flailing like a baby giraffe but somehow stuck the landing. Spotty ice present to treeline, the descent to Eagle Tarn, the crossing, and ascent out of the tarn to the Hut are another large section of bullet ice that spikes would make a lot easier, about 2/10 in either direction. Spotty ice persists to about 4100, mostly avoidable. The Agonies where bare, though the upper most one is so smooth despite it being so jagged it offers little traction. Trail becomes dry around 3200 feet and the rest of the walk out was uneventful. I did note an additional section of trail that was abandoned so of course I had to take that to check it out. Did take the old version of trail on the way out to the parking lot to save some mileage. |
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 | Name: |
The Teal Goat |
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 | E-Mail: |
sea2thebiscuit@yahoo.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2021-11-07 |
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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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