| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
South Moat Mountain, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Moat Mountain Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Wednesday, March 29, 2023 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Great Shape, |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Wet/Sticky, Snow - Spring Snow, Snow/Ice - Postholes |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Cold start but a great day for an early spring hike. Totally blue sky and can't beat the southerly sun exposure and the shelter from wind (if there was any). The trail was solid due to the cold night, although very early on in sunny open areas there were signs postholing from yesterday. Microspikes worked great up to base of the broad open ledge. There was still a snowpack with a lot of melt water running through open patches. The trail was a mess of rapidly softening 12" to 18" deep postholes. I could walk on top of it and snowshoes would not improve it until it softened up a bit more. Once back in the woods, the trail firmed up and dodging postholes was not an issue all the way to the summmit but the sun was softening up the top layer of snow so "snowballing" was an issue with the microspikes. While on the summit, a couple of trail runners stopped by who were planning to do the entire ridge, after talking for awhile they headed to Middle Moat but came back a few minutes later as they claimed the trail was not broken out so they changed their plans.
Heading down the I used microspike until breaking out above the broad ledges. The warm sun had broken down the snow pack so it was switch to snowshoes or posthole. The actual trail bed was a mess with my short snowshoes getting caught in numerous postholes, I found that paralleling the trail to the side I could walk on top of the snow. Once I got below the ledges I switched back to microspikes as the zig zag descent through the mostly exposed rocky area was solid and not snowshoe friendly. From there it was easy walking with microspikes to the end. I did encounter more hikers heading up as I was heading down, most had snowshoes, some didnt. The ones who didnt probably had a far less pleasant day once they got to the open ledge area all the way to the summit. |
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 | Name: |
peakbagger |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2023-03-30 |
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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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