| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Hale, Zealand Mountain, Mt. Guyot, South Twin Mountain, North Twin Mountain, NH |
|
 | Trails: |
Little River Road, herd path, Haystack Road, North Twin Trail, Fire Wardens Trail, Lend-A-Hand Trail, Zealand Trail, Twinway, Zealand Spur |
|
 | Date of Hike: |
Friday, February 9, 2024 |
|
 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
7 Dwarfs. No snowshoes or spikes is requested until you cross the bridge at the end of Little River Rd. There is a mailbox outside the main office where you can leave your $10 in an envelope with a note explaining the rules. My envelope under the wiper was not collected. Plenty of parking. |
|
 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Wet/Sticky |
|
 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
|
 | Water Crossing Notes: |
The 1 major crossing of the Little River is excellently bridged, video in link below. People go to school for a lot of years to learn how to build bridges that well... |
|
 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
2 issues on the descent from N. Twin...one about 16" diameter at ~3300' and 2 at 2900', (1 is ~16", 1 is 8"). All measurements are estimated. There are walkarounds established for both. |
|
 | Dog-Related Notes: |
None today. |
|
 | Bugs: |
|
|
 | Lost and Found: |
|
|
|
|
|
 | Comments: |
Started at 7:30, trail was pretty frozen. Barebooted up Fire Wardens and down Lend-A-Hand. No ice, snow was grippy. Jogged most of Lend A Hand. It was super solid and a fun and quick descent to the hut. Filled water at Zealand Hut. Barebooted up to Guyot, but given a mulligan I'd have put snowshoes on at the Hut. No ice, but enough steep sections that the extra traction would have been nice even though the trail was supportive enough for bare boots. Put shoes on at Guyot in anticipation of light traffic up to S. Twin, which was the case. Maybe 3-4 sets of snowshoe tracks, snow was frozen crusty from wet snow falling from trees in the past few days. Nice to have the tracks to follow due to having to weave through a lot of leaners laden with frozen snow. This was a challenging stretch and morale was low with a lot of complaining (I was solo) by the time I got to S. Twin. Snow had gotten slushy by the time I started down from S. Twin, so kept snowshoes on until back at Little River Rd and was able to make great time (for me). Seemed like some people had hit Fire Wardens with bare boots later in the day and the parts I could see were much more chopped up than they were in the AM. |
|
 | Name: |
Borealis |
|
 | E-Mail: |
kdwelch1@gmail.com |
|
| Date Submitted: |
2024-02-09 |
|
 | Link: |
 https://www.strava.com/activities/10730407351 |
|
|
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. |
|
