| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Gunstock Mountain, NH |
|
 | Trails: |
Brook Trail, Saddle Trail, Overlook Trail, Round Pond Trail |
|
 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, March 24, 2024 |
|
 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
One reason I chose this hike is that the Gunstock ski area was practically the only parking area in the Belknaps that I trusted would be in good condition today. Gunstock ski area was busy today, and with my fairly late arrival (10:20), I had to park in the Pistol lot. Still, no issues with parking there. |
|
 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow/Ice - Postholes |
|
 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
|
 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Everything was either bridged or easy rock hopping. |
|
 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
No blowdowns (at least none that were above the snow). Drainage was not an issue with 12-18" of new snow covering everything. Signs are all in place, including at Brook Trail's many crossings of ski trails, but those signs are small so look for them carefully. |
|
 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Saw one. They need to be comfortable with deep, unpacked powder. |
|
 | Bugs: |
None. |
|
 | Lost and Found: |
None. |
|
|
|
|
 | Comments: |
This was nowhere near the longest hike I've done so far this year. This hike also had nowhere near the greatest amount of elevation gain of my hikes this year. But this hike may very well have been the toughest hike I've done so far this year. Why? Because I had to break out practically the entire Brook Trail (up) and Overlook Trail (down), from scratch, through 12-18" of new snow.
The start of Brook Trail is easy to find, next to the stone fireplace to the left of the main chairlift. The trail corridor wasn't always obvious, but the trail is mostly well blazed so I never got off track. When the trail crosses from the left to the right of a major ski trail, there are tracks from people who have skied or snowboarded parts of the trail. This was slightly helpful, but the ski and snowboard tracks usually didn't hold me and I would still sink into it even with snowshoes. The ski and snowboard tracks diverged and then shortly rejoined the hiking trail several times in this area. On the steep section of trail, which I believe goes through the Lower Recoil glade, there were plenty of ski and snowboard tracks there, and I could use them most of the time, which probably saved me maybe 10-20% of the energy I would've had to use otherwise. Above the glade, the trail swings left (ski and snowboard tracks on this section were somewhat supportive), and reaches another major ski trail. Follow signs carefully here - cross it directly across, bear right and go along the side of a short connecting ski trail, then quickly reach another major ski trail and cross it directly across again to re-enter the woods at a yellow blaze. This upper section of Brook Trail had again been skied and snowboarded, and those tracks were again somewhat supportive, but I was still sinking in deeply sometimes. The portion of Brook Trail that coincides with Belknap Range Trail had off-and-on merging with ski and snowboard tracks. Ridge Trail had snowshoe tracks when I reached the junction just below the summit of Gunstock - I don't know if the entire Ridge Trail is broken out or if it's just Gunstock Mountain Trail. As usual, views were superb from the summit of Gunstock, and several skiers were curious about how I had managed to reach the summit without the aid of a ski lift!
On the descent, I joined forces with a group of four other hikers for the brief trek down Saddle Trail. Then, as they continued toward the summit of Belknap, I turned left and descended Overlook Trail. The trail was, as expected, completely untouched, and it felt like it had even more snow than Brook Trail. Despite the fact that I was descending, it was still a long, strenuous slog. The view from the overlook was very nice, but it was still tough to keep my balance while breaking out 18" of unpacked snow. I was really looking forward to reaching the "Oak" XC-ski trail, because I expected it would be groomed and more hard-packed... except it wasn't (WTF, Gunstock????). By this point, I was really, really tired, but I was forced to slog through the Oak trail (which had XC-ski tracks, but nothing more, and those were not supportive), until I finally reached Round Pond Trail. To my extreme relief, Round Pond Trail was groomed, and I could pick up my pace on it without expending much energy (since at this point I had very little energy left to expend). The cut-through to the Pistol lot was not groomed, and only had XC-ski tracks which again were not supportive, but luckily it was short, and I got back to my car in the Pistol lot around 4:10.
To give you an idea of how slow this hike was, my Alltrails has given me an average pace of roughly a 30-minute mile for most of the hikes I've done in the Belknaps this year. The Alltrails average pace for this hike was a 48-minute mile. And that might even be underestimating how slow I was. Needless to say, if you're going out in the Belknaps this week, snowshoes are absolutely mandatory, and you should be ready to break trail for significant distances. |
|
 | Name: |
GN |
|
 | E-Mail: |
ghnaigles@gmail.com |
|
| Date Submitted: |
2024-03-24 |
|
 | Link: |
 https:// |
|
|
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. |
|
