| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Wildcat A, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Nineteen Mile Brook Trail, Wildcat Ridge Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Friday, April 19, 2024 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
19MB Trailhead has plenty of parking. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Wet Trail, Ice - Breakable Crust, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Unstable), Snow/Ice - Postholes, Slush |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction, Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
The two crossings on 19MB between the Carter Dome Trail and the Wildcat Ridge Trail are unchanged compared with a month ago. The lower one has one log remaining (so it’s a balance beam) and the upper one has the one partially sunken log. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Thank you to whomever very recently removed blowdowns on 19MB and WRT!
Note a very new one, which is a bit precarious. It is a large and heavy limb hanging directly over 19MB Trail about 500’ below the Carter Dome junction. You have to sort your way through the branches in order to get by (there are no options to go around it on either side). It is attached via bark and a slight amount of wood and it’s suspended; one good tug and that thing is going to come down directly on the trail (and onto whoever is below it at the time). As a trail adopter, if this were my trail I wouldn’t feel comfortable trying to sort this out myself - even delimbing it seems unnecessarily hazardous. If anyone official is reading this and can let the professionals know, it would be great if someone official got some eyes on this before too many more people pass beneath it. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
Not yet! |
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 | Lost and Found: |
Toby’s (the Carter Hut caretaker) mom found a red cell phone. I ran across Toby after that and he said that it had been reported lost and that he was going to ask his mom to drop it off at Pinkham. |
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 | Comments: |
I hiked Wildcat A as an out-and-back from the 19MB side (I don’t need D for April). Bare boots to the Carter Dome junction and then rock spikes to the Wildcat Ridge Trail junction where I pulled on my Spiderman shoes (full crampons) and got ready for shenanigans. The 0.7 miles up to the A summit are a very narrow sidehill (one snowshoe wide in most places) and with the warm temperatures the top 2-4” of snow was mushy and slippery. Full crampons were exactly right for me, though most of you would think that they were overkill. You can definitely snowshoe this section, but I felt safer with my method, particularly on the descent.
I switched back to rock spikes at the 19MB junction and wore them all the way back to the trailhead, because I was too lazy to take them off. 19MB trail is the expected thin layer of ice up to the dam and then mostly bare rock from there to the Carter Dome junction. Things change abruptly after that; the snow is 6-8” between the two water crossings and is at least 3’ deep by the time that you get to the Wildcat Ridge junction. You could definitely consider snowshoes after the second water crossing but there are lomg stretches of bare rock /running water so really no traction is correct. Everyone that I saw was in light traction today and that section, on the descent, was slow going because it’s all so mushy now.
It was nice to meet Toby and his parents!! |
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 | Name: |
Bikecamphikegirl |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2024-04-19 |
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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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