| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mt. Anderson, Duck Pond Mountain, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Nancy Pond Trail, bushwhack |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Saturday, May 4, 2024 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Plenty of parking |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Leaves - Significant/Slippery, Snow/Ice - Postholes |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Halfway Brook OK today. Crossing Nancy Brook 25 yds or so up stream. Others all rock hops. Some tricky crossings above the Cascades due to high snow banks (no more bridges). |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Erosion along the streams and sections of trail near water crossings. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Not for pups today. High streams, lots of post holing would make this horrific for any pup. |
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 | Bugs: |
none so far |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Had thoughts of heading to Lowell, as well. But after traversing the post hole mess on the cascades and above, decided to stick with just one major peak, and a side peak. Mostly dry trail to the cascades; there were several easy to get around smaller snow patches to this point. Going up the cascades was a combination of wet trail/rocks and patches of snow and ice. Snow was soft and postholed by an earlier group. Snowshoes would not have helped since there were intermittent patches of wet rocky trail; we were almost thankful for the postholed trail since it gave us foot placement.
Snowshoes are essential above the cascades. Probably 1-2, or more, feet of somewhat packed snow. Minor postholing even in snowshoes due to snow softness, but travel was so much easier. We passed a group of 3 who said they were heading to Nancy; they seemed to be struggling w/o snowshoes. Once off the trail, the snow was supportive and travel was relatively quick to the summit of Anderson. No views today due to the low cloud cover, but we did get an up close look at a grouse hanging out in a tree. Bushwhack started off in thicker stuff that relinquished to wide open forest with occasional patches of green moss (nice contrast to the white snow). Followed our snowshoe track back down to the trail. Partway down we got confused when our track seemed to be riddled with post holes, someone went in up to their waist multiple times. We think the group of 3 that we passed attempted to follow our route to Anderson, and realized that snowshoes are essential gear, and without them travel is almost impossible.
Went off the tail to bag Duck Pond since we were in the area. Same forest conditions, some tight spots but mostly open. Returned to trail slightly lower than we entered, cutting a bit off the corner. Tried to descent the cascade trail in snowshoes, but there were too many rocky patches. Travel down was slow and slippery, but the post holes provided some foot holds. Conditions may change slightly with warmer weather but the snow up high may be around for a while. |
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 | Name: |
CookiesOnTop |
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 | E-Mail: |
schwarzmc at yahoo |
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| Date Submitted: |
2024-05-05 |
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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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