| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Madison, Adams, Jefferson, Washington, Monroe, Eisenhower, Pierce, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Valley Way, Osgood, Airline, Gulfside, Jefferson Loop, Crawford Path, Monroe Loop, Eisenhower Loop |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Monday, February 16, 2026 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Appalachia is plowed out. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Ice - Breakable Crust, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Drifts, Snow/Ice - Postholes |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
Frozen |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Tight walking in the trees from Eisenhower over to Pierce but nothing blown down. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
Three very happy dogs today. |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
Black glove found on Crawford Path headed down Pierce and brought placed on the trail sign at the start. Also found a bag of dog poop on the south face of Monroe which was packed out... Please don't leave bagged dog poop on trails. Also two cigarette butts at LOTC, c'mon people!! |
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 | Comments: |
Beautiful day out. Rare no wind day that stayed above 20 degrees the whole outing. Valley Way is packed down nicely, used snowshoes but mostly just for the televators. Around the tent site it is a little soft until your break treeline. Madison and Adams via Airline are crusty and packed nice. Microspikes were great here all the way down to Thunderstorm Junction. The walk over to Jefferson from here was tough work. Started it in spikes but the trail has been well post-holed all the way over so snowshoes came back on which made it a bit easier. Ascending Jefferson was awkward in snowshoes due to the side slope but was ultimately better option due to the knee-thigh deep posthole track until the top summit cone which is crusted over nicely. Mountaineering axe just took a ride for the day, the snow was soft enough that it never felt necessary to pull out. Snowshoes stayed on from here until over around the cog. The south side of Jefferson was much more hard-packed and could probably have been fine in microspikes. Mount Washington was a circus with lots of guide groups, saw more than 40 people on the summit at 12 pm. Switched to microspikes which carried us all the way to the car. The walk from Washington summit to Eisenhower was a highway and the most pleasant part of the day. Some pretty solid ice flows on the north face of Eisenhower put no issues with traction in microspikes. Eisenhower to Pierce was in better shape than expected although drifty in places, never felt the need to put snowshoes back on. Pierce down the Crawford path was bullet proof from all of the holiday weekend traffic and was a speedy trip to the car. |
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 | Name: |
snowshoehare |
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 | E-Mail: |
robert.g.odonnell@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2026-02-17 |
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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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