| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
Mount Waumbek, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Starr King Trail, Kilkenny Ridge Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Wednesday, March 11, 2026 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Normal trailhead is not open or plowed; they've been plowing the dirt road's snow into a pile blocking the entrance to the parking lot. There's a sign saying to park across Route 2 in the lot with the big boulders, which is right next to the golf clubhouse. It looked like a combination of ice and mud to me, so I went just a little up the road to the community parking next to the Irving; the only stipulations on the signs are no overnight parking between 9pm - 7am. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Spring Snow, Snow/Ice - Postholes, Slush |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
The first mile of the trail has a lot of small streams running down/across it now, but there was enough snow for my snowshoes to get over/around them all without too much rock crunching. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
FOUND: A cell phone with a unique case and sticker less than a mile up the trail. Its battery was dead. I turned it in to the Gorham police department, so contact them if it is yours. |
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 | Comments: |
I put spikes on the start, since the road to the parking lot looked like pure ice past the snowbank at the end of the plowed section. Once I got to the actual trail, I saw recent snowshoe tracks coming down, and after about 3 minutes of struggling through the mashed potato slush, took the hint and switched to snowshoes, which was a very satisfying decision.
Trail was mashed potato slush all the way through the lower section's open hardwoods. Once I crossed into the pine tree boundary, it turned into an almost mature monorail, with a narrow solid ridge and instant punch through if you step at all off the center line. It continued like this all the way to the Waumbek summit.
With the winter parking lot I used, the total distance increased to exactly 8 miles roundtrip. |
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 | Name: |
Khiggs |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2026-03-11 |
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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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