bryan
New member
date: 3/23/12
trails: sawyer river road, bushwack, signal ridge trail
conditions: except for the first 100 yards or so sawyer river road was clear of snow/ice and mostly dry to the trailhead. did the short bushwack to avoid the first set of water crossings. lower signal ridge trail had a mix of monorail snow, ice, mud, standing water and rock. minus a few clear stretches this was the case to the carrigain notch junction. beyond that there was a long clear stretch until shortly before the long slab on signal ridge where monorail snow dominated most of the way to the summit. a couple clear spots in the open strech on signal ridge, but mostly soft monorail snow with patchy ice the whole way. a lot of one foot on/one foot off monorail hiking. the crossing of carrigain brook was wet (over boot height in spots at the standard crossing) and had some decent current flowing in the afternoon. the beaver pond outlet was a straight forward rock hop as were the smaller crossings beyond (the first of which was a little wet). the lower set of crossings, that i avoided with the bushwack, would have necessitated stepping in water.
equipment: i barebooted in to the trail then used microspikes on and off until switching to snowshoes once up on the long slab of signal ridge and using them to the summit (taking them off briefly on the open section of signal ridge). basically reversed this on the descent.
comments: one of the most beautiful days i've had on carrigain. a bit windy on the tower with clear and far reaching views in all directions. still hard to believe it's march. full on spring conditions on the trail. great to be out.
bryan
[email protected]
trails: sawyer river road, bushwack, signal ridge trail
conditions: except for the first 100 yards or so sawyer river road was clear of snow/ice and mostly dry to the trailhead. did the short bushwack to avoid the first set of water crossings. lower signal ridge trail had a mix of monorail snow, ice, mud, standing water and rock. minus a few clear stretches this was the case to the carrigain notch junction. beyond that there was a long clear stretch until shortly before the long slab on signal ridge where monorail snow dominated most of the way to the summit. a couple clear spots in the open strech on signal ridge, but mostly soft monorail snow with patchy ice the whole way. a lot of one foot on/one foot off monorail hiking. the crossing of carrigain brook was wet (over boot height in spots at the standard crossing) and had some decent current flowing in the afternoon. the beaver pond outlet was a straight forward rock hop as were the smaller crossings beyond (the first of which was a little wet). the lower set of crossings, that i avoided with the bushwack, would have necessitated stepping in water.
equipment: i barebooted in to the trail then used microspikes on and off until switching to snowshoes once up on the long slab of signal ridge and using them to the summit (taking them off briefly on the open section of signal ridge). basically reversed this on the descent.
comments: one of the most beautiful days i've had on carrigain. a bit windy on the tower with clear and far reaching views in all directions. still hard to believe it's march. full on spring conditions on the trail. great to be out.
bryan
[email protected]
