Bombadil
Active member
4-25-13
Quite the mixed bag. Sawyer River Rd is 99.9% snow and ice free. It's nice and dry all the way but there's a good bit of ice just at the bridge by the summer trailhead. Despite the low elevation there was a good bit of ice and rotten snow right off the bat. Lots of collapsing bridges and such in the wet section leading up to the fork (the first 1.7 miles). There was some dry ground and mud mixed in here and there. Surprisingly even in the open woods at the start of Signal Ridge there was still a bit of snow on the ground. Once on the actual climb itself the conditions were firm monorail as expected.
I saw some fresh bear tracks (the bear had stepped in mud then stepped on my tracks) on the way down just before the Carrigain Notch Trail junction which was a bit unwelcome after seeing a pair of bears yesterday. All in all I'd say Carrigain might be tackled a bit easier in a week or two when the snow line jumps up to the long sidehill traverse. Right now it's all over the place going from deep snow to mud and back again, making it a frustrating hike.
Pat
pcushing21 at yahoo dot com
Quite the mixed bag. Sawyer River Rd is 99.9% snow and ice free. It's nice and dry all the way but there's a good bit of ice just at the bridge by the summer trailhead. Despite the low elevation there was a good bit of ice and rotten snow right off the bat. Lots of collapsing bridges and such in the wet section leading up to the fork (the first 1.7 miles). There was some dry ground and mud mixed in here and there. Surprisingly even in the open woods at the start of Signal Ridge there was still a bit of snow on the ground. Once on the actual climb itself the conditions were firm monorail as expected.
I saw some fresh bear tracks (the bear had stepped in mud then stepped on my tracks) on the way down just before the Carrigain Notch Trail junction which was a bit unwelcome after seeing a pair of bears yesterday. All in all I'd say Carrigain might be tackled a bit easier in a week or two when the snow line jumps up to the long sidehill traverse. Right now it's all over the place going from deep snow to mud and back again, making it a frustrating hike.
Pat
pcushing21 at yahoo dot com
