hiking in mud season

[forestgnome]

This is an interesting topic. I don't recall widespread talk about staying off trails in mud season prior to a couple years ago. The concern for trailbeds and the vegatation beside them in admirable.

The Green Mountain Club has an initiative to disuade people from the trails from April 15 through Memorial Day. I question this time frame. There are many miles of muddy trails in the White Mountains right now, and by this weekend there will be few trails left to hike without a couple muddy first miles.

For example, Champney Trail goes up the north slope of Mt Chocorua and it is already melted for the first two miles, and temps are around 50 all week. So why let the GMC decide when mud season starts? Shouldn't supporters stop hiking now?

Mud season will be over quickly this year, long before Memorial Day. The snow pack is minimal and the trailbeds will be firm early. Also, lower and more southern exposed trails will be done with melt by May Day.

What about hiking in the rain in summer? What's the difference between a rain-soaked trailbed and a melting trailbed? Is it now unethical to hike in the rain?

AMC is holding events throughout the mud season, as I read on their website. They have sping specials with guided hikes for Easter, Mother's Day, and even a gathering at Lake George in Late April.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

What about hiking in the rain in summer? What's the difference between a rain-soaked trailbed and a melting trailbed?

Maybe the ground still frozen undreneath?

Spring problems in the Adirondacks seem to be quite a bit different, and mud season is really a bad term to be used there. There is a bit about the adirondack 'mud season' in this thing I wrote at Mav's place.

http://www.adkhighpeaks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1015

An interesting thing to note is that, in the Adirondacks, the same issues crop up in the Fall, however fall hiking is much less popular than spring, so there is not as much of an effect.

 

[lumberzac]

Spring problems in the Adirondacks seem to be quite a bit different, and mud season is really a bad term to be used there. There is a bit about the adirondack 'mud season' in this thing I wrote at Mav's place.

True, but “Mud Season” has a much better ring to it than “Excessive Erosion Season.”

 

[giggy]

I think its crazy for any group to tell me when I can or can't hike - mud snow ice rocks hail rain, etc.........

 

[Pete_Hickey]

I think its crazy for any group to tell me when I can or can't hike - mud snow ice rocks hail rain, etc.........

In New York, they don't tell you. They tell you that hiking damages the trails and causes erosion, and they ASK you to comply, but you don't have to.

 

[WalksWithBlackflies]

Nice article Pete.

 

[MichaelJ]

The Green Mountain club asks you to stay off many of the peaks; the state officially closes trails around the Camel's Hump and Mansfield areas due to already-problematic erosion.

Read here for more details.

 

[Peaks]

Mud season

The reason for trying to keep people off the trails in the spring is that as the ground thaws, it is very soft. Foot traffic at that time of year can do a lot of damage to the trails.

A summer's rain usually runs off rather than percolate in deep. So, that's why rain isn't as bad on the trails as spring thaw.

I'm sure that GMC's guidelines are based on years of experience. And I think they elaborate by advocating hikers to hike below a certain elevation, say 3000 feet until maybe May 1. Then stay below 3500 until May 15.

I wish that AMC would also discourage hikers to stay low in the spring. It seems contary to their conservation and Leave No Trace ethic, but I guess that the almighty dollar trumps all.

 

[Grumpy]

The various "mud season" hiking advisories are well intended. To those who bristle over them, I say, "hike your own hike" but please also make sure you don't mess things up for people who will come after you.

G.

 

[giggy]

I know why they discourage it - I just think its a bit much - thats all. I don't see how this "ruins trails". sorry - my definition of "ruin" might be different than others - but I just don't like authority like that in the hills - nature takes care of itself I am not flogging anyone here just my opinion

 

[brianW]

I believe it is more that when some hikers encounter large puddles or muddy sections they kinda scoot around the edges which over time widens the trail. As for me, my mom doesn't clean my laundry anymore so I go right through the ooze. -brianW

 

[GlennS]

This might seem like a strange question but are the Adirondacks different geologically than the Whites?

I have never hiked in the Adirondacks but I did have the opportunity to spend a 2 week, all expense paid, vacation at Fort Drum. I have never seen as much standing water and deep mud anywhere. The mud was so bad, we managed to get tracked Armoured Personnel Carriers stuck.

By comparison, the Whites don't seem that muddy. Is this all in my head?

 

[Jazzbo]

Whites Vs Green Mt's and Mud Season

I've always found it facsinating that Vt is so different from NH the Granite State. VT's mountains are predominantly comprised of metamorphic rocks that weather into predomiantly clay soils that can get hugely muddy when wet. That's why Green Mt trails are so much more muddy (and did I say slippery?) when wet. Green mountain hikers are more careful about hiking in mud season. NH White Mt's on other hand are predominantly granite and its' cousin rocks that weather predominantly to sand and gravels. Sand and gravel drain better and don't get so gooey when wet. That's why mud season is generally less of an issue in White Mt's. Regrettably I can't speak for the Adirondacks. Of course there will be low lying localities in whites or on any trail that gets muddy when wet. A well maintained trail will be groomed/graded to promote good drainage and minimize erosion of precious mountain soils. Personally when I go through wet areas I usually strive to step only on rocks or other firm areas where ever I can sometimes leaping to achieve this.

 

[Pete_Hickey]

This might seem like a strange question but are the Adirondacks different geologically than the Whites?

Yes.

There is very little mineral soil in the adirondacks, especially true at higher elevations.

Imagine huge rough bumpy rocks, with dips, cracks bumps, etc. This is what the mountains are. Then imagine water falling on them. Water will pool up in dips, run through cracks, etc.

Now, imagine putting a very thin layer of duff on top of this.. several inches to several feet. You can imagine how those dips in the bare rocks, that hold the water would do the same with this thin layer of soil becoming mud.

There are many trails where it is worn right down to the bedrock. No more damage can happen there. There are still many places that are not worn down. They wear rapidly with partially frozen soil.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

I've always found it facsinating that Vt is so different from NH the Granite State. VT's mountains are predominantly comprised of metamorphic rocks that weather into predomiantly clay soils that can get hugely muddy when wet. That's why Green Mt trails are so much more muddy (and did I say slippery?) when wet.

I'm not a geologist, so you can take some of this with a grain of salt. However, in my observation, the soil conditions in VT and NH aren't too dissimilar. The ADK's, on the other hand, are quite different, as Pete Hickey points out. I think another reason the ADK's are so muddy is there's very little soil to absorb moisture - sometimes just a few inches of dirt over bedrock, so when it rains it quickly turns to soup.

IMHO the primary difference in the trails between NH & VT is that the trails have been 'hardened' - more rock work and more drainage. NH trails have been actively worked on by the AMC, RMC, USFS, Dartmouth Outing Club, Wonalancet Club - the list goes on - for many years (maybe 100?) longer than in VT. About the only organized trail group in VT is the GMC. In my experience, there's no place in the country which comes close to NH in terms of its trail network and level of rockwork, and this has a big impact on springtime conditions.

 

[Jazzbo]

VT soils vs NH soils

I'm an amatuer geologist who's taken mutiple courses in soils and geology. VT rocks weather to soils with lots of clay. That's why it is generally costly to put in septic systems on home lots in many parts of VT. Sites with high clay content soils will flunk a perk test and require trucking in truckloads of sand and gravel for the leach field. If you drive the roads in VT note how many home lots have big mounds with the PVC vent pipes in their yards so they can have leach fields. VT is a big state and it does have sizable areas of granite and other granitic rocks, but I think it's pretty true by and large. The same characteristics that make a building lot flunk that perk test make a trail harder to drain and more prone to being muddy and staying muddy longer. It is a fact that the parent rocks and minerals change a lot when you cross the CT River.

 

[RoySwkr]

I don't recall widespread talk about staying off trails in mud season prior to a couple years ago.

It has been going on for 10 years or more in VT, as mentioned some is voluntary but within state parks (Mansfield & CH) it is the law.

The place that makes me mad is Pawtuckaway NH. It is overrun with mtn bikes and hence they close all trails to all uses in the spring because they don't have the staff to enforce it more granularly. Used to be a nice spring hike when the Whites were still muddy.