bryan
New member
date: 12/28/13
trails: old rail grade, north twin trail, herd path, firewardens trail, lend a hand trail, bushwhack
conditions: plenty of room to park at the end of little river road. pretty minimal snow base to start with occasional ice along the old grade and north twin trail. snow depth increased on the way up the firewardens trail and is well packed out. lend a hand was lightly tracked out with ok coverage, but plenty of rock still near the surface as well as hidden ice. we followed the trail down the first couple steep pitches until south hale was visible across a bog and started our bushwhack up the peak first visiting the south cliffs then heading in a more westerly direction to the summit. snow depths varied and was surprisingly firm under a layer of powder. still not enough coverage to make for good snowshoe travel. from the summit we doubled back slightly then headed northwest down towards the little river following a drainage most of the way. woods were scrappy with difficult footing up high, but soon opened up. plentiful ice in the center of the drainage had us moving farther north until we got close to the river. we then headed down to the river and slabbed along its side for a bit before enountering the old little river trail/rail grade which led up down stream to the north twin trail. the few drainages we crossed were not a problem today and were semi frozen/ice bridged.
equipment: microspikes worked well today. with the predicted snow tomorrow night it will likely be time for snowshoes in this area.
comments: nice hike. good snow conditions most of the day except for some picky going on lend a hand trail due to ice. potential for some great views from the cliffs on south hale and though it was a bit too cloudy today for distant vistas we had a nice look to zealand notch in particular. congratulations to jeremy on his 366 and thanks to becca and eric for a good day of hiking.
bryan
[email protected]
trails: old rail grade, north twin trail, herd path, firewardens trail, lend a hand trail, bushwhack
conditions: plenty of room to park at the end of little river road. pretty minimal snow base to start with occasional ice along the old grade and north twin trail. snow depth increased on the way up the firewardens trail and is well packed out. lend a hand was lightly tracked out with ok coverage, but plenty of rock still near the surface as well as hidden ice. we followed the trail down the first couple steep pitches until south hale was visible across a bog and started our bushwhack up the peak first visiting the south cliffs then heading in a more westerly direction to the summit. snow depths varied and was surprisingly firm under a layer of powder. still not enough coverage to make for good snowshoe travel. from the summit we doubled back slightly then headed northwest down towards the little river following a drainage most of the way. woods were scrappy with difficult footing up high, but soon opened up. plentiful ice in the center of the drainage had us moving farther north until we got close to the river. we then headed down to the river and slabbed along its side for a bit before enountering the old little river trail/rail grade which led up down stream to the north twin trail. the few drainages we crossed were not a problem today and were semi frozen/ice bridged.
equipment: microspikes worked well today. with the predicted snow tomorrow night it will likely be time for snowshoes in this area.
comments: nice hike. good snow conditions most of the day except for some picky going on lend a hand trail due to ice. potential for some great views from the cliffs on south hale and though it was a bit too cloudy today for distant vistas we had a nice look to zealand notch in particular. congratulations to jeremy on his 366 and thanks to becca and eric for a good day of hiking.
bryan
[email protected]
