Mud Season....2007

[spider solo]

I tried to squeak out one last snowshoe hike in the Lakes Region NH.

Driving down the road looking for the trail head I realized I had missed it . Upon backtracking I saw the trail head (for MT Morgan ) had been blocked off and it was looking plenty Muddy.
I saw a couple of folk who had opted to park along the road but I decided
otherwise.

I would say that for Southern NH up to the the Lakes area...
"Mud Season" has begun in all it's glory.

Hows the rest of the regions and Trail Heads making out??

 

[Neil]

In the Adirondacks mud season is a good time to go off-trail. While the trails are either wet mushy snow, glare ice or mud the forest floor is dry and firm with a matt of last years growth laying flat over top. There are no leaves to block the view or bugs, packs are light and navigation is easy.
It looks something like this

 

[forestgnome]

Neil, nice picture of early May in the forest. Love it!

Spider, the Champney Falls Trail today has plenty of snow. The trail is firm, but the top is slushy, should be the same tomorrow. Off the trail, the snow is quite deep in this area, especially at a few thousand feet elevation. The snow pack mostly held my weight with small snowshoes (25"). Tomorrow should be a stellar day!!!

Happy Trails

 

[Mongoose]

I actually used my snowshoes for about the third time in my life Friday (3/23). The temps were around 40-50F and I was post holing a lot in the snow so I put on my snowshoes. I had to take them off above treeline because there were bare muddy spots up there.

I'm looking forward to spring a bit this year. I usually miss winter, but I think the change of seasons will help me get out more.

 

[Dennis C.]

Great pictures! What you call "Sawtooth Range cripplebush" is wide open woods to me. Spring time was one of my favorite times to bag 3000 footers. Often there was deep snow near the mtn tops, so you just bring along light weight plastis snowshoes.

 

[Neil]

Great pictures! What you call "Sawtooth Range cripplebush" is wide open woods to me. Spring time was one of my favorite times to bag 3000 footers. Often there was deep snow near the mtn tops, so you just bring along light weight plastis snowshoes.

Thanks. But I forgot to take the best pics of the day, across from ST4 Seward and Seymour had lots of snow and were brilliant in the hot sunshine. "Sawtooth Range cripplebush" was just kidding. It dosn't get any better than that does it?

 

[Pig Pen]

I'm with Neil, mud season is whackin' season!

 

[psmart]

Still skiing!

There's still some good skiing out there! The snow was very nice on Downes Brook Trail today, with the first three stream crosssings still bridged with snow and ice. Other sheltered north-facing trails, such as Greeley Ponds ski trail, should also be in good shape - at least for a few days.