Snow-free trails. Spring 2012 edition.

[TDawg]

Well I hiked today on my first 100% snow free trail of the season.

The trail up little Rumney Rattlesnake, off Buffalo Rd, is snow free and pretty dry as well. Though not a huge destination, it is quite worthy of an afternoon hike.

Any other snow free routes out there? There's got to be, I think. I've heard S. Moat is close. Welch-Dickey, too. Belknaps? Ossipees?

*I realize it is early and things can definitely change in the last week of March through April. But, it sure feels like spring and there's a lot of bare ground at the moment.*

 

[una_dogger]

Kinsman Ridge Trail has gotta be close because it was nearly snow free to the junction a week ago sunday.

Franconia Ridge was bare save for a few corn snow piles here and there 3/20 from Lafayette to Little Haystack.

The Pemi at Lincoln USGS station has been hovering around 1500 cfs since saturday..there's still plenty of snow in those hills!

 

[Barkingcat]

Ragged Mountain Trail to the East Ridge Trail to the ledges on Old Top is just about snow/ice free. Anything that's left is easily avoided.

 

[Ed'n Lauky]

Kearsarge (South) was free of snow, but had a serious amount of ice. Green Mt. was basically snow and ice free.

I was wondering if anyone had any beta on Cardigan.

 

[roadtripper]

Monadnock trails from the south are snow & ice free. There may be 1-2 patches of ice & snow left, but they are easily avoided.

 

[Ed'n Lauky]

Kearsarge (South) was free of snow, but had a serious amount of ice. Green Mt. was basically snow and ice free.

I was wondering if anyone had any beta on Cardigan.

I found the answer to my question here: http://www.newenglandtrailconditions.com/nh/viewreport.php?entryid=7973

 

[John in NH]

Welch dickey is indeed snow free aside from very few tiny ice patches and surprisingly dry as of this morning.

 

[TDawg]

If familiar with the route up Fisher Mtn. in Thornton, it is snow free.

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

Mt. Roberts Trail (Ossipees) is snow free.

 

[giff]

Ossipees are snow free

All of the Ossipees are snow free ex pet for a few small patches. Some of the trails are still quite muddy however.

 

[1HappyHiker]

On 23-March, I hiked to Mt. Crescent via the Mt. Crescent and Crescent Ridge trails. Other than a few widely scattered patches of snow near the top of Mt. Crescent, this hike was basically snow-free.

 

[Barkingcat]

All three approaches to Mt. Cube -- the Kodak Trail (AT heading south from summit), the Mt. Cube Trail (AT heading north from summit), and the Cross-Rivendell Trail -- are virtually snow-/ice-free.

 

[Mohamed Ellozy]

Thanks, I was about to ask. Time for a Kodak-CRT loop!

 

[Guthook]

Has anyone been to Sunapee or Pillsbury State Park? I'm hoping to check that out soon, although if Cardigan is snow-free, I'd imagine Sunapee is, too.

Also, how bad is the mud out there? I'm guessing Vermont is in the usual mud-season lockdown for now, but I don't hear much about that for NH.

 

[Mike P.]

Moosilauke Carriage Road is virtually snow free as far as the Snapper trail. As of 3/24, lots of mud the whole way, especially down low, above the Snapper lots of bare ground with patchy snow turning to nuisance snow & then at about 4,000 feet, maybe 1/2 mile below the Glencliff junction, there is enough snow so you could use snowshoes. After postholing several times, I put them on & used them up South Peak and about 1/2 way to the main peak. The other two people who took the Carriage Road, either entirely or as are as the Snapper managed without snowshoes. I managed to leave my water bottle (inside an old hiking sock) on the summit.

 

[audrey]

Kearsarge South via the Lincoln Trail: just a bit of avoidable mud. The hobblebush in the birch glades looks like it will be early-blooming.

 

[Jeff List]

Greylock is melted out. On 3/24 I hiked Thunderbolt, AT, Overlook, bushwack down through The Hopper, Money Brook, AT, and Bellows Pipe Trs and all were clear. There were a couple very small patches of snow off trail in the woods.

 

[TDawg]

If in Grafton Notch, Puzzle Mountain via Grafton Loop is essentially snow free. Only one spot I can remember with a little ice flow, easy though.

Woodsum Spur has one tricky flow still hangin on. Decent route finding skills preferred on the Spur, lightly traveled and marked with orange tape and the occasional small cairn on the ledges.

 

[TEO]

Updates?

Does anyone know if the Weeks are snow free?

Where is the snow line lurking both on trail and off in various parts of the Whites?

Edit to add: Never mind. It would seem that http://www.newenglandtrailconditions.com has made this thread and the like virtually irrelevant.

 

[Lefty E]

I think there would be patches of ice and snow on the Kilkenny Ridge Trail between Waumbek and York Pond Trail, as yesterday we were up there on the Starr King Trail then went on the KRT for a short distance...wish I had taken pics of small broken fir tree tops in the trail, and as we removed them, perfectly formed "ice cubes" which had been on the needles (no pine trees up there!) remained in the trail..we must have done that 15-20 times and they looked like they came from a 5 lb bag of ice cube..so heavy that's why the tree tops broke..but think it would be a perfect time to hit the Weeks..