btausend
New member
Date of Hike: 01/04/14
Trail Conditions: Overall the trails are in great condition. There is a well defined snowshoe trail all the way up to the North peak and for the most part to the South peak. They are 99.5% rock free and are the best I've seen this season. It looks like there was only 2" to 3" of new snow on the trail from the storm on Thursday/Friday. The rocks that I did see were mostly on the ascent to the North peak, but the trail is still in good condition.
There were a few people out on the trail before me, but I caught up to them on the North peak and followed them over to the South peak. There was a gusty wind, but we were sheltered from it for the most part until we were approaching the South peak. That would explain why that is where we encountered a lot of drifts. They were not all that deep, but they made for some extra work to get through them. The trail from the South peak was also drifted in all the way down to the bottom. I went down first and used the drifts to control my descent. I made use of my poles a lot to figure out how deep the drifts were and what the conditions were under the trail. There is ice under the snow in several places that made it difficult to traverse down that steep trail. I uncovered at least one ice floe and a large ice covered rock. The people behind me were able to make it down using snowshoes. You just need to be careful on the descent. Crampons wouldn't be a bad idea.
I think two of the water crossings were completely bridged. The others were either partially bridged or open. All were easy to cross. The partially bridged ones are fragile. I hiked out with a person that only did the North peak. He had on crampons for the descent and kept them on to the car. When we went over the partially bridged crossings he went through a couple of them. He only post holed on the trail once or twice when he stepped on the edge of the trail.
Special Equipment: I used snowshoes from car to car and so did most of the people I saw out on the trail except for the one person I hiked out with. It is possible to do the hike without snowshoes.
Comments: It was a very cold morning, but it wasn't hard to keep warm. The skies were clear and the views were great when we had them. It was nice seeing Big Earl and Sue on the trail today. Also it looked like the people have been hiking on the Hancock Notch trail beyond where we turned off to go onto the Cedar Brook Trail, but not since the last storm. It doesn't look like anyone has hiked on the Cedar Brook trail beyond the intersection with the Hancock Loop trail.
Brian
Trail Conditions: Overall the trails are in great condition. There is a well defined snowshoe trail all the way up to the North peak and for the most part to the South peak. They are 99.5% rock free and are the best I've seen this season. It looks like there was only 2" to 3" of new snow on the trail from the storm on Thursday/Friday. The rocks that I did see were mostly on the ascent to the North peak, but the trail is still in good condition.
There were a few people out on the trail before me, but I caught up to them on the North peak and followed them over to the South peak. There was a gusty wind, but we were sheltered from it for the most part until we were approaching the South peak. That would explain why that is where we encountered a lot of drifts. They were not all that deep, but they made for some extra work to get through them. The trail from the South peak was also drifted in all the way down to the bottom. I went down first and used the drifts to control my descent. I made use of my poles a lot to figure out how deep the drifts were and what the conditions were under the trail. There is ice under the snow in several places that made it difficult to traverse down that steep trail. I uncovered at least one ice floe and a large ice covered rock. The people behind me were able to make it down using snowshoes. You just need to be careful on the descent. Crampons wouldn't be a bad idea.
I think two of the water crossings were completely bridged. The others were either partially bridged or open. All were easy to cross. The partially bridged ones are fragile. I hiked out with a person that only did the North peak. He had on crampons for the descent and kept them on to the car. When we went over the partially bridged crossings he went through a couple of them. He only post holed on the trail once or twice when he stepped on the edge of the trail.
Special Equipment: I used snowshoes from car to car and so did most of the people I saw out on the trail except for the one person I hiked out with. It is possible to do the hike without snowshoes.
Comments: It was a very cold morning, but it wasn't hard to keep warm. The skies were clear and the views were great when we had them. It was nice seeing Big Earl and Sue on the trail today. Also it looked like the people have been hiking on the Hancock Notch trail beyond where we turned off to go onto the Cedar Brook Trail, but not since the last storm. It doesn't look like anyone has hiked on the Cedar Brook trail beyond the intersection with the Hancock Loop trail.
Brian
