White Mountain National Forest Open as of Tuesday 8/30/2011

[J&J]

Forest Closure Update - Monday, August 29, 2011

The White Mountain National Forest will remain closed until further notice. Forest Service personnel are currently verifying the conditions and stability of the roads, bridges, campgrounds, trails and other facilities on the Forest. Please be advised that road surfaces may appear stable but could give way under little weight. The Kancamagus Highway is closed. For additional State road conditions within the White Mountain region and statewide please view this link - http://www.nh.gov/readynh/index.htm

This website will be updated as information becomes available.

FOREST CLOSURE NOTICE

EMERGENCY ORDER OF THE FOREST SUPERVISOR

http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/white_mountain/

 

[freighttrain48]

I will be trying to hike monroe tomorrow I let everyone know how I make out

 

[una_dogger]

Thanks for posting, J&J -- hope the trails and forest roads weren't too severely impacted! .

This seems almost unprecedented! Can any one remember this happening before?

 

[peakbagger]

I would expect its been a long time. It happened to me down south in the Nantahela National Forest when a Hurricane was supposed to go offshore tunred inland and nailed the mountains near Franklin NC. Gates were closed on side roads with postings that anyone entering the forest would be arrested.

We drove down to Georgia and did the AT then came back the next week to do NC after the forest opened up. We did encounter some reall interesting back roads.

 

[chinooktrail]

Tried to get to Gorham this morning for work, nope, route 16 closed at the Golf Course in Jackson basically (headed north from North Conway).

A quick scan of the closures looks like a lot of water over roads and power lines down.

I hope the trails made it through with little or no issues.

Good time to go and check out the water bars on trails, once they give the go ahead to open them of course!

 

[B the Hiker]

I will be trying to hike monroe tomorrow I let everyone know how I make out

Out of curiosity, since you just posted this on thread that said the WMNF is closed until further notice, why are hiking when you just read that you are not supposed to be?


Brian

 

[Kevin Rooney]

I will be trying to hike monroe tomorrow I let everyone know how I make out

My hunch is the Forest Service will report that trails with an easterly exposure fared worse than those with a westerly, given the direction (CCW) of the wind-driven rain. So, all things being equal - trails in the Presi's on the US 2 side may be in better shape than say the NH 16 side.

Pure speculation on my part, however. Let's see what the USFS reports.

 

[una_dogger]

What about during the Ice Storm ? (97/98?)

I hope the trails made it through with little or no issues.

Good time to go and check out the water bars on trails, once they give the go ahead to open them of course!

lol-- just broke my back digging out water bars on Edmands Path weekend before last-- lost count at 21....

Hope it was worth the effort!

 

[chinooktrail]

They told me my trail had 121 waterbars.

I stopped counting at about 65...

Good thing I love playing in the water and the mud!

 

[Whiteman]

I was hoping to hike Owls Head on Wednesday ....

And just saw that same notice on the White Mtn National Forest page.

Two dry days should get everything reasonably dried out, eh?

And a quick question (I did try searching this for a while): What are the latest feelings on mountain biking up to the Wilderness Trail. It's a two part question: Easy trail? (looks like it); ethically OK in terms of officially bagging the 48?

Looks like a nice stretch of weather, would hate to miss it.

 

[una_dogger]

They told me my trail had 121 waterbars.

I stopped counting at about 65...

Good thing I love playing in the water and the mud!

I don't think I even want to know the sum of waterbars for my two adopted trails!

Here's hoping they were blasted clean!

 

[dug]

Out of curiosity, since you just posted this on thread that said the WMNF is closed until further notice, why are hiking when you just read that you are not supposed to be?


Brian

Well, not every trail is in the WMNF...

 

[MichaelJ]

And a quick question (I did try searching this for a while): What are the latest feelings on mountain biking up to the Wilderness Trail. It's a two part question: Easy trail? (looks like it); ethically OK in terms of officially bagging the 48?

Easy trail to mountain bike? Yes. Can you bike it and the peak count for your 48? No. The AMC 4000-Footer club rules prohibit the use of a bicycle on trails or closed roads. Roads open to regular vehicular traffic are fine.

 

[B the Hiker]

Well, not every trail is in the WMNF...

Last time I checked, Mt. Monroe was located in the WMNF.


Brian

 

[Kevin Rooney]

If memory serves - the only peak in the NH 48 not under the direct jurisdiction of the USFS is Moosilauke - Dartmouth owns it. But, am quite sure that many of the trails to its summit begin on trails within the USFS jurisdiction.

 

[David Metsky]

If memory serves - the only peak in the NH 48 not under the direct jurisdiction of the USFS is Moosilauke - Dartmouth owns it. But, am quite sure that many of the trails to its summit begin on trails within the USFS jurisdiction.

The only trails that are completely on private land are Gorge Brook and Snapper which both ascend form the Ravine Lodge. The Ravine Road goes through FS land but is usually left in the control of Dartmouth. I suspect the FS could close the gate if they wanted.

 

[dclynch]

Cannon?

I though it was all in the state park - although they might be closed, too.

 

[Kevin Rooney]

Dave -

My hunch was that the road was within the USFS jurisdiction as they have a kiosk near the state highway and the style of gate seemed like a USFS design. Thanks for clarifying that.

 

[Stash]

...and what is the intent of the closure? To ensure roads leading there and trails are reasonably safe. While many experienced VFTT hikers may be able to easily surmount large buildings or mountains in a single bound mere humans may hit trouble and FS would hather not have the distraction of dealing with the fallout.

 

[dug]

Isn't it possible to go "hiking" without going to the top of a hill, correct?

So, while I admit to missing FreightTrain's comment about going up "Monroe", there is plenty of walking in the woods that can be done with going up a "peak". Some of that could be within the WMNF, some may not.

But, it's a moot point since we are talking about the WMNF here...