Are you wondering about trail conditions after our days of warm temps and rain this week, followed by a deep freeze? Here is what we found: The parking area at the Wilmington Reservoir was solid ice with patchy bare ground. The beginning of the trail was ice or bare ground, alternating with sketchy hard packed snow, only 1-5 inches thick. We chose Stabilicers for this part of our hike. As we ascended, the snow remained sketchy in places, with bare rocks encountered often. Stream crossings were no problem. Shortly after the junction to the ASRC route, we switched to snowshoes becasue a) the packed snow was softer b) there were occasioanl brief areas of drifted snow c) if was more comfortable hiking in snowshoes. The snow in the woods was also well consolidated from the recent weather conditions. No problems with spruce traps today! You could walk right off the trail into the woods without sinking, as our dogs found out, to their delight. The retaining wall holding up the Memorial Highway had plenty of snow for a snowshoe traverse. Upon exiting onto the actual roadway, we saw that the rock ledge up to the ridge hike to the summit was solid ice. We decided to hang out at the picnic table for lunch(almost no wind), enjoy the views, and head back down.
Gear: Stabilicers, snowshoes and poles.
Gear: Stabilicers, snowshoes and poles.
