bryan
New member
date: 2/1/13
trails: fr 55, clark brook trail
conditions: forest road 55 out of granville plowed and in good shape. we parked 1.2 miles in at the end of fr 50 (room for a couple cars) as the hill just beyond had ice at the bottom and we did not want to get stuck higher up. after that bit of ice it was probably drivable the rest of the way to the summer trailhead with some parking just down the road before a bridge. roadwalk was about .6 miles. the road seems to be being maintained for logging as we saw logging trucks hauling timber out. clark brook trail had a packed, but rough track to the brook crossing about .5 miles in which is where our hike ended. the crossing of clark brook is no longer bridged as it was wiped out presumably during irene and with high water today there was heavy flow over the tops of whatever snow/ice bridges remained. we look up and down stream and there was no safe way to get across without wading which was not a viable option given todays temps. i don't know the status of the second crossing that guide books claim has a bridge. a sign at the trailhead said the bridge at .5 is gone, but nothing about the second one.
equipment: we wore microspikes for the road in case of ice and kept them on to the crossing. would have gone to snowshoes had we gotten across.
comments: i had not hiked clark brook trail before, but it seemed like a good plan as my guidebooks and the green mountain national forest website cited bridges on the lower water crossings. i didn't take irene into account and missed a comment in a previous post that eluded to snowbridges. there just wasn't anyway to cross and stay dry with todays high water. still nice to check out a new area. sadly all back up hikes i had in mind had water crossings as well so we cut our losses and headed home. thanks to cynthia for giving it a shot.
bryan
[email protected]
trails: fr 55, clark brook trail
conditions: forest road 55 out of granville plowed and in good shape. we parked 1.2 miles in at the end of fr 50 (room for a couple cars) as the hill just beyond had ice at the bottom and we did not want to get stuck higher up. after that bit of ice it was probably drivable the rest of the way to the summer trailhead with some parking just down the road before a bridge. roadwalk was about .6 miles. the road seems to be being maintained for logging as we saw logging trucks hauling timber out. clark brook trail had a packed, but rough track to the brook crossing about .5 miles in which is where our hike ended. the crossing of clark brook is no longer bridged as it was wiped out presumably during irene and with high water today there was heavy flow over the tops of whatever snow/ice bridges remained. we look up and down stream and there was no safe way to get across without wading which was not a viable option given todays temps. i don't know the status of the second crossing that guide books claim has a bridge. a sign at the trailhead said the bridge at .5 is gone, but nothing about the second one.
equipment: we wore microspikes for the road in case of ice and kept them on to the crossing. would have gone to snowshoes had we gotten across.
comments: i had not hiked clark brook trail before, but it seemed like a good plan as my guidebooks and the green mountain national forest website cited bridges on the lower water crossings. i didn't take irene into account and missed a comment in a previous post that eluded to snowbridges. there just wasn't anyway to cross and stay dry with todays high water. still nice to check out a new area. sadly all back up hikes i had in mind had water crossings as well so we cut our losses and headed home. thanks to cynthia for giving it a shot.
bryan
[email protected]
