| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
North Tripyramid, Middle Tripyramid, South Tripyramid, West Sleeper, Mt. Whiteface, Mt. Passaconaway , NH |
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 | Trails: |
Pine Bend Brook Trail, Mt. Tripyramid Trail, bushwhack, Kate Sleeper Trail, Rollins Trail, Diceys Mill Trail, Walden Trail, Square Ledge Trail, Passaconaway Cutoff, Oliverian Brook Trail, road walk |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, January 8, 2017 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Oliverian Brook Lot plowed near Kanc, Sabbaday lot is plowed, roadway shoulder plowed by Pine Bend for handful of cars. We parked at sabbaday to break up the road walk since we had only 1 car. |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Snow - Drifts, Snow/Ice - Postholes |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Snowshoes, Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
All doable with rock hopping or log balancing. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Plenty of sizeable blowdowns on Kate Sleeper (crawl under) that will get increasingly challenging with more snow. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
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 | Bugs: |
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 | Lost and Found: |
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 | Comments: |
Pinebend Tr was very solid down low... We barebooted until the start of the steeps and switched to snowshoes (which we wore for the rest of the day). Decent packed snowshoe track until North Pyramid, ridge was looser, less packed between North & Middle with some postholes here and there, no tracks down Sabbaday, and there were no tracks headed to South... but now 2 sets of snowshoes have been through. Surface was mix of drifts and breakable crust. Bushwhacked off South Pyramid to col with West Sleeper where we intercepted Kate Sleeper Trail and avoided South slide. Snow conditions (deep, unconsolidated, etc) in thick woods up high made initial steep descent challenging but eventually hit open woods and clear going to pick up the trail in the col. No one had been across the Sleepers in some time. Lots of deep snow, moose tracks, and heavily snow-laden branches, but worth it for the beauty of the Sleepers on a clear sunny day. Lots of blowdowns between East Sleeper and Downes Brook - mostly crawl- unders that will get more interesting as the season continues. (no tracks on Downes either). At Rollins, we hit a chewed-up postholed track up to Whiteface. Rollins trail conditions improved after the summit, more evidence of snowshoes and fewer postholes, but still not a good snowshoe track - we cleaned it up as best we could, but needs more snowshoe traffic. Here we saw the only person we saw all day (a microspiker with snowshoes on his pack) and we saw his postholes here and there until we hit Diceys Mill. Trail is solid hard pack and looks like microspikes are enough. Snow still covers the typical ice bulges on Rollins and Dicey's. Nearly all traffic has gone up and back on Diceys Mill. One set of snowshoe tracks start to descend Walden but turned around part way. We broke out the rest of Walden and Square Ledge Tr and ran into some snowshoe tracks from Oliverian that turned around on the Passaconaway cut-off. Trail from there out was choppy and breakable crust with mix of snowshoe tracks and bareboots and postholes. Hope more snowshoe traffic will smooth it out but trench from barebooters is already becoming too narrow for snowshoes. Heading out Oliverian Brook was smoother and easier going.
Chilly day, but this traverse never disappoints. Nice to have the trails mostly to ourselves and enjoy the remoteness of the Sleepers. |
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 | Name: |
Jeff & Karine |
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 | E-Mail: |
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| Date Submitted: |
2017-01-08 |
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 | Link: |
 https:// |
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Disclaimer: Reports are not verified - conditions may vary. Use at own risk. Always be prepared when hiking. Observe all signs. Trail conditions reports are not substitutes for weather reports or common sense. |
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