| Hiking Trail Conditions Report |
 | Peaks |
North Tripyramid, Middle Tripyramid, South Tripyramid, West Sleeper, East Sleeper, Mt. Whiteface, Mt. Passaconaway, NH |
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 | Trails: |
Pine Bend Brook Trail, Mt. Tripyramid Trail, Kate Sleeper Trail, West Sleeper Spur, East Sleeper Spur, Rollins Trail, Dicey’s Mill Trail, Walden Trail, Square Ledge Trail, Passaconaway Cutoff, Oliverian Brook Trail |
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 | Date of Hike: |
Sunday, November 1, 2020 |
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 | Parking/Access Road Notes: |
Second car at Oliverian Brook trailhead (room for at least a dozen) just past 5:30am and none when we got down at 4:45pm. First ones at Pine Bend Brook about 5:45am and last ones there when we returned at about 5pm. Roadside parking. Be careful not to back into the guardrail! |
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 | Surface Conditions: |
Dry Trail, Ice - Black, Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Wet Trail, Snow - Packed Powder/Loose Granular, Ice - Breakable Crust, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant, Leaves - Significant/Slippery |
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 | Recommended Equipment: |
Light Traction |
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 | Water Crossing Notes: |
The only crossing of significance on this route is of the west branch of Oliverian Brook on Passaconaway Cutoff as it begins to near Oliverian Brook Trail. The water depth was noticeably lower than it was a week ago but it still would have been a wade where the trail truly crosses it. Just upstream I rock hopped across on submerged rocks. There are also some downed trees you could shimmy or walk across if you’re feeling daring. |
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 | Trail Maintenance Notes: |
Pine Bend Brook Trail is blazed regularly but not frequently in yellow before the wilderness boundary. A mix of old and new blazes. The blazing is less frequent and older above the boundary. Easy to follow except perhaps around the beginning of the steeps where it flirts around with the brook. Also, the trail turns right to cross a very small stream near the beginning of the trail; it’s easy not to see this and continue straight and wonder where the trail went. I still don’t really recall the blazing situation on Mt Tripyramid Trail but I think it’s occasionally blazed in yellow. Not hard to follow. Kate Slepper Trail has the occasional blaze. Usually a somewhat fade blue but some older yellow blaze mixed in mostly around the slide as well. In particular, note an arrow with three points on the left side of the south slide if you’re descending that points in the direction of Kate Sleeper Trail off the slide. Not too well travelled but not hard to follow. The only place that may cause some difficult is on the west slide as soon as you get on the trail from south slide. Look for the occasional cairn/blaze. I did notice the occasional blaze on Rollins Trail this time...yellow I think. Maybe blue? No blazing on the other trails as far as I remember but there’re easy to follow. Don’t expect a lot of blazing on the whole as all of these trails are at least partially, or not entirely, in the Sandwich Range Wildeness. Not too many blowdowns. On duck under, squeeze through, as you first descend South Tripyramid but I think it’s already been cut. Just not removed and it’s still a pain. Lots of blowdown devastation on Kate Sleeper but only simple walkovers on the trail as far as I recall. There may have been a few more on the Whiteface/Passaconaway side of things but nothing much. |
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 | Dog-Related Notes: |
None seen but this would probably be an okay route for a fit hiking dog that can handle this sort of mileage and conditions. The only concern might be the south slide which you’re on briefly. Also lots of “mini-scramblesâ€â€™along the ridge of the Tripyramids particularly between Scaur Ridge Trail and North Tripyramid but most of these trails are pretty tame. Not much water along them though. |
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 | Bugs: |
None |
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 | Lost and Found: |
Picked up a ball cap. I think it was somewhere along the Tripyramid ridge but it may have been a bit further along. |
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 | Comments: |
You know you’re a gridder when you do precisely the same hike exactly one week apart. I guess that’s how I know it’s a new month now too ;) Another Sandwich Range traverse to get my first 4 peaks of the month and peaks 9, 10, 11, and 12 for my November grid. It was great to have the company of another redliner even though I’m no longer redlining :)
Started off in the mid-high 30s but we could fill the wind from the beginning of the hike. Pretty cloudy from the start but we did see some blue sky to the north. Unfortunately it never came our way and the clouds actually lowered sooner than forecasted and we had very few views in contrast to my hike here the week before. All in all, it was a colder day than I would’ve guessed. The weather (perhaps combined with our timing) seemed to keep people away s we only saw one person the entire day which was along Rollins Trail in between Kate Sleeper Trail and the summit of Whiteface.
The snow started a bit earlier on than it seems to on my hike yesterday to Hale from Firewardens Trail. On the whole, this area seemed to get a bit more snow. I believe the snow cover became consistent somewhere around 2500ft on Pine Bend Brook Trail. Made the footing perhaps a little tough but not too bad. Just slowed us down some. Everything had been tracked out which was nice even though the snow depth was relatively minimal. Had it not been, gaiters would’ve been warranted on something like Kate Sleeper Trail. We threw traction on at the jct of Pine Bend Brook and Scaur Ridge Trail although it probably wasn’t needed. There was very little ice on the Tripyramid side. There was, however, significant ice on Whiteface and Passaconaway. You should definitely bring microspikes. There was some glare ice but it was mostly on flat surfaces. My old, beat up rock spikes did fine. Without them, I would’ve been going off trail some. We took our spikes off a short ways down Passaconaway Cutoff. Temps became noticeably warmer around 2700ft coming down Square Ledge Trail. There seemed to be less snow on these trails later in the day but that was likely just due to the warmer temps and some melting. |
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 | Name: |
Liam Cooney |
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 | E-Mail: |
liamcooney96@gmail.com |
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| Date Submitted: |
2020-11-02 |
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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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