1SlowHiker
New member
Failed attempt of E Baldpate. Only made it to 500 feet off the east side of West Peak where 3’ of unbroken snow combined with a late start became too much.
AT from parking lot off RT 26. Grafton lot plowed but hard packed snow. Did see signs of some traffic up AT toward Old spec but I was only vehicle in the lot. Path to Bio-toilet broken out but bring your own paper.
Trail Conditions: Snow depth: 6-12” broken out with boot traffic below the lean-to (boney but solid), 12-18” with very little traffic up to 1000 feet before West Peak. Then 18-24” unbroken with only my boot tracks up to W peak. I only made it to 500 feet east of west peak before giving up trudging through 3’ of powder blown into the trail. All crossings partially frozen and easily rock hopped.
Special equipment: Could probably use snow shows up to W. Peak but after that would need a lot of floatation to make them worthwhile- deep powder. My MSRs would have been useless here. Carried my shoes but just used micro spikes the whole way. No slippery ice on the trail itself.
1 bad large blow-down that has to be crawled under or a tough walk around.
Trail well blazed – of course is the AT
Comments: I was hoping to finish off my Maine peaks yesterday (NEHH). I didn’t see any trail reports figured that it would get good traffic over the weekend – Wrong! Only traffic was boot tracks to the lean-to then two sets of snowshoes that turned back before reaching W. Peak. Oh well. I’ll be back in the spring.
AT from parking lot off RT 26. Grafton lot plowed but hard packed snow. Did see signs of some traffic up AT toward Old spec but I was only vehicle in the lot. Path to Bio-toilet broken out but bring your own paper.
Trail Conditions: Snow depth: 6-12” broken out with boot traffic below the lean-to (boney but solid), 12-18” with very little traffic up to 1000 feet before West Peak. Then 18-24” unbroken with only my boot tracks up to W peak. I only made it to 500 feet east of west peak before giving up trudging through 3’ of powder blown into the trail. All crossings partially frozen and easily rock hopped.
Special equipment: Could probably use snow shows up to W. Peak but after that would need a lot of floatation to make them worthwhile- deep powder. My MSRs would have been useless here. Carried my shoes but just used micro spikes the whole way. No slippery ice on the trail itself.
1 bad large blow-down that has to be crawled under or a tough walk around.
Trail well blazed – of course is the AT
Comments: I was hoping to finish off my Maine peaks yesterday (NEHH). I didn’t see any trail reports figured that it would get good traffic over the weekend – Wrong! Only traffic was boot tracks to the lean-to then two sets of snowshoes that turned back before reaching W. Peak. Oh well. I’ll be back in the spring.
