Hale, Zealand, Twins 12.14.14

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Bombadil

Active member
Joined
Nov 5, 2009
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Location
Groton, MA
12.14.14

I opted to skip a presi for something a little easier given the weather. Turns out it was probably about as challenging given the conditions I encountered. Sorry if this post is a bit longer for a trail condition format!

Little River Rd to Hale via bushwhack/ North Twin Trail/ Firewarden's Trail:
I parked at the end of Little River Rd and was the only car. Ominous. The path to Haystack had been traveled by a barebooter and was easy to follow. Snow was a little thin and boney for snowshoes (though I stuck with them through here on the return nonetheless). Snowshoes were needed for the North Twin Trail and beyond. The single set of frozen boot tracks quickly became very annoying, nearly rolling ankles and making for awkward footing. Eventually the tracks ended. I broke out the FWT with a frozen crust on softer snow down low giving way to lighter density snow up high.

Hale to Zealand:
I was quite pleased to see a couple of snowshoers had been down the Lend-a-hand so I could have it easy for a little while. Only a few people had been through so it's still a little choppy but I was happy cuz this was the only section of trail that was broken out (read: bonus workout). Twinway to Zeacliff was well stomped out by barebooters, pretty good footing through here. Zeacliff to Zealand was broken out by a handful of snowshoes (probably would stick to snowshoes given the powder up there).

Zealand to N Twin:
Only a pair of 'tracks' continued on past Zealand. It looks like a pair of barebooters had suffered mightily through knee deep postholes all the way to Guyot and to the Bonds it looked. Must have been quite a day. It was pretty tough trailbreaking due to the deep powder (easily 12-18") that was begging to consolidate when you put your weight on it--probably exacerbated by having the very deep postholes all around. The clouds lifted just as I made it to Guyot to watch a spectacular sunset (probably more accurately it had been clear on that side of the Pemi but the ridge was still socked in). The snow was nice firm windblown slab at Guyot and I was able to find the trail junction cairn without difficulty (downhill and to the right). However I couldn't find the entrance into the trees to the north and was faced with a wall of spruce. Instead I ventured over the open slopes (on top of the buried spruce) slightly downhill to the West of the actual trail. I cut across what I could then made the hard uphill line to intercept the trail. After wallowing in waist deep traps for a short time I made it onto the trail (facefirst as one last spruce goblin said I gotcha!). If one heads south to Guyot I suspect it will be quite obvious where to go but the entrance to the trees on Guyot is really what threw me off. The trail also was a bit tricky in two small cols en route to S Twin which is quite frustrating b/c I recall getting turned around in the same spots 2 winters ago. On the whole there was no sign of previous travel to S Twin and broke trail through the constant deep powder. There was no sign of travel to N Twin either, more trail breaking fun ensued.

N Twin to Little River Rd:
I headed down the N Twin Trail breaking through the ice crust on softer snow and was delighted to see a small group of hikers had made it up to 3900 feet or so then turned around, saving me from breaking through that terrible ice crust for a little while. There's a pretty decent snowshoe track from there back to Little River Rd (sidenote: the crossing is fine, there's a small log just upriver that nicely crosses over). It looked like a few people followed me up Hale that day so in passing the FWT it looked decently traveled.

All in all a tough day, probably the most beat up I can recall my ankles and feet being on a snowshoe hike due to the firm, crusty snow. Good training though and I got to sleep in :)

Pat
pcushing21 at yahoo dot com
 
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