Monoraill And Snowshoe Law

I saw a post in another forum about monorail and it got me to wondering how the snow shoe law/requirement in Adirondacks handles this. I'll be doing some early hikes this year and won't be bringing snowshoes and I started wondering about that law. If all of the snow on a trail and surrounding woods has melted and gone but a monorail of 12-14" or whatever is present does the law require you to have and use snow shoes in this circumstance? IIRC the requirement was 8 or more inches of snow and you are required to wear snowshoes. I think I had also read somewhere that if trail was muddy or generally unpleasant that you were supposed to either suck it up and walk in the mud or choose another trail. They frown on going in and out of woods off trail and causing wear.

Am I overthinking this or is that a legitimate consideration that would get you fined by a ranger? If anyone can clarify it would be helpful. Thanks.

Walking through mud mid trail is good practice to avoid trail widening. Muddy spots on trails tend to widen from people walking around the mud, eroding trail sides and ultimately causing larger mud pits as the section is widened.

As far as the snowshoe regs in NYS go, there are plenty here who can comment, but I thought the rule was written that you were to "have" snowshoes but not necessarily be "wearing" snowshoes.

Maybe one of our Empire Staters will chime in with specifics. I lived in NYS for over 20 years but have oddly enough never hiked in the Daks.

DayTrip said:

if trail was muddy or generally unpleasant that you were supposed to either suck it up and walk in the mud or choose another trail.

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As Raven implied, and deserves emphasis, this is true everywhere, not just in the 'dacks.

Will have to see what others say on the monorail as I'd think by late April & May they would be more interested in breaking it up, not preserving the snowshoe track like you do in the winter.

Looking at my calendar this far out has me up there the first two weekends in June when the bugs should be peaking (DayTrip - They are much worse in the ADK than in NH) possibly a July weekend and then sometime in October.

jniehof said:

As Raven implied, and deserves emphasis, this is true everywhere, not just in the 'dacks.

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I know. I just got the impression it was more vigorously enforced in NY and VT, with actual trail closures in mud season. Clearly it gets widely ignored in the Whites.

DayTrip said:

I know. I just got the impression it was more vigorously enforced in NY and VT, with actual trail closures in mud season. Clearly it gets widely ignored in the Whites.

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I'd encourage all of us to think less about enforcement and what other people are doing/not doing, and focus more on what *we ourselves* can do, in the moment, to protect the trails we're traveling from damage.

Alex

Yes, we don't want to be widening trails, in Spring, I'd be hard pressed to say post-holing is damaging trails, certainly not as it gets icy and muddy in May.