wardsgirl
Active member
Route
Wentworth Trail
Mead Trail
Guinea Pond Trail
Sandwich Notch Road
Conditions
Wentworth Trail: Barebooted to halfway point, then snowshoes.
Mead Trail: Unbroken. Used snowshoes in 20" deep snow. Very lightly blazed.
Guinea Pond Trail: Unbroken. Used snowshoes. Very difficult going in windswept power line crossings because of drifted snow.
Sandwich Notch Road: Snowmobile packed.
Special Equipment
Snowshoes, microspikes, winter headlamp with Lithium batteries.
Comments
This was a fun hike up Mt. Israel. A meet-up group of 7 passed me at the halfway point up the mountain. I met two other pairs of hikers near the summit. I struck off down the Mead Trail alone and got quite a workout in the untracked snow. As I approached Guinea Pond Trail, I was hoping that it would be broken in, but no such luck. Instead of climbing back up the hill, I decided to hang a left and break out the Guinea Pond Trail, which is an easy flat hike under better conditions. Freezing rain began here, at about 3pm, so on went the Goretex. Breaking trail through the drifted batches under the power lines was rather miserable. I reached Sandwich Notch Road at dark and was quite happy to see that it was hard packed by the snowmobiles, making for a pleasant night hike back to the car.
Wentworth Trail
Mead Trail
Guinea Pond Trail
Sandwich Notch Road
Conditions
Wentworth Trail: Barebooted to halfway point, then snowshoes.
Mead Trail: Unbroken. Used snowshoes in 20" deep snow. Very lightly blazed.
Guinea Pond Trail: Unbroken. Used snowshoes. Very difficult going in windswept power line crossings because of drifted snow.
Sandwich Notch Road: Snowmobile packed.
Special Equipment
Snowshoes, microspikes, winter headlamp with Lithium batteries.
Comments
This was a fun hike up Mt. Israel. A meet-up group of 7 passed me at the halfway point up the mountain. I met two other pairs of hikers near the summit. I struck off down the Mead Trail alone and got quite a workout in the untracked snow. As I approached Guinea Pond Trail, I was hoping that it would be broken in, but no such luck. Instead of climbing back up the hill, I decided to hang a left and break out the Guinea Pond Trail, which is an easy flat hike under better conditions. Freezing rain began here, at about 3pm, so on went the Goretex. Breaking trail through the drifted batches under the power lines was rather miserable. I reached Sandwich Notch Road at dark and was quite happy to see that it was hard packed by the snowmobiles, making for a pleasant night hike back to the car.
