Little River Crossings

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NeoAkela

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Jun 17, 2008
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Location
Bethlehem, N.H.
Anyone been up the North Twin trail recently? Looking to do a Pemi Traverse on the next nice day (hopefully Tuesday). Is the Little River crossable, or should I plan on a long bushwhack along the west bank?
 
Lots of threads on that topic about ten days ago when the big storms came through and the rivers were at flood stage... by the following Saturday afternoon the waters had subsided back to normal levels. Check the water levels on Monday evening; if it doesn't rain much I expect this gauge will be down to 4 feet, which usually means the third crossing on the North Twin trail is feet-wet but safe. (As you can see on the graph, it was mostly below 3 ft on the Saturday after it spiked above 7 ft; IIRC the report was that the crossing was almost boots-dry that day.)

Standard "bushwhack" on the east side means you skip the lower two crossings, but not the third. I'm curious if bushwhacking the west side is as tough as I recall from my winter misadventure, so feel free to give it a shot :)
 
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It's been raining pretty much nonstop the last couple of days, and parts of rte 3 in Franconia are closed due to the roads being washed out. The Gale river flowing through town was downright deadly-looking tonight. I'll hazard a guess that the Twin trail is worse than a few weeks back, but I had that morbid curiosity in case someone had been there today. Looks like I might be checking out that west side whack :eek:
 
I would hold off on any plans to cross major crossings. There has been so much rain in the Whites, 3-6 inches this week. -Mattl
 
Will ditto the comments on the Gale River! It would be extremely dangerous to attempt to cross it based on what we saw yesterday. The Little River at Rte 3 was also high and moving very fast.

A woman slipped into the Soughen River in Merrimack last week at Wildcat Falls and it took them several days to find her body! Also read of a death on the Swift River this weekend.
 
bobandgeri said:
Will ditto the comments on the Gale River! It would be extremely dangerous to attempt to cross it based on what we saw yesterday.

Wonder what the AMC's doing about Galehead Hut access (croo and food, nevermind guests) ... think that decision (by USFS?) to not replace the bridge might be biting them back this year?
 
Yup, water is VERY high

i hiked into Zealand yesterday a.m. and whacked up the west side of Kinsman early afternoon - both had raging streams. :eek:
 
MichaelJ said:
Wonder what the AMC's doing about Galehead Hut access (croo and food, nevermind guests) ... think that decision (by USFS?) to not replace the bridge might be biting them back this year?
They can get in and out via the Garfield Tr, if needed. The only serious stream crossings (on the Garfield Tr) can be eliminated by short bushwacks to a pair of snowmobile bridges.

Doug
 
RT 3 in the area is washed out and closed currently which is probably a good indication that the rvier crossings are going to be gnarly
 
Trail Trotter and I hiked the Twins and a few others today (Sunday, 8/10). We bypassed the first two crossings on the Little River. The third crossing was no problem at all. Roughly 100 feet upstream from the trail is a great set of rocks for a rock-hop to the island. Then, just walk the island back downstream and use the usual rocks to complete the job to the other side.

Both of us had dry feet - easy. :)
 
It rained again last night and this orning so watch it rise again! We just came back from checking out Silver Cascade and the Ammonusuc between Cherry Mountain Road and Zealand Rd - WOW!
 
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