Bare Booting

Just fishing for opinions...
Trail from the Loj to Marcy Dam on 1/29/05 had
MAYBE 4-5 inches of well packed snow, no way
one could post hole. In fact, snowshoe cleats
made deeper impression than boots! Is it wrong
to bare boot in such snow??

reg's call for snowshoes when snow depths exceed 8" so I guess it's your call if you want to bareboot. If your making an obvious mess of the trail then common courtesy to skiers and such should prevail.

Bridgeman is right. When the snow cover is less than 8 inches snowshoes are not mandatory (which was the case last Saturday) so you were ok.
I was there the same day and our group took off the snowshoes at Avalanche leanto and we did not posthole once. As you mention, snowshoes were actually making a deeper impression than the boots.

Loj?

Where is located? I've never heard of those kind of regs in the white mountains, I'm assuming your speaking of the ADK's.

Anyone know if they post snow depth/conditions near the trailheads at the Loj? Reason I ask is I'd rather leave snowshoes in the car if it's hardpack, but don't want to get fined because there's 12" of snow. This would only be for the more well-trodden trails, i.e. up to Algonquin/Marcy Dam.

No they do not specify the snow depth. It changes way to much on any given trail. What they see at the Loj is not a reflection of all trails in the ADKs coming out of the Loj. In winter season always carry your snowshoes, and please use them. Postholes are such a pain on the trails and very inconsiderate toward those who try to play by the rules.

Try this link and do a text search for snowshoes
HPUMP Text

Follow up...

We snowshoed in and changed to crampons for the final push up
Marcy and back to snowshoes for the descent. Went bare boots
at the dam as the conditions warranted. NO postholing at all as
the track was solid. I jumped up and down (with pack +, 250 pounds?)
and NO holes!

This is what I found by following DEC link:

"Require all winter visitors to possess and use either skis or snowshoes when the terrain is snow-covered with eight or more inches of snow. This is intended as a safety measure not only to the visitor in case of sudden snow emergencies, but also necessary to maintain safe trail conditions."

Require all winter visitors to possess and use either skis or snowshoes

Click to expand...

Not to beat a point to death, but the regs state "possess and use" not just "possess" as highlighted in the previous post. I try to honor that, however, from the dam out I cheat. I don't like to hike on a sidewalk with snowshoes.