Pac-man
New member
Trails: Sawyer River Road, Signal Ridge
Trail Conditions: Sawyer River Road was hard and crunchy. First couple miles on Signal Ridge Trail to the river crossing were hard as a rock due to high temps the previous day and the deep freeze overnight. Once you start ascending, things get gradually softer and once near Signal Ridge there were some drifting.
Equipment: Microspikes up to the river crossing, and snowshoes for the ascent were perfect.
Comments: A nice cold, quiet day in the Whites. Barebooted up the road and threw on the snowshoes because my micros broke last weekend. The deep freeze the night before after the warm temps (and maybe rain?) from yesterday made the trail like pavement. Micros would have been perfect. The first couple miles of the true ascent were actually slightly annoying - a lot of low branches and if you step slightly off the center of the trail, you'll go waist deep even with snowshoes. Signal Ridge is always beautiful, though, which made it all worth it. The temps weren't nearly as bad as expected, facemask didn't come out of the bag. Only saw 2 other hikers, 10-12 snowmobilers on the Sawyer River Road, 2 skiers all day. A very quick descent off the ridge and we were happy to be back at our car.
Trail Conditions: Sawyer River Road was hard and crunchy. First couple miles on Signal Ridge Trail to the river crossing were hard as a rock due to high temps the previous day and the deep freeze overnight. Once you start ascending, things get gradually softer and once near Signal Ridge there were some drifting.
Equipment: Microspikes up to the river crossing, and snowshoes for the ascent were perfect.
Comments: A nice cold, quiet day in the Whites. Barebooted up the road and threw on the snowshoes because my micros broke last weekend. The deep freeze the night before after the warm temps (and maybe rain?) from yesterday made the trail like pavement. Micros would have been perfect. The first couple miles of the true ascent were actually slightly annoying - a lot of low branches and if you step slightly off the center of the trail, you'll go waist deep even with snowshoes. Signal Ridge is always beautiful, though, which made it all worth it. The temps weren't nearly as bad as expected, facemask didn't come out of the bag. Only saw 2 other hikers, 10-12 snowmobilers on the Sawyer River Road, 2 skiers all day. A very quick descent off the ridge and we were happy to be back at our car.
