bryan
New member
date: 1/5/13
trails: york pond trail, kilkenny ridge trail
conditions: watch for moose heading up the hill on 110 north of berlin. they must be salting heavily and drawing them to the roadside. we saw a total of 5 in one short stretch. york pond road was snow covered, but ok driving. parking areas plowed. york pond trail up to willard notch was broken out with probably 8 inches or so in the woods. we broke trail up to terrace in 8-10 inches of powder snow. the trail was difficult to follow, but we stuck with it for probably 2/3 of the way before just heading uphill in open woods reaching a plateau just south of the summit that was full of moose beds. from there it was a short scrappy climb up to the summit. we followed the spur off the summit back to kilkenny ridge trail then the trail until losing it again and then bushwhacked back to our previous track. the trail over the weeks was broken out nicely. great route finding job by steve and his son the day before. the track mostly keeps with the corridor over north and middle peaks, but given the blowdown on the north side of south peak it meanders up the path of least resistance to the summit. the trail is just completely gone in places due to blowdown. snow depths ranged from a few inches to over a foot. water crossings were all frozen over, but not heavily so.
equipment: snowshoes.
comments: great day. a big thanks to steve and son for their work the day before on the weeks. great views from the summit area on terrace. i had totally forgotten how nice that summit is. more good hiking over the weeks. if attempting these peaks in winter you will definitely want to be ready to navigate without following a trail as the corridor of the kilkenny ridge trail in this area becomes quite ill defined. all the blowdown on weeks doesn't help. lots of moose sign especially high on terrace. thanks to jeremy for a nice hike.
bryan
bryancuddihee
trails: york pond trail, kilkenny ridge trail
conditions: watch for moose heading up the hill on 110 north of berlin. they must be salting heavily and drawing them to the roadside. we saw a total of 5 in one short stretch. york pond road was snow covered, but ok driving. parking areas plowed. york pond trail up to willard notch was broken out with probably 8 inches or so in the woods. we broke trail up to terrace in 8-10 inches of powder snow. the trail was difficult to follow, but we stuck with it for probably 2/3 of the way before just heading uphill in open woods reaching a plateau just south of the summit that was full of moose beds. from there it was a short scrappy climb up to the summit. we followed the spur off the summit back to kilkenny ridge trail then the trail until losing it again and then bushwhacked back to our previous track. the trail over the weeks was broken out nicely. great route finding job by steve and his son the day before. the track mostly keeps with the corridor over north and middle peaks, but given the blowdown on the north side of south peak it meanders up the path of least resistance to the summit. the trail is just completely gone in places due to blowdown. snow depths ranged from a few inches to over a foot. water crossings were all frozen over, but not heavily so.
equipment: snowshoes.
comments: great day. a big thanks to steve and son for their work the day before on the weeks. great views from the summit area on terrace. i had totally forgotten how nice that summit is. more good hiking over the weeks. if attempting these peaks in winter you will definitely want to be ready to navigate without following a trail as the corridor of the kilkenny ridge trail in this area becomes quite ill defined. all the blowdown on weeks doesn't help. lots of moose sign especially high on terrace. thanks to jeremy for a nice hike.
bryan
bryancuddihee
