NeoAkela
Active member
Trail Conditions: Lincoln Woods Trail is one nice solid packed snow/ice sheet with occasional mud patches. Osseo trail begins as a icy sidewalk, easy to follow. At the start of the incline, snow vanishes for the most part, with only occasional patches; nice, long stretch of rocks, dirt, and leaves - no mud, good walking. At end of second switchback near top of ridge (2.5 miles in) monorail emerges and conditions change - wet, unconsolidated corn snow gets deeper - 2-feet or so in parts - even snowshoes create postholes. Stairs are almost completely ice/snow covered, with deep posthole potential on either side. Top of ridge to summit also somewhat miserable for travel. Summit of Flume clear and snow-free except for drifts along the windy ridge to the peak.
Special Equipment Required: Minor traction was very helpful on LWT and parts of the lower Osseo. Switched to snowshoes at about 2600 ft with somewhat dubious results. Trail was already postholed to death, but I added many big snowshoe-sized ones to the bunch. Used shoes all the way to summit - on return, removed them right above the stairs and switched to 'spikes for better footing - that would be a short, painful slide! Summit was sun-drenched and t-shirt ready - almost wish I had left the hats, gloves, coat and extra gear that stayed in my pack at home.
Comments: Beautiful, sunny day in the mountains felt more like May than March. Started up at my usual 11AM start time. Spent a wonderful hour on the summit and saw no-one above the LWT all day. Didn't need to layer up at any point - felt strange to be in a t-shirt, shorts, and snowshoes wearing sunscreen. I would not recommend this trail until it gets cold again - much cursing was done today as snowshoes were continuously being extracted from deep, wet spruce-branchy holes. A real ankle-bender... I'll stick to the more traveled trails until summer!
Your name: NeoAkela
Your E-mail address: [email protected]
Special Equipment Required: Minor traction was very helpful on LWT and parts of the lower Osseo. Switched to snowshoes at about 2600 ft with somewhat dubious results. Trail was already postholed to death, but I added many big snowshoe-sized ones to the bunch. Used shoes all the way to summit - on return, removed them right above the stairs and switched to 'spikes for better footing - that would be a short, painful slide! Summit was sun-drenched and t-shirt ready - almost wish I had left the hats, gloves, coat and extra gear that stayed in my pack at home.
Comments: Beautiful, sunny day in the mountains felt more like May than March. Started up at my usual 11AM start time. Spent a wonderful hour on the summit and saw no-one above the LWT all day. Didn't need to layer up at any point - felt strange to be in a t-shirt, shorts, and snowshoes wearing sunscreen. I would not recommend this trail until it gets cold again - much cursing was done today as snowshoes were continuously being extracted from deep, wet spruce-branchy holes. A real ankle-bender... I'll stick to the more traveled trails until summer!
Your name: NeoAkela
Your E-mail address: [email protected]
