Caveman77
Member
Middle Sugarloaf and North Sugarloaf (in New Hampshire along the road to Zealand and Hale) via Zealand Rd and the Sugarloaf Trail
Equipment: snowshoes essential
(I normally wouldn't bother posting about this type of hike, but I didn't see any other post-snowfall trail reports, so I figured I would write this up.)
With predictions of 1-3 feet of snow, I chose a hike with the potential for cutting it short. If the going was easy, I'd make it to Zealand Peak, or at least Zealand Hut, or maybe Hale. In the end, Mother Nature dictated that I make it only 2.4 miles to Middle Sugarloaf.
The parking lot along US-302 was being plowed at 11:30 am. I stayed away until the plow left, then parked. Snow depths for the whole hike were about 8 - 20 new inches on top of the existing snowpack, with a few deeper drifts. Sorry I can't give an accurate snowfall estimate. With each footstep, I sunk to just-below-knee level, with many above-the-knee postholes and several hip deep postholes. It was easier going in the conifers because the branches retained significant amounts of snow - which is currently being blown off in this evening's high winds.
In general I felt like I left an 8-inch deep snowshoe track, but some of it had already been blown in on my return.
The 5.4 mile round trip took me about six hours. So this might have been my slowest hike ever.
Equipment: snowshoes essential
(I normally wouldn't bother posting about this type of hike, but I didn't see any other post-snowfall trail reports, so I figured I would write this up.)
With predictions of 1-3 feet of snow, I chose a hike with the potential for cutting it short. If the going was easy, I'd make it to Zealand Peak, or at least Zealand Hut, or maybe Hale. In the end, Mother Nature dictated that I make it only 2.4 miles to Middle Sugarloaf.
The parking lot along US-302 was being plowed at 11:30 am. I stayed away until the plow left, then parked. Snow depths for the whole hike were about 8 - 20 new inches on top of the existing snowpack, with a few deeper drifts. Sorry I can't give an accurate snowfall estimate. With each footstep, I sunk to just-below-knee level, with many above-the-knee postholes and several hip deep postholes. It was easier going in the conifers because the branches retained significant amounts of snow - which is currently being blown off in this evening's high winds.
In general I felt like I left an 8-inch deep snowshoe track, but some of it had already been blown in on my return.
The 5.4 mile round trip took me about six hours. So this might have been my slowest hike ever.
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