Spring Hiking in the whites

[peakbagger]

I was in Gorham eating lunch earlier this week and had my first potential thru hiker siting this week.

Meanwhile it was snowing at my house at 1400 feet yesterday. No accumulation at my place but when the clouds lifted I could see accumulation on the trees at 3000 feet and up above treeline. Here's the forecast for today at the summit.

Low: Low teens Wind: NW at 50-70 mph w/ gusts up to 80 mph decreasing to 45-60 mphWind Chill: Falling to 5 below to 15 below

There was a carry out rescue for a day hiker who slid down a icy slope trying to hike up to Lake of the Crowds and injured her leg, then tried to head down and slid down another slope and injured the other leg. Most shaded trails still have "monorails up from about 3000 feet and up and several feet of rotting snow in other spots up high and in some cases not that high. My best is the stretch from Kinsman Notch (north of Moosilauke) and Franconia Notch is going to turn around more than few folks as it holds onto deep snow late in the season. The stretch from Lafayette to Garfield is also usually a big surprise.

These temperature swings do seem to be making an impact on black flies season. THey are not bad in the AM but they come to visit once it warms up.

[LoneStranger]

See what you can do to get that snow melted over the next three weeks please I was hoping to not have to carry traction to start my hike heh.

[peakbagger]

Keep an eye on New England Trail Conditions https://www.newenglandtrailconditions.com/

Trails NH is also another resource that "scrape" other sites. https://trailsnh.com/dashboard.php

There will be patches of snow in three weeks unless we have a major extended hot spell. Not enough for traction unless you go in the "deep dark areas" usually on the north side of ridges, The snowfield on the AT on the east side of Mt Jefferson near Edmunds Col usually sticks around until mid June. Do note, the Black flies are pretty much a guarantee until after Father's Day weekend and tend to move up slope as the season ends.

[LoneStranger]

Patches aren't an issue, but residual glacial monorail is! Heading up to work my Cohos sections in a minute. Curious to see how much snow is left up on the ridges between 2-3k on the north facing slopes.

I started a SOBO LT first week of June last year. BFs are not an issue once you just don't care anymore.