Mount Cardigan

Trail: Manning Trail, Holt Trail, Clark Trail, Mowglis Trail

Conditions: Dry Trail, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable

“50 degrees, sunny, some wet areas after rain the day before. Very windy on Cardigan summit, Yellow trout lily in bloom, impressed to see trail runner and his dogs on steep uneven terrain. Slick conditions on the steep part of the descent on Manning. Trekking poles helpful.”

Trail: Road walk, West Ridge Trail, South Ridge Trail, Skyland Trail, Clark Trail

Conditions: Dry Trail, Ice - Black, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Mud - Significant, Snow/Ice - Small Patches

“Awesome hike today-Orange is such an overlooked mountain with Cardigan stealing all the glory. The Skyland trail is a real gem and the summit ledges of Orange have a magnificent view of the entire 18-mile “superloop” hike that is an annual pilgrimage. We encountered minimal snow/ice all day. Didn’t carry traction and wouldn’t have thought to use it if we did. Saw a few early Trout Lily’s getting ready to bloom:) Five minutes up from the summer lot two older gentlemen descending asked if they were almost at the AMC lodge. These two bozos had no packs, no map or map phone app, and had descended the entire mountain the wrong direction. They also ascended the notorious Holt trail with no traction. They reported the entire steep part was covered in ice and they had to bear crawl and bushwhack through the trees to make it up. When I asked the guy if he knew what he was getting into today he replied he has hiked the Holt trail at least ten times?! I went over the map with them in detail and texted them Gaia screenshots and they were still acting clueless. It was a textbook case of being wildly unprepared and making repeated poor decisions. Saw multiple hikers later in sneakers with no packs and bluejeans. I thought the short bus didn’t start dropping people off until summer time but I guess it’s open season on Cardigan!!!”

Trail: Manning Trail, Mowglis Trail, Holt Trail

Conditions: Ice - Black, Wet Trail, Ice - Blue, Wet/Slippery Rock, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Snow/Ice - Postholes

“We hiked Sat, 3/21 before the recent snow (not sure it snowed there on Sunday). If you hike upper holt ice axe and crampons are essential until the ice melts. Trail started with some packed snow, spikes until the real ascent on holt. Then crampons. Ice axe was needed on the slabs but we used a shortened hiking poles in the pinch we found ourselves-- not recommended. Summit was bare rock with sporadic black ice. We took off spikes but you have to keep a focus on where you step. Spikes back on the way to firescrew and down manning. It required extra navigation focus in this section but you can see the paint markings and very short cairns where visible. Alltrails/gaia helped. There were very sketchy, very icy trail heading down from firescrew but we kept spikes and worked around the sections. We took spikes off, no snow or ice on manning before the trail junction near the accessible outhouse. Then it's snow again but soft enough to bare boot it.”