Mount Waumbek

Trail: Starr King Road, Starr King Trail

Conditions: Ice - Black, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Stable), Snow - Wet/Sticky

“Laid down the first set of tracks on the trail today after yesterday’s, yes … snow ❄️ Not time to hang up the snowshoes yet, the trails in higher elevation do have snow & ice, which I’m not sure anyone heading from the southern parts are aware… there was trace depth at start, 2” as I gained & higher elevation was 4-5” of powdery loose snow. I wore my snowshoes at 2” & kept them on to / from same point.. I saw 4 groups with a total of 9 people out barebooting or in spikes following my pioneered effort. The snow today was not consolidated, is very loosely “packed” if you can call it that, by my couple passes.. as day went on snow was starting to get sticky so idk what’s left after the rototilling booters. The snow is over a solid monorail of pretty much straight up ice. Some sections I got not the best traction & got to practice my fancy footwork as the monorail underneath was otherwise a bit wonky, uneven & such. Wobbled a bit here & there with snowshoes but they’re still I personally feel the best choice for what was there on top. Who knows what will change as it warms up or if there’s any more precipitation. Not to sound like a bitter old man, but your trail daddy just wants to send a friendly reminder to be safe & keep in mind the shoulder season is unpredictable, plan for possible winter conditions for trail and forecast. I’d hate to see you travel all this way to enjoy the beautiful white mountains, to have it become ‘not a good time bro’ Also, I just really appreciate when people look ahead when planning to see that they may want to expect when they plan their day hikes… that the alpine flowers aren’t growing at 4k ft yet. I mean, there ain’t even leaves on the trees at Waumbek, so please bring more than a water bottle and sneakers. “Spring” is a slow degradation of trails before you get solid dirt under your feet again. Enjoy the ride, anyways 🤷 happy hiking! 🥾 Love, Your Trail Father Aka the “Cool” Dad”

Trail: Starr King Trail

Conditions: Ice - Black, Wet Trail, Wet/Slippery Rock, Ice - Breakable Crust, Standing/Running Water on Trail, Mud - Minor/Avoidable, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Stable)

“Better than expected conditions today. A combo of wet trail, flowing water, icy and snowy leftover hard pack down low. Stable hardpack and beginnings of monorails up top but you gotta stay in the hard center. It was warm down low but breezy, dank and chilly up top at times. It was a bit like a Taylor Swift concert costume change for us as layers went on and off and on again. Spikes car to car. I used exos, others used microdspikes. I'm glad to grid out this peak and get an over 70 for Kwi-Hui.”

Trail: Starr King Trail

Conditions: Dry Trail, Ice - Black, Ice - Blue, Snow/Ice - Monorail (Stable), Snow/Ice - Postholes

“Decided to do this hike after waking up & determining i wasnt going to go through with fighting spring-like trail conditions elsewhere. The trail was covered in light snow, under the snow down low was a solid sheet of ice. Above 3200 the trail was a stable monorail. I dont have a lot to say about this hike other than it will fulfill getting Waumbek in winter to complete a winter 48 list. I was disappointed that i ended up doing this instead of something more grand. Trail conditions are about to be reset...”