Shelburne Moriah Mountain

Trail: Shelburne Trail, Kenduskeag Trail, bushwhack

Conditions: Ice - Black, Snow - Trace/Minimal Depth, Ice - Blue, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular, Mud - Minor/Avoidable

“I lucked out with a really nice day for these two peaks. I parked at the end of Losier Road in order to avoid the extra roadwalk involved with the winter parking area of the Shelburne Trail. I was able to cross over East Brook and follow Corridor 19 (snowmobile trail) until it met up with the Shelburne Trail. This was about 2 1/4 miles. A light dusting of snow had fallen overnight, which made for some tricky footing where the ice had recently re-frozen. However, snow and ice was patchy until I met up with the Shelburne Trail. From here to the col, snow depth gradually increased from 2-4 inches at the snowmobile trail to perhaps 18-24 inches just before the col in the north-facing ravine. Everything was hard-packed and there was essentially no ice, so I was able to bare boot this stretch. The bushwhack to Howe was open with gentle terrain. Oddly, I found the south side of the ridge to have more open woods. Nice views from the summit ledges. Snow depth was minimal along the ridge with many areas of bare ground. The Kenduskeag Trail to the summit of Shelburne Moriah was a beautiful ridgewalk with many nice views. Routefinding required some care in a few places as I only saw a few old blazes and the trail was fairly grown in around the alpine areas. Snow depth remained fairly minimal - most places only had a few inches and there were a number of areas of bare ground, even in the woods. There were a few short stretches where spikes would be helpful. I returned the same way. Shelburne Moriah completed my NHHH, was #428/457 of the NE 3k's, and made #205/207 of the NH200.”

Trail: Road walk, Shelburne Trail, Kenduskeag Trail, bushwhack

Conditions: Ice - Blue, Snow - Unpacked Powder, Snow/Ice - Frozen Granular

“A hard earned summit today. 14 miles total including the 1 mile bushwhack, which was easy compared to the ridge. Not a ton of snow here, which made the ridge passable. A fresh inch fell today, making the branches we had to squeeze under snowy, but at least they weren’t too bent over and loaded, and no major blowdowns. I was worried about ice, but it was mostly crusty snow, which was tricky with the fresh stuff on top sliding and clumping on the snowshoes today. Going backwards downhill on some parts, some folks might make use of an axe and crampons if you don’t trust your balance. The trail was not too hard to follow but it would be nice if it got a trim to make it more passable in winter.”

Trail: Rattle River Trail

Conditions: Snow - Unpacked Powder

“Trail was broken out to the shelter, but not well packed. Unbroken above the shelter, but our group of three did a nice job of it. Not packed hard yet, so snowshoes still needed. We only made it about 3 miles from the road, and found a steep sidehill dropping to the right, into the river. Serious fall and avalanche hazard. We did not cross, and did not see an easy bypass. The trail is well packed until this point. Beautiful day for breaking out a fun trail, although shorter than planned.”