South Twin Mountain

Also on this trip

Trails Used

Beaver Brook XC Ski Trail, Gale River Road, Gale River Trail, Garfield Ridge Trail, Frost Trail, Twinway, North Twin Trail,

Trail Conditions

Equipment

Notes

This was a day. The road walk and first 2 miles of the trail were bare ground. There is a lot of water on the trail and some serious mud. After the larger water crossing we all put on spikes but there were still areas of bare ground and rock. The ice was thick but with the warm temps we had good purchase. Up higher, the snow is packed but if you deviate from the monorail even by inches, you will posthole. By the afternoon, things were melting and softening resulting is slippery slush for our descent. All of us found and fell in spruce traps. Conditions are tedious and very typical of April. Go early and take advantage of the colder temps when you can and pack your trash bags. Huge thanks to an amazing crew to keep me company today. Gridded out all 3 of these peaks today!

Parking

Plenty of parking at the Beaver Brook picnic area. $5 to park or use the WMNF pass.

Water Crossings

Welllllll, this was planned as a traverse but the water levels increased significantly overnight do it turned into an OAB. The larger crossing of the Gale River was crossed sort of successfully by the longer legged folks in our group but did result in wet feet. The shorter legged crew members donned trash bags or waterproof boot covers (These have changed my life) and waded across with good success.

Wildlife

I saw a few flying creatures so they are starting to come back up from Hell.

Also on this trip

Trails Used

Little River Road, North Twin Trail, North Twin Spur, Twinway, Zealand Spur, Lend-A-Hand Trail, Firewardens Trail

Trail Conditions

Equipment

Notes

Bareboots from 7Dwarfs to the N. Twin TH, then micros to about half way up N. Twin, then snowshoes to S. Twin, across to Guyot, and down to Lend-A-Hand, then back to Micros. North Twin to South Twin was nicely packed, the rest of the trails were varying amounts of lumpy, churned, loose snow. Most people seem to be going with microspikes now, and the monorail is supportive but there is a few inches of snow that got rained on on top, and is now getting churned up, so a lot of lump. I was super psyched when I got to S. Twin and saw that a couple of people had broken trail to Guyot, probably yesterday or the day before. Remarkably few trees down between S. Twin and Guyot made for mostly easy navigation. You'll definitely want snowshoes for this stretch. It was much colder up above 3500' today, the snow below that level melted quite a bit and the last half mile of N. Twin trail to the TH and Haystack rd has some dirt patches exposed now. Above 3500', not a lot melted.

Parking

Parked at 7 Dwarfs. $10 in the mailbox by the office door with my make/model/plate on a napkin which I origami'd into an envelope. Met a couple just heading out who parked at the end of the road near the bridge and convinced them to move to 7Ds. They asked if I thought they'd get towed and I don't know, but it would sure suck to finish the hike to an empty spot where your car USED to be, probably with no cell service. I assume the property owner at the end of the road got salty at some point when hikers blocked his driveway or something like that...so use the Dwarfs.

Water Crossings

The new log at the main crossing is solid and made crossing a breeze.

Also on this trip

Trail Conditions

Equipment

Notes

Left 7 Dwarfs after 8am. Sun out 80% of the time. Mostly thin crunchy ice down low with a few inches of snow between and around the peaks. Snowshoes weren't needed but could be somewhat useful between the 2 peaks.

Water Crossings

Stream crossings were a bit rough