Mt. Moosilauke Hike

TRIP DATE:      February 7, 2015                                

TRIP LOCATION:          Mt. Moosilauke                      

MEETING TIME:          8:30 am           

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS (INCLUDING LEADERS):             4         

TOTAL HIKING TIME (IN HOURS):       8:30 hours

LENGTH IN MILES:      7.8 miles

TOTAL ELEVATION GAIN (IN FEET):    2,932 feet; 1,880 feet in the first 1.5 miles

DIFFICULTY:      B                             (A=very strenuous; B=strenuous; C=average; D=easy)

LEADER NAME(S):       Bob Vogel

CO-LEADER NAME(S):             John Pereira and Paul Vermette

TRAILHEAD PARKING LOCATION & DESCRIPTION:    Trailhead parking was at Beaver Brook WMNF parking area (adjacent to route 112) in Kinsman Notch. It’s a developed site with an outhouse and parking for a couple of dozen cars. Parking area was well plowed.

CAR SPOTTING REQUIRED?:         No                TIME REQUIRED TO SPOT CARS:

WAS TRIP WITHIN WHITE MOUNTAIN NATIONAL FOREST?              Yes

BRIEFLY DESCRIBE SPECIFIC TRAILS HIKED AND TRAIL CONDITIONS ENCOUNTERED:       
Began with Beaver Brook Trail, then Benton Trail to the summit. Returned the same way. The trails had a decent hard packed base, but had some softer snow on top of it of about 6” that was packed down by a party ahead of us. Finding the beginning of the trail above treeline can be challenging (especially in poor weather conditions), but I was able to locate it with no issues because I hiked the trail a year earlier. Snowshoes was used up to the summit, while some used it on the way down and others preferred to use crampons or just regular boots.  

Temperatures were in the high single digits to low teens. Winds at the summit were gusting between 30 to 40mph.