How do I find out what trails are open?

GREETINGS!!!!!

I have been trying to find a webpage that lists which trails are open and which trails are closed for the past year.

I used to have a bookmark for such a site, but I couldn't find it again, and I couldn't find the site after I did multiple general internet searches.

I looked through all the MountWashington.org websites but I couldn't find any information about trail closures on any of the sections or their webpages.

I tried searching through the forums, but again I couldn't find any threads about current trail open/closure updates.

(I intended to post my question on November 21, but due to technical difficulties I could not create a new thread until December 13. So, just assume that there wasn't snow on the mountain like back in November and I am asking this question then.)


What trails are open or closed? How do I find out this information from the MountWashington.org website?

Just to be clear, do you mean trail closures on Mount Washington? Out side of Tuckerman Ravine Trail the trails are rarely closed. Hiking to the summit through any of the ravines would require technical ice climbing skills. Approaches such as Boott Spur, Lion Head or Ammo-Crawford are hike-able with proper winter gear. Often the ravines are closed due to avalanche danger, is this what you mean?

http://www.mountwashingtonavalanchecenter.org/

KDT

I'm guessing you might mean on a greater scale such as for the entire white mountain national forest. I would think this info would be somewhere, but I don't think I have ever run across it. Not in a form that shows a list of all trail. (that would be a big list too) This would be good info as some trails are still closed (at least parts are) from storms such as Irene.

Here is a link to roads that are closed in the WMNF which can help you choose where to hike. An extra walk down a closed road to a trail head to hike isn't fun for some people.
http://www.fs.usda.gov/detailfull/wh...538&width=full

On the same site, I did find this pdf that lists trails currently closed (mainly due to damage) in the WMNF.
http://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_...rdb5366852.pdf

You might want to take a look at TrailsNH.com, a portal for hikers. It gathers everything you need for you next hike in one place: Small icons on the map mark the location for:
- Every hiking trip report in New England
- WMNF road closures
- WMNF trail advisories
- MWAC avalanche advisories
- Hut and xc ski area snow depths
- and more

Just enter the name of the peak you want to hike in the search box. Click the icons on the map to check out the local conditions.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Kimball

You might want to take a look at TrailsNH.com, a portal for hikers. It gathers everything you need for you next hike in one place: Small icons on the map mark the location for:
- Every hiking trip report in New England
- WMNF road closures
- WMNF trail advisories
- MWAC avalanche advisories
- Hut and xc ski area snow depths
- and more

Just enter the name of the peak you want to hike in the search box. Click the icons on the map to check out the local conditions.

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TrailsNH (http://trailsnh.com/) is indeed an excellent site which contains comprehensive info about hiking conditions in NH and throughout all of New England. I highly recommend it.

Another source for New England trail conditions is http://www.newenglandtrailconditions.com/, which I also find very useful and recommend.

Alright I checked these websites and I still don't see if Jewell and the Amn trails are open...I saw a few blurbs about trail conditions, and in one of the blog entries there was something about one of the Lion trails being opened.

So, where can I find a simple table of open and available trails?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by andrejfavia

Alright I checked these websites and I still don't see if Jewell and the Amn trails are open...I saw a few blurbs about trail conditions, and in one of the blog entries there was something about one of the Lion trails being opened.

So, where can I find a simple table of open and available trails?

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There really isn't a table as such that I am aware of... Jewell & Amonoosuc are never really closed so to speak. Usually it's a matter of knowing weather conditions and making your own decision on whether you feel you are capable in those weather conditions. Lions Head is a recommended alternate route during the winter months for safety, so that's probably why that was being discussed. Having one of the trail guides, checking the weather, including the summit conditions & forecast should give you a good baseline for a safe, fun hike.

andrejfavia

Here's a list of links that I've kept. Try NewEnglandTrailConditions.com. Go to the View Trail Conditions Reports By State & click New Hampshire. There are entries from today on there.

Views From the Top (VFTT) - http://www.viewsfromthetop.com/ - Forums and trail conditions for all NE hiking

Hike the Whites - http://hikethewhites.com/ - One of the best sources of overall info for White Mountain hiking. Great links page

NewEnglandTrailConditions.com - http://www.newenglandtrailconditions.com/ The newest and rapidly becoming the best trail conditions site for all of New England. Near daily updates on most popular trails

FranklinSites.com Hiking Guide - http://hike.franklinsites.com/ - Info, trip reports and photos from all the peaks on all the NH and NE lists

Peakbagging the 4000 Footers - http://home.earthlink.net/~ellozy/ - Mohamed Ellozy's execellent info on all of the 4Ks and much more

AMC Hiking Resources - http://www.outdoors.org/recreation/hiking/index.cfm - Links to the AMCs primary hiking resources

White Mountain Guide Online - https://www.wmgonline.org/ - The complete AMC White Mountain Guide (the bible for White Mountain hikers) in interactive online form with trip planning, map creation, etc

White Mountains National Forrest - http://www.fs.fed.us/r9/forests/white_mountain/ - The official Forrest Service website

Ghostflowers - http://ghostflowers.com/ Kevin Talbot's pictures and trip reports from all of the 4000 footers (multiple times) and more. Newer galleries are now here: http://ghostflowers.smugmug.com/White-Mountain-Hikes

NH Mountain Hiking - http://www.nhmountainhiking.com/ - tons of info on the mountains, all of the "lists", photos, etc

NH 52 With a View - http://www.mv.com/ipusers/fs/hike/lists/52view.html - The Over the Hill Hikers list of the top 52 mountains for views in NH

Hike New England - http://www.hikenewengland.com/ - Nicely edited trip reports with photos and maps

Hike-NH - http://www.hike-nh.com/ - General NH hiking info, trip reports, etc

AT Shelters - http://www.cs.utk.edu/~dunigan/at/index.php - good info on all of the AT shelters and surrounding areas

Slackpacker NH - http://www.slackpacker.com/map_nh.html - Links to NH trail info and TRs

The White Mountains Grid - http://www.48x12.com/ - All about hiking the 48 4000 footers in each month - AKA The Grid

Rocks on Top - http://www.rocksontop.com/ - Another NE hiking forum with lots of good trip reports and other NE hiking info

Many more great links on the Hike the Whites links page - http://hikethewhites.com/links.html

http://trailsnh.com/


http://www.nhmountainhiking.com/

Quote:

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Originally Posted by whitemtnvisitor

There really isn't a table as such that I am aware of... Jewell & Amonoosuc are never really closed so to speak. Usually it's a matter of knowing weather conditions and making your own decision on whether you feel you are capable in those weather conditions.

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So according to newenglandtrailconditions, there is a lot of snow and ice on Jewell trail, so I probably shouldn't go up it yet...

Why can't someone make a live-updated list of open trails? That's what they do for Mt. Katahdin.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by andrejfavia

So according to newenglandtrailconditions, there is a lot of snow and ice on Jewell trail, so I probably shouldn't go up it yet...

Why can't someone make a live-updated list of open trails? That's what they do for Mt. Katahdin.

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There are far more trails in the Whites than Baxter. The only thing that really closes the trails is real bad weather. Washouts mostly. The only thing recently that closed all the trails was tropical storm Irene. Many trails in winter are only lightly used(deep snow), but still very much open. I'm sure if you could find someone willing to make that sight, many would greatly appreciate it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by whitemtnvisitor

Views From the Top (VFTT) - http://www.viewsfromthetop.com/ - Forums and trail conditions for all NE hiking

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Note that VFTT is now at http://www.vftt.org - the above link has a redirect, but it's not guaranteed to work forever.

Tim

Hi Andrej

Trail information is somewhat of a hobby of mine. There is no webpage with a table that list "which trails are open and which trails are closed." I have been gathering the conditions of hiking trails in the New Hampshire for 5+ years, never seen it.

What we do have is a map with every recent trip report and trail closure notice. That's http://TrailsNH.com

TrailsNH.com is powered by the many many web bots I built that gather as much hiking related information as I can find. The bots go out and check for changing conditions, all day, every day. Conditions like: is the forest road open?, did the ranger close a trail?, are there any new trip reports?. In winter the bots also check: is there an avalanche warning in Tux or Huntington?, how deep is the snow at the huts & gray knob?, how deep is the snow on XC ski trails? The bots check every public source of hiking related information that I know of, and I think I know them all. The bots then determine the coarse geographic location and pin the report to the big trail conditions map on TrailsNH.com.

In the WMNF only the Forest Service closes trails, and as others have pointed out, in the past 5+ year this was only due of severe storm damage or reconstruction. Not because of winter conditions. When the Forest Service closes a trail, my bots place a black triangle map symbol on the big trail conditions map on TrailsNH.com

For example, see the black triangle symbol on the Lincoln Woods trail: http://trailsnh.com/find/lincoln+woods

It sounds like what you were looking for was "does the trail have snow on it?" not "is the trail open or closed?" Trails do not close in NH because of snow and ice. There is a huge amount of people in NH that love snowshowing and winter hiking.

There are a small number of "snow stakes" where the snow depth is measured and published. You will find them on the TrailsNH map marked with the blue triangle map symbol. In winter see http://trailsnh.com/find/zealand+falls+hut for an example.

Snow depth is not measured on the Jewell or Ammonoosuc trails so you have to go by recent trip reports. Either on your trail, of make an educated guess from a trip report near by.