Took a day off Thursday to hike North Twin with Garry G. The conditions were spring-like....what a difference from a couple of weeks ago when we bailed on a Firewarden's trail hike to Hale due to a late start and bitter cold. The bushwhack/herd path route along Little River had very little snow. We skipped the first two crossings of Little River, and the third crossing was a little tricky because the snow bridges looked unstable. Found a spot where there was mostly bare rocks, some half-submerged, which caused me to get some water in one of my supposedly-waterproof Merrell boots. No big deal, I had extra socks but it was so warm - probably mid-30s - that it didn't cause an issue.

After crossing the stream, we started the long steep climb up to North Twin. This is a steep, relentless climb. We had made the decision to leave the snowshoes behind, and it was a good one....the snow was pretty solid all the way to the summit. There, the mild conditions continued. We had thought there would be enough wind to cause us to have to bundle up but that wasn't the case. It was almost balmy on the summit, but all fogged in so we didn't bother to head over to the lookout.

All in all, a pretty good day, and the first 4K I've done this winter.

Garry downstream looking for a good place to cross the river



Finally found a decent crossing spot



Solidly-packed trail



The exciting summit of North Twin



All the pics: https://www.flickr.com/photos/bcusolito ... 3751185910

It's interesting how variable the conditions over that river can change week-to-week. I did the Twins a week ago Wednesday, and we were able to walk/hop across on well-bridged ice/snow bridges. Looks a little trickier now.

As for trail conditions at the moment - did Moosilauke yesterday, and was surprised that the heavy rains on Wednesday were mostly absorbed by the snowpack. Up high there's much more glaze now than before the rain, and that will likely continue until the mountains get several inches of new snow. My friend wore his microspikes and I wore Hillsound Pros for a bit more bite, but didn't need snowshoes.

RIP Little River giant log