Conditions:
Wet trail conditions. Where there was ledge (there’s a lot of it), it was wet. Some of it coming down N. Kinsman and across the Cannon Balls was quite greasy. Caution. Lots of mud. Usually hoppable, but some hard to get across w/o planting a foot in it. Worst across Cannon Balls, but really the entire KRT is an on and off mud fest.
Equipment:
Trail runners, kept them mostly dry with a few mud incidents
Trail Maintenance:
Not a lot of blowdowns, the crews have done an awesome job clearing the trails from this winter’s carnage. Some muddy areas could use some love.
Parking & Road Access:
Welp it’s a Saturday in Franconia Notch. But presumably due to the ominous if inaccurate weather reports and early rain there were actually a few parking spaces at Lafayette.
Comments:
Bugs were not overwhelming, but just don’t stop for long even on the summits. Mosquitoes mostly, black flies present but maybe on the decline (yay?). Expect wet and muddy trail conditions to persist until we get a stretch with no rain.