Mt Pierce and Mt Eisenhower

Today's hike: 10.6 mi | 6.5 h | 1.6 mph

I hiked up to Mt Pierce and Mt Eisenhower with Maggie's boy today. The forecast was about as good as it has been all summer, and it seemed like the perfect day to get the views from the summit of Eisenhower.

We started at the Crawford Connector. The hike up to Pierce is a steady, moderate, uphill climb through trees. You break out of the trees just below Mt Pierce, where there are spectacular views out to Eisenhower and off in the distance to Bretton Woods and Omni Mt Washington Resort.

view of Eisenhower from below Mt Pierce

view of Bretton Woods

You have to cut back uphill for a short jog up to the top of Mt Pierce. We found a couple of geodetic survey markers there - sweet!

"U.S. Geological Survey Marker Reference Mark"

"U.S. Geological Survey Marker Bench Mark"

The walk over to Eisenhower should have been easy. The col between the two mountains is not very deep. But it was tiring. It felt like a slog! Despite that, I enjoyed the mountain flora - interesting, tough little plants that looked a bit like broccoli. Even the lichen was beautiful!

flora in the alpine zone below Eisenhower

We stopped for a quick snack at the summit of Eisenhower, and enjoyed more amazing views - 360° around.

view of Mt Washington from Eisenhower

view of Eisenhower as you look back at it, heading towards the Edmands Path trail

We carried on hiking down the Edmands Path trail. I read somewhere that this is supposed to be a very well constructed trail. It was "okay". After descending the trail for about 30 minutes, we both were getting pretty tired. This may be the longest hike I've ever taken. So even though it was fairly easy, with moderate ascents and descents, I was pretty much ready to collapse by the time we got back to the road.

Yeah - the road. We made a big loop hike that's kind of shaped like a square. You start at the parking lot, hike east up Crawford Path to Mt Pierce, hike north to Mt Eisenhower, then hike back down and west to Mount Clinton Road where there's a second parking lot. Then there's a 2.3 mile hike back south on paved Mount Clinton Road to get back to the car. I perked up once I hit the road - that was easy going! Hiking such a big chunk of the trail on tarmac definitely improved our hiking time.

You couldn't ask for a better day to do this hike. I guess it could have been a little cooler. I'm not sure what the temperature was, maybe in the seventies. It was one of those still days, hardly even a breeze, even at the summits, which is rare.

A lot of other people had the same idea as we did. We crossed paths with numerous other hiking groups, and we had to share both Eisenhower and Pierce with others. That was okay, although I prefer more solitary hikes.

I've now hiked 26 4000-footers, so I've now crossed the halfway mark, w00t! Another fantastic day in the Whites!

wildcat a

Today's hike: 8.5 mi | 6.5 h | 1.3 mph

I hiked up to Wildcat A with Maggie's boy today. This was my 24th 4000-footer, so I'm halfway done!

I decided to be clever. We would take two cars, and do an end-to-end hike, starting at the Glen Ellis Falls trailhead and ending at the Nineteen Mile Brook trailhead. We'd bag the two peaks, A and D, and not have to retrace our steps.

This was to be another "fasting hike", which seems to suit me pretty well. We both had coffee when we got up.  We had purchased four Vermont Smoke & Cure "meat sticks" which went in my backpack, and that was all the food we took along with us. I had a quart of water, and the boy carried a couple quarts (he gets more thirsty than I do).

The parking lot at Pinkham Notch was looking pretty full when we arrived before 8 AM. That's Labor Day for you! However, we were parking one vehicle at Nineteen Mile Brook trailhead, and there were plenty of spots there. Then we drove back down about a mile south of Pinkham Notch to the Glen Ellis Falls trailhead.

At the trailhead, I was distracted by someone asking for change for a ten-dollar bill (the parking fee at most areas in the Whites is five dollars if you don't have a season sticker - which I do). I want to say that this distraction is the reason that I made a crucial mistake at this point. I'll come to that at the end of my story.

Crossing the Glen Ellis River was doable, but dicey. I don't know how much rain they've been getting in Pinkham Notch. I expected the river to be shallow enough to cross easily, but I was wrong! In the end, rather than spending a lot of time searching for the right way to rock-hop across, we both removed our boots and crossed barefoot through the water. Then we spent just a little bit of time drying off our feet. I think this was probably the most efficient way to cross. You do have to be careful: cross where the water is below your knees, and move so you don't fall on the slippery stuff that grows on rocks under the water!

The hike up to Wildcat D was uneventful. Conditions were similar to those of last week at Wildcat D. Not much wind, and a bit too humid, but more overcast. Despite that, it was a fine day, and the sky cleared as we approached the top of the Wildcat Ski Area. This is where we sat down to break our fast by eating one of our meat sticks. It was here that we discovered we'd purchased "turkey pepperoni" sticks, much to our dismay. They had the right amount of salt, but lacked the grease which we had been eagerly awaiting. To add insult to injury, one of the tourists who had been ferried up on the gondola was strolling about with a lit cigarette. The fumes wafted our way constantly. Nothing to do but get up and move on.

We were now entering unknown territory, since I'd only gotten this far last week. It turns out that the hike between Wildcat D and A is a series of up-and-down hill hikes. The trail is similar to the approach to Wildcat D - pretty rocky, but never as steep. It was a surprise when we reached Wildcat A; the hike took less time than expected. Someone was just leaving the summit as we approached, and we had the small outlook all to ourselves and the juncos as we ate our second pseudo-pepperoni sticks. We had a beautiful view of Carter Notch to the north. I think we were looking at Carter Dome to the east, and we could see a small number of buildings which must be where Carter Notch hut is located, below us.

Carter Notch

Carter Notch hut and Carter Dome in the distance (I think)

After enjoying the view and our far-too-dry snacks, we hiked on. The trail goes down steeply for about 0.7 miles, where it becomes more gradual and finally meets the intersection of the Carter-Moriah trail and the Nineteen Mile Brook trail. The Nineteen Mile Brook trail is not very exciting. It goes downhill at a very gentle grade, crossing little trickles of water that may give you more trouble at the beginning of the season, but were easily crossed now. The trickles of water did get wider as we got further down the trail, and eventually became so big that the trail maintainers felt they merited a footbridge.

first footbridge along the Nineteen Mile Brook trail

beautiful slabby brook with a cascade

The brook becomes pretty active and wide, to your left, once you pass the first footbridge. It's dotted with interesting slabby and blocky features.

Eventually, you come to a mysterious dam (who put the dam here, and why?), which creates a deep pool of water. The water is crystal clear, and on a day like today, it was tempting to take a dip. But we didn't have time. Around this point, a lightbulb went off over my head. I asked Maggie's boy: "Where are the keys to your car?" and he responded, "They're in your car, of course!" (he's in the habit of throwing the keys to the car in the cupholder). Oops!

I gave him my keys and urged him to hustle down the trail in the hopes of meeting the AMC shuttle. I was in no shape to hustle, as my right knee was bothering me, but he still felt fine. The Nineteen Mile Brook trailhead is a stop for the shuttle, but we had no idea what the schedule was. Foolishly, I had hopes that a bus pulled up every 30 minutes or so. It turned out that the shuttle stops at this trailhead 4 times a day... and he arrived at the trailhead about 20 minutes after the last stop, which happens to be 2:55 PM.

While he waited for me to arrive at the trailhead, he asked a couple of people in their cars for a lift to Pinkham Notch and was met with lukewarm refusals. No one was going that way, or they claimed they didn't know where Pinkham Notch was (it's about 5 miles down the road). If a strange man approached you for a ride, would you let them in your car? No! But when I arrived, seeing that he wasn't just a lone kook but was accompanied by a woman hiker, one driver relented, and Maggie's boy got a lift back to Pinkham Notch. For reasons that remain obscure, he felt he couldn't ask for a lift to Glen Ellis Falls, which is only one mile further. He ran down to Glen Ellis Falls, and then drove the car back to me, where our adventure ended.

Let this be a warning to you, people. If you are doing an end-to-end hike, do something to remind yourself to keep that second car key on your person. Literally attach it to your pack with a sling, if that's what it takes!

wildcat d

Today's hike: 5.8 mi | 5.5 h | 1.1 mph

The parking lot at Pinkham Notch was filling up when I arrived shortly after 8:00 am. I chose to hike in to the Wildcat Ridge Trail via the Lost Pond Trail. It adds about one hour to the hike, but it's easy, and it gives you an extended view of the scenic, clear Ellis River.

Wildcat Ridge Trail starts out steep and rocky, and stays that way for most of its length. There are rock scrambles like this one (not really as steep as it looks):

climbing up the Wildcat Ridge Trail

Your reward is a view like this:

Wildcat Ridge Trail view of Mt Washington

and this:

another view

The trail is well maintained. This is the first time in New Hampshire that I've seen wooden "stairs" set into the slabby rock to help you up.

wooden steps on the Wildcat Ridge Trail

Once you get up high enough, the trail becomes more moderate. At this point, I had some trouble deciding whether I'd reached the summit. I think that I hit "E" peak and wondered whether I was there. I didn't plan this trek very well, so I checked my map. The peak is supposed to be pretty close to where Wildcat ski area's gondola tops out, and I hadn't seen that yet, so I kept hiking... until I suddenly popped out into a clearing and saw this!

Wildcat gondola

The nerve of those people, taking a shortcut to the top! Actually, it turns out that this is not the top; you have to keep hiking for a short while, past these signs (familiar to me from my winter skiing adventures at Wildcat)...

Upper Polecat

... and on up into the woods for just a few minutes. Then you come to a raised platform which is at the real peak of the mountain.

I had a plan to possibly hike on to Wildcat A, but I was worried about the time required. I hadn't brought any food other than a single Vermont Smoke & Cure meat stick (which turned out to be yum!). I probably would have made it, but it seemed risky.

This is my 23rd 4000-footer! I'm getting closer to the halfway mark. It was another beautiful day in the Whites! It doesn't get much better than this.

PS: I really wouldn't want to do this one in the rain! The potential for slipping on wet rock would be bad.

Mt Monroe

Today's hike: 6 mi | 5 h |  1.2 mph

Today, I hiked up to Mt. Monroe, my 22nd 4000-footer.

someone left a pair of boots at the side of the trail!

The mountains in the Presidential Range are some of the taller 4000-footers, and I've been expecting the hikes to these peaks to be more difficult than my previous 4000-footers. However, this did not turn out to be the case. It's not an easy hike, but nothing to be intimidated by.

I took the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail. Mt. Monroe is 5,372 ft high. The elevation gain for this hike is about 2,800 ft. The only real difficulty that I encountered was that the trail has some steep, slabby sections, and they were often wet. This was true despite the fact that it hasn't rained in several days. The wet areas were made extra slippery by a thin layer of dirt and sand, and I did slip a couple of times. I used my hands to help secure my position, here and there, along the way. I would not want to be on this trail soon after a rain, or while it was raining. The White Mountain Guide book recommends this as the best trail for getting to the AMC hut up near Mt Washington in bad weather, because it is in the woods most of the way. No thanks!

cascades at about 2.3 miles into the Ammonoosuc Trail

It was a warm fall day. It's early yet, and the trail only had a light sprinkling of autumn leaves. It being Sunday, the trail was fairly busy. I lost count of the number of hikers that I passed or who passed me; perhaps there were about 20 groups in total. This was far too much traffic for my liking, but other than that, it was a nearly ideal day for the hike.

After about 3 miles of hiking, you break through the trees, and the ascent becomes much less steep, hence easier. However, I still had to be careful ascending some wet slabby areas.

Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail on the approach to Lake of the Clouds AMC hut

It was not long before I got a glimpse of the "Lake of the Clouds" AMC hut. I'd read reports that it was not open after September 16. It was, indeed, boarded up.

At this point, my goal was clearly in sight - Mt. Monroe was a short, easy hike from the hut. Up until now, the day had been quiet and cool. As I ascended Mt. Monroe, the wind picked up, and I had to hang onto my hat for fear of losing it. Next time, I should remember to bring a keeper of some sort for the hat!

closing in on Mt. Monroe

Mt. Washington is in plain view once you get to the "Lake of the Clouds." Looking at it from Mt. Monroe, I was sorely tempted to head up there, and bag another 4000-footer. However, I decided against it. It will probably be more fun (i.e. less crowded) to hike there on a weekday, and I'm not in a rush.

Mt. Washington and the Lake of the Clouds as seen from Mt. Monroe