bintrepidhiker
New member
Couldn't have asked for a better day to hike than this past sunday. me and one of my friends who camped out at Mt Deception the night before in the 40 degree weather got up early and was ready to go at about 7. We started at the Cog railway and hiked up the Ammonoosuc Ravine Trail that would take us to the Lakes of the Clouds Hut. I had hiked this before so there weren't any surprises. Pretty gradual in the beginning then it gets steep for awhile before the rock climbing starts nearer the top. Not sure why but i like doing that kind of climbing after i've done the walking up stairs routine the last hour or 2.
Once we reached the hut we kept on going to Monroe via Crawford Path and the Monroe Loop. At the summit we stopped for a quick bite to eat then headed to Little Monroe and down to rejoin the Crawford Path. I had my fleece jacket in my bag as a long sleeved shirt but the weather was so gorgeous up there neither were needed. the wind was pretty calm and the temps had to be in the 60's, maybe high 50's. To us that was warm after sleeping in the 40's anyway hehe. We continued at a steady pace over Franklin then down to meet Eisenhower Loop. Got to the top to find one crowded summit. Had to be a good 20-30 people up there. We stayed for just a couple of minutes then headed down to Edmunds Path for our descent.
At this point we were just shy of 4 hours after our start so we stopped one more time for a snack then practically ran down the trail. Its gotta be one of the most steady declines i've been on. usually i'm the ultra cautious hiker when it comes to getting off the mountain but here i was running just about the whole way down. We ended up covering edmund's path in under an hour and the whole trip of roughly 10 miles in 5 hours. Definatly a nice loop to do if you want these 2 mountains done.
Once we reached the hut we kept on going to Monroe via Crawford Path and the Monroe Loop. At the summit we stopped for a quick bite to eat then headed to Little Monroe and down to rejoin the Crawford Path. I had my fleece jacket in my bag as a long sleeved shirt but the weather was so gorgeous up there neither were needed. the wind was pretty calm and the temps had to be in the 60's, maybe high 50's. To us that was warm after sleeping in the 40's anyway hehe. We continued at a steady pace over Franklin then down to meet Eisenhower Loop. Got to the top to find one crowded summit. Had to be a good 20-30 people up there. We stayed for just a couple of minutes then headed down to Edmunds Path for our descent.
At this point we were just shy of 4 hours after our start so we stopped one more time for a snack then practically ran down the trail. Its gotta be one of the most steady declines i've been on. usually i'm the ultra cautious hiker when it comes to getting off the mountain but here i was running just about the whole way down. We ended up covering edmund's path in under an hour and the whole trip of roughly 10 miles in 5 hours. Definatly a nice loop to do if you want these 2 mountains done.
