poison ivy
Well-known member
I was bummed out about having to skip my three-day Presidential traverse because of the weather. So, once the weather report looked favorable for Saturday, my husband & I decided to salvage some of the weekend by hiking about 12 miles through the Southern Presidentials. I’m so glad we went because the weather was absolutely gorgeous and the day ranks up there among one of the best I’ve had in the Whites this year. Pictures are located
here
I had two goals for the trip -- to pick up a 9.2 mile section of the AT and to summit Mt. Pierce, which is one of the mountains I still need for my NH 48. So we headed up the Webster Cliff Trail, which is also the AT, at around 9 a.m. to start the day. Though I had some concerns about the 2,600 foot ascent, it was actually a really fun way to climb Mt. Webster, especially since I’m a huge fan of rock scrambles! While it was a little muggy at the trailhead, we quickly found the temperatures to be very comfortable thanks to the stiff breeze that blew in from all of the viewpoints along the trail.
We were moving fairly slowly up Webster Cliff and reached the summit of Mt. Webster after about 3 ½ hours of hiking. I’ve been there before and the view from the cliffs didn’t disappoint this time either. After just a short break, we headed up to Mt. Jackson. With its view of the southern Presidentials, Dave said it was one of the best summits I’ve dragged him up so far. It was his fifth 4K, we think (because he has turned back on a number of them just short of the summit, so we had a tough time remember which ones he’s actually been to… too bad they don’t give patches to members of the “Close Enough Club.”)
After a long break to bask in the sun & take in the views, we headed down to Mizpah Hut through some very wet and muddy bogs (some of the bridges were actually underwater) for a lunch break. Dave was thrilled to get two glasses of pink lemonade (his favorite drink in the world,) and I had fantastic calzones which were so good I thought they had to have meat in them (but they didn’t, the croo assured me.) After a half-hour rest, we headed out from the hut at around 2:30 p.m., to get to the summit of Mt. Pierce.
The trail initially climbs up a bunch of boulders, but once we reached the south peak, it was a fairly easy stroll to the south summit. Mt. Pierce, at 4,310 feet, was my 37th peak on the NH 4K list and Dave’s sixth (or so.) Just off the summit, the AT turns onto the Crawford Path, which thanks to the rain, it was also one of the wettest trails we’d been on. We were pretty well coated with mud by time we reached Eisenhower since we were so busy enjoying the views from the ridge, we ended up walking through many of the muddy puddles.
At the junctions of the Edmands Path, which we reached at 5 p.m., I asked Dave whether he wanted to summit Eisenhower. He had no interest (& this, at 12 miles, was the longest hike he’s ever been on, so it‘s understandable!) Since I’ve summited Ike before, it was fine with me to skip it, so we headed down Edmands Path to the car. Two hours, we reached the car after a 10-hour day of hiking and lollygagging. It was a fantastic trip!
- Ivy
here
I had two goals for the trip -- to pick up a 9.2 mile section of the AT and to summit Mt. Pierce, which is one of the mountains I still need for my NH 48. So we headed up the Webster Cliff Trail, which is also the AT, at around 9 a.m. to start the day. Though I had some concerns about the 2,600 foot ascent, it was actually a really fun way to climb Mt. Webster, especially since I’m a huge fan of rock scrambles! While it was a little muggy at the trailhead, we quickly found the temperatures to be very comfortable thanks to the stiff breeze that blew in from all of the viewpoints along the trail.
We were moving fairly slowly up Webster Cliff and reached the summit of Mt. Webster after about 3 ½ hours of hiking. I’ve been there before and the view from the cliffs didn’t disappoint this time either. After just a short break, we headed up to Mt. Jackson. With its view of the southern Presidentials, Dave said it was one of the best summits I’ve dragged him up so far. It was his fifth 4K, we think (because he has turned back on a number of them just short of the summit, so we had a tough time remember which ones he’s actually been to… too bad they don’t give patches to members of the “Close Enough Club.”)
After a long break to bask in the sun & take in the views, we headed down to Mizpah Hut through some very wet and muddy bogs (some of the bridges were actually underwater) for a lunch break. Dave was thrilled to get two glasses of pink lemonade (his favorite drink in the world,) and I had fantastic calzones which were so good I thought they had to have meat in them (but they didn’t, the croo assured me.) After a half-hour rest, we headed out from the hut at around 2:30 p.m., to get to the summit of Mt. Pierce.
The trail initially climbs up a bunch of boulders, but once we reached the south peak, it was a fairly easy stroll to the south summit. Mt. Pierce, at 4,310 feet, was my 37th peak on the NH 4K list and Dave’s sixth (or so.) Just off the summit, the AT turns onto the Crawford Path, which thanks to the rain, it was also one of the wettest trails we’d been on. We were pretty well coated with mud by time we reached Eisenhower since we were so busy enjoying the views from the ridge, we ended up walking through many of the muddy puddles.
At the junctions of the Edmands Path, which we reached at 5 p.m., I asked Dave whether he wanted to summit Eisenhower. He had no interest (& this, at 12 miles, was the longest hike he’s ever been on, so it‘s understandable!) Since I’ve summited Ike before, it was fine with me to skip it, so we headed down Edmands Path to the car. Two hours, we reached the car after a 10-hour day of hiking and lollygagging. It was a fantastic trip!
- Ivy
