Bill and Sheep
New member
Yesterday I decided to embark on the latest of my "challenging ways to easy peaks" adventures, attacking Eisenhower and Pierce from The Dry River Trail. I had always been a bit wary of this trail as I wasn't sure how difficult the closed bridge crossing would be. Thankfully, The Feathered Hat and Tuckerman posted a nice report last week which inspired me to try it this week.
Sheep and I arrived at the trailed right about 8am. The wind was blowing hard even at that level and I realized that I may not have packed enough layers. I quickly through the cotton hoodie I was wearing in the car into my pack just in case, and started up the trail. The Dry River Trail was mostly an easy walk until we hit a series of ups and downs near the bridge. Our crossing on the way out was relatively easy. There was a nice rock hop maybe 20-30 yards upstream that left me with dry feet (and left sheep wondering why I was wasting my time trying to stay dry). A few more ups and downs after the bridge brought us to the Mt. Eisenhower Trail in just about an hour.
This trail was very gentle at the start but soon turned into a more typical White Mountain trail. It wasn't particularly steep but had its share of rocky sections. About 3/4 of a mile before the treeline, we stopped for breakfast (Sheep still doesn't buy the "you can't share this one as chocolate is bad for dogs" story). As the trees started to turn to scrub, I started to feel droplets coming down on me. The thought of rain on a cool day like this didn't make me happy, but the I realized that it was melting ice coming off of the trees above me. Finally, making it above treeline, I started to see white on the nearby mountains. It was looking like we had our first snow/ice of the year. I was quite happy to be here to witness that beauty. I stopped here to add another layer (I had hiked thus far in just a short-sleeve shirt). As we made our way towards the Crawford Path, the winds picked up and it became downright cold. As we reached the Edmunds Path junction, we saw a small group headed towards Monroe and I realized that it was time for hat and mittens. I found a relatively shielded area and managed to get the mittens on my already numb hands (I always wait too long to layer up), and began the climb on to the Eisenhower summit dome. There were no views but the rime ice was simply beautiful. Before we continued to the top, Sheep stopped for a ceremonial rolling in the snow moment. The final approach brought on more wind and a couple of small groups suffering due to lack of gloves. Our summit stop was all of 15 seconds as I snapped a couple of pictures and moved on. I figured it would be a difficult and windy slog over to Pierce from here.
Just 50 vertical feet below the summit, it was like stepping into another world. The 20 foot visibility and high winds gave way to beautiful fall conditions and amazing views to Pierce and beyond. It was literally like stepping from mid-Winter right back to mid-September. The hike down from the summit was a breeze thanks to the new trailwork (but does anyone think that mini-ladders over an 18 inch rock are a bit much?). The walk towards Pierce was uneventful and for the first time all day, we begain seeing lots of people. After seeing maybe 8 people all morning, we at least doubled that number on the way to Pierce. It was still a little cool for lunch on Pierce so after taking in the views one last time, we headed down the Webster Cliff Trail towards the hut. Here is where we ran into the expected mobs of hikers. We probably passed at least 50 people during this mile long stretch. We were quite lucky to run into Bob and Geri about halfway down and had a short chat before continuing towards the hut.
At the hut, we finally stopped for a real break. We had been out for 11 miles and really hadn't stopped for a significant break. It was nice to spend some time taking in the beautiful weather and chatting with the folks beginning their treks from the hut to Mt. Pierce. We even encountered a small-scale version of Sheep in the form of a hiking Bichon-poo.
After a leisurely lunch where I ate and Sheep plotted ways to sneak into the forbidden dog zone of the hut, it was time to tackle our final 6 miles of the day (thankfully downhill miles). The Mt. Clinton trail was beautiful at the top. Just a nice gentle downhill grade without much in the way of rocks or other obstacles. After the Dry River Cutoff we found a trail that was much muddier and at times difficult to follow. There were a coupe points (especially at the water crossings) where a good amount of thought was required to find the trail. There was no real chance of getting lost but it's certainly a trail I wouldn't want to tackle with a headlamp. After trudging through the mud, we eventually made our way back to the Dry River Trail and begin retracing our steps back to the trailhead. Going this direction, the trail was a little trickier as the side paths to the campsites are only marked with signs facing uphill. At one point we managed to follow a campsite path rather than the actual trail. Eventually we made it back to the bridge, and tried a rock hop just to the right of the bridge. Most of the journey across was easy, but the last few steps were across slippery rocks and I managed to go in. This didn't bother me a whole lot as after 14 or so miles, the cold water felt good on my feet. After struggling through and last few ups and downs after the bridge, it was a nice easy walk back to the trailhead. We finished up a few minutes before 5pm completing the hike in a hair under 9 hours. Overall, this was a pretty moderate hike, with no real steep parts, just a lot of distance (16.7 miles total).
I really enjoyed this hike. Outside of the section on the Crawford Path, we had the trails to ourselves. In fact we didn't see a single soul on the 6 miles we spent on the Mt. Eisenhower and Mt. Clinton paths. Today, I'm only moderately sore as I lie in bed with Sheep still dozing by my side.
I posted my pictures from the day at:
http://sheeprocks.com/photos/dry_river_20090919/index.html
Sheep and I arrived at the trailed right about 8am. The wind was blowing hard even at that level and I realized that I may not have packed enough layers. I quickly through the cotton hoodie I was wearing in the car into my pack just in case, and started up the trail. The Dry River Trail was mostly an easy walk until we hit a series of ups and downs near the bridge. Our crossing on the way out was relatively easy. There was a nice rock hop maybe 20-30 yards upstream that left me with dry feet (and left sheep wondering why I was wasting my time trying to stay dry). A few more ups and downs after the bridge brought us to the Mt. Eisenhower Trail in just about an hour.
This trail was very gentle at the start but soon turned into a more typical White Mountain trail. It wasn't particularly steep but had its share of rocky sections. About 3/4 of a mile before the treeline, we stopped for breakfast (Sheep still doesn't buy the "you can't share this one as chocolate is bad for dogs" story). As the trees started to turn to scrub, I started to feel droplets coming down on me. The thought of rain on a cool day like this didn't make me happy, but the I realized that it was melting ice coming off of the trees above me. Finally, making it above treeline, I started to see white on the nearby mountains. It was looking like we had our first snow/ice of the year. I was quite happy to be here to witness that beauty. I stopped here to add another layer (I had hiked thus far in just a short-sleeve shirt). As we made our way towards the Crawford Path, the winds picked up and it became downright cold. As we reached the Edmunds Path junction, we saw a small group headed towards Monroe and I realized that it was time for hat and mittens. I found a relatively shielded area and managed to get the mittens on my already numb hands (I always wait too long to layer up), and began the climb on to the Eisenhower summit dome. There were no views but the rime ice was simply beautiful. Before we continued to the top, Sheep stopped for a ceremonial rolling in the snow moment. The final approach brought on more wind and a couple of small groups suffering due to lack of gloves. Our summit stop was all of 15 seconds as I snapped a couple of pictures and moved on. I figured it would be a difficult and windy slog over to Pierce from here.
Just 50 vertical feet below the summit, it was like stepping into another world. The 20 foot visibility and high winds gave way to beautiful fall conditions and amazing views to Pierce and beyond. It was literally like stepping from mid-Winter right back to mid-September. The hike down from the summit was a breeze thanks to the new trailwork (but does anyone think that mini-ladders over an 18 inch rock are a bit much?). The walk towards Pierce was uneventful and for the first time all day, we begain seeing lots of people. After seeing maybe 8 people all morning, we at least doubled that number on the way to Pierce. It was still a little cool for lunch on Pierce so after taking in the views one last time, we headed down the Webster Cliff Trail towards the hut. Here is where we ran into the expected mobs of hikers. We probably passed at least 50 people during this mile long stretch. We were quite lucky to run into Bob and Geri about halfway down and had a short chat before continuing towards the hut.
At the hut, we finally stopped for a real break. We had been out for 11 miles and really hadn't stopped for a significant break. It was nice to spend some time taking in the beautiful weather and chatting with the folks beginning their treks from the hut to Mt. Pierce. We even encountered a small-scale version of Sheep in the form of a hiking Bichon-poo.
After a leisurely lunch where I ate and Sheep plotted ways to sneak into the forbidden dog zone of the hut, it was time to tackle our final 6 miles of the day (thankfully downhill miles). The Mt. Clinton trail was beautiful at the top. Just a nice gentle downhill grade without much in the way of rocks or other obstacles. After the Dry River Cutoff we found a trail that was much muddier and at times difficult to follow. There were a coupe points (especially at the water crossings) where a good amount of thought was required to find the trail. There was no real chance of getting lost but it's certainly a trail I wouldn't want to tackle with a headlamp. After trudging through the mud, we eventually made our way back to the Dry River Trail and begin retracing our steps back to the trailhead. Going this direction, the trail was a little trickier as the side paths to the campsites are only marked with signs facing uphill. At one point we managed to follow a campsite path rather than the actual trail. Eventually we made it back to the bridge, and tried a rock hop just to the right of the bridge. Most of the journey across was easy, but the last few steps were across slippery rocks and I managed to go in. This didn't bother me a whole lot as after 14 or so miles, the cold water felt good on my feet. After struggling through and last few ups and downs after the bridge, it was a nice easy walk back to the trailhead. We finished up a few minutes before 5pm completing the hike in a hair under 9 hours. Overall, this was a pretty moderate hike, with no real steep parts, just a lot of distance (16.7 miles total).
I really enjoyed this hike. Outside of the section on the Crawford Path, we had the trails to ourselves. In fact we didn't see a single soul on the 6 miles we spent on the Mt. Eisenhower and Mt. Clinton paths. Today, I'm only moderately sore as I lie in bed with Sheep still dozing by my side.
I posted my pictures from the day at:
http://sheeprocks.com/photos/dry_river_20090919/index.html
