Elevation: 2,600 ft (overall) 2,851 ft (total)
Time: 2:38 (Crawford Path) 2:59 (Summit) 3:12 (Crawford Path) 3:35 (Edmands Path) 5:26 (Total)
Trails: Edmands Path, Eisenhower Loop, Crawford Path, Edmands Path
With a two day hike planned next week with my oldest daughter, I wanted to get in another hike to make sure I was ready. I have been wanting to hike Mt. Eisenhower via the Edmands Path for a while, so today was a good time to do so. I needed the Edmands Path for redlining and was also going to do a loop around the summit so that I could redline the section of the Crawford Path between the two ends of the Eisenhower Loop.
The trail starts off pretty flat giving you a little bit of time for your body to warm up before doing any real climbing. Today was a bit cool for July, but high humidity meant all the plants along the trail were almost dripping as the morning started off. Before the trail does any real climbing in elevation there is one brook crossing that could be a bit tricky with high water. But even with how wet this summer has been, I as able to easily cross it with dry feet using the rocks sticking up out of the water.
The first and biggest brook crossing of the day
AFter the brook crossing, the trail slowly gets steeper and starts gaining more elevation while mixing in a combination of rocks and or roots at time. Even higher up, the trail is more of a steady rocky climb. The trail even passes through an interesting corridor of thicker trees on each side while it starts to work towards the left as it climbs. While doing this, the trail is on more of a sidehill rather than heading straight up through the woods. Early on in the sidehill section there is also another small brook that crosses the trail. Being so high up on the mountain, this brook was quite small (especially today) which made it very easy to get over.
A slightly slick exposed slab of rock in the trail
A nice straight corridor climbing steadily
Continuing along the side of the mountain, the trail soon levels out and follows its way around towards the main ridge of the Presidentials. Being on the side of the mountain, the trail does get pretty narrow through here since there isn't much room for it to be any wider than it is. This did make for an interesting section of the trail and also gives you a nice break from the climbing. Just before you get close to the ridge, the trail passes over/through a small talus field with a flat(ish) path leading through it. Just past this is the next intersection where you come to the main ridge of the range and the Crawford Path. I took a little break in this area before making the last push up to the summit.
Small talus field just before the ridge
The climb up to the summit starts off a bit steep and rocky, but as you get closer to the the summit the trail levels out more and more. The summit of Mt. Eisenhower is shaped a lot like a big rounded dome. And since it isn't a very long distance to the summit, the last climb up onto it goes by pretty quick I think. On the summit there were nice views today, although the clouds weren't that much higer than the summit itself. There were even a few points where there almost wasn't a view because of being in the clouds on the summit. It was also interesting seeing a few very small rain showers happening in a few places off in the distance.
Nearing the summit
A little bit of raining coming up the western side of Mt. Washington
The clouds were just above the summit
Mt. Eisenhower summit
Instead of heading back down off of the summit the same way I came up, I continued over the summit to make a loop out of it. After coming down from the summit to the Crawford Path, I needed to take a left so that I could redline the short section of the Crawford Path that goes between the two ends of the Eisenhower Loop Trail. This was a quick and interesting section of trail that made for a nice and interesting loop around the summit. It stays mostly flat with some rocky bits, and has only one section that could be a little bit tricky if it were too wet. The trail makes a quick little drop down then climb back up while on a bit of an angle from the sidehill that it is on. With decent conditions, this section shouldn't pose any real problems though. And before I knew it, I was back to the intersection with the top of the Edmands Path.
Looking towards Pierce coming down from the summit
Once at the top of the Edmands Paths again, there were some interesting clouds starting to roll in and over the presidential range. There also appeared to be a few more small rain showers coming our way. There were a prediction of scattered rain showers this afternoon so this wasn't a big surprise. I decided to not waste too much time before going down or on the way down so that I could try to stay as dry as possible on the descent.
Interesting clouds ready to head down Edmands Path
Looking north up the Presidential Range
The trip coming down was mostly uneventful. The trail was just how it was on the way up, although I didn't get lightly sprinkled on with rain a couple times on the way down. I also had the chance to talk with a nice man from the forest service that was out doing trail maintenance cleaning up trees that were down on the trail. On the way down the trail I also made the decision not to do any of the short little hikes around the Crawford Notch area that I had come up with to get some more redlining down on short trails that don't lead to any peaks. It was just so humid today that I had done enough sweating already and didn't want to do more. Even though temperatures were low for the middle of July, the humidty was high and there just wasn't much of a wind to make it any better.
Google Earth representation of the hike
For all the pictures from the hike, just go HERE
